The Montessori Elementary Material. Maria Montessori Montessori

"in order," thereby enriching his vocabulary by placing new acquisitions in an already determined place. Thus he continues to construct, with respect to exterior objects, an inner spiritual system, which had already been begun by his sensory exercises.

Singular and Plural

       Table of Contents

      The exercises on the number and gender of nouns are done without the help of the boxes. The child already knows that those words are articles and nouns, so we give him now small groups of forty cards (nouns and articles) held together by an elastic band. In each one, the group (tied separately) of the ten singular nouns serves as the guide for the exercise. These nouns are arranged in a column on the table, one beneath the other, and the other cards, which are shuffled, must be placed around this first group in the right order. There are two more cards of different colors on which the words singular and plural respectively are written; and these are placed at the top of the respective columns. We have prepared four series of ten nouns in alphabetical order. In this way four children may do the exercise at the same time and by exchanging material they come in contact with a very considerable number of words.

      This is the way the cards should finally be arranged in the four different exercises:

Singolare	Plurale	Singular	Plural
il bambino	i bambini	the child	the children, etc.
il berretto	i berretti	the cap
la bocca	le bocche	the mouth
il calamaio	i calamai	the inkstand
la calza	le calze	the stocking
la casa	le case	the house
il cappello	i cappelli	the hat
Singolare	Plurale	Singular	Plural
la maestra	le maestre	the teacher	the teachers, etc.
la mano	le mani	the hand
la matita	le matite	the pencil
il naso	i nasi	the nose
il nastro	i nastri	the ribbon
l'occhio	gli occhi	the eye
l'orologio	gli orologi	the clock (watch)
il panchetto	i panchetti	the bench
Singolare	Plurale	Singular	Plural
il dente	i denti	the tooth	the teeth, etc.
l'elastico	gli elastici	the elastic
il fagiolo	i fagioli	the bean
la fava	le fave	the bean
la gamba	le gambe	the leg
il gesso	i gessi	the plaster
la giacca	le giacche	the coat
il grembiale	i grembiali	the apron
Singolare	Plurale	Singular	Plural
il piede	i piedi	the foot	the feet, etc.
il quaderno	i quaderni	the copy book
la rapa	i rape	the turnip
la scarpa	le scarpe	the shoe
la tasca	le tasche	the pocket
il tavolino	i tavolini	the table