Schools Report
P.T.A. Funding
Excellent
For Home Working
and Sum Thing
“ A brilliant addition to the class -
A very user friendly counting aid”
The ‘Sum-Thing’ is a string of 10 beads that are threaded in a unique way so that they can be moved one at a time and will stay in position.
The rainbow ‘Sum-Thing’ has almost all the major colours for ease of colour identification, learning the meaning of numbers and doing simple calculations.
It also suggests a science project on how the rainbow is formed: Allowing that indigo and violet are
both shades of purple, arrange the 6 colours
of the rainbow into a pyramid, with red, blue
and yellow at the corners. The colour in
between each corner is made by mixing the
outer ones, and can be proved by mixing
different coloured paints.
Make the point that red, blue and yellow are primary colours, which no amount of mixing any other colours can create. (Please see example 3 above).
The multi-coloured beads may prove a distraction when trying to concentrate on grasping the principals of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, and that is why the ‘Sum-Thing’ is also available in packs of ten different self colours. (Please see example 1 above).
The alternate 2 colour ‘Sum-Thing’ strings make it much easier much easier to convey the concept of odd and even numbers. By counting 1, 3, 5 and 2, 4, 6 etc, it is possible to alter some children’s perception of (counting as if they were reciting a nursery rhyme) into a genuine realisation of what the numbers really mean. (Please see example 2 above).
The possibilities for addition and subtraction are fairly obvious but, in school trials, it was found that the ‘Sum-Thing’ is just as easy to demonstrate multiplication, division and even simple fractions:
“From a review in SPECIAL CHILDREN MAGAZINE, June/July 1995, by Alan Davies and Pam Jordan, Senior Lecturers in Education, Crewe and Alsager Faculty, Manchester Metropolitan University, Crewe, Cheshire.
Divide the beads into groups of 2. How many 2’s in 10? Therefore 2 x 5 = 10, 10 ÷ 5 = 2, and 2 = 1/5 of 10.
Divide the beads into groups of 4. Reassure the child that it is OK to have some beads left over. Thus 10 ÷ 4 = 2 remainder 2, and 10 ÷ 4 = 2 1/2
Divide the beads into groups of 3. Once again, reassure the child that it is OK to have some beads left over. Thus 10 ÷ 3 = 3 remainder 1, and 10 ÷ 3 = 3 1/3, but 3 x 3 = 9.
Putting the fun back into learning just one of the things that a ‘Sum-Thing’ can do.
‘Sum-Thing’ is manufactured from food grade polypropylene and is tested to British Safety Standards (BS 5665 and EN 71).
KEY TO ILLUSTRATION
Code
KEY TO ILLUSTRATION
Code
1 - One of ten per pack plain
2 - One of ten per pack bi- iiiiiicolour
3 - One of ten per pack iiiiiirainbow
4 - Stories of five to nine
5 - Plain twenty bead
6 - Twenty bead bi-colour
7 - Twenty five bead bi-
iiiiiicolour
7
6
5
012
23
23A
24A
8 - TYPE A
iiiiiiiiNumber bond 10 to 20 iiiiiiiipack
9 - TYPE B
iiiiiiiiNumber bond 10 to 20 iiiiiiiipack
10 - One hundred bead iiiiiiiirainbow
11 - For skip counting/
iiiiiiiinumber line
12 - For Tens and units
Please see order form for a
complete product listing.
12
1213
20
27
19
Registered Office 190 - 194 Bag Lane,
Atherton, Greater Manchester. M46 0JZ.
Telephone 01942 883210
Fax 01942 878087
Homeworking School & Parenting Partnership 2017 ©