Name of the Course: Mathematics

4. Large Bead Frame

4.1 Introductory activities

Introductory activities - Introduction and introduction to systematic oral counting

-quantity

Materials Required: Large Bead Frame

Material description:
The Large Bead Frame is a stand made of wood. On the frame we have ‘7’ this metal
rods. These rods are fixed to the frame with beads on them. The metal rod on top row
has ‘10’ green beads indicating the hierarchy of units. The row below it has ‘10’ blue
beads representing the hierarchy of tens, below it there is a row having ‘10’ red beads
indicating the hierarchy of hundreds. The next row after hundreds, has ‘10’ green beads
indicating hierarchy of thousands. The 5th row has ‘10’ blue beads indicating a
hierarchy of ten – thousand. The 6th row has ‘10’ red beads indicating the hierarchy of
hundred – thousands and the last row has ‘10’ beads indicating the hierarchy of
thousand – thousand or million.

To the left of the frame, ‘1’, ‘10’, ‘100’ are written in same colour as that of beads on a
white background and ‘1,000’,’10,000’, ‘100,000’ are written in same colour as that of
beads on a grey background and ‘100,000’ is written in green on black background. The
distance between levels is slightly more than distance between hierarchies

Notation Paper:

Notation paper is divided into 2 identical columns, on the top we have family names
(simple, thousand, million), colour coded for each hierarchy for the levels. A dot or
rhombus mark the spots to put the comma

Display:
Long bead frame is displayed in Arithmetic shelf along with other transitional activity
materials
Notation paper is displayed in the stationary shelf

Pre-requisite:
Children should be introduced to level names in wooden hierarchical material, short
bead chain, multiplication by 10

Purpose:
d) To help the children to see the place value and it is going to emphasize on zero
e) To help the children with oral counting of quantities with long bead frame

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Invitation:
Shashank, Shishir and Shagun, we shall know about large bead frame (Invite 2 - 3
children)

Preparation:
Ask one of the children to have a workmat unrolled at the place of the presentation. Go
along with the children to the place of display and show the material and say, “this is
called as Long bead frame and we would be working with this today.” Ask one of the
children to carry it to the place of presentation. Take your respective seats

Presentation:
● Point to the large bead frame and say, “this is long bead frame and you have
worked with small bead frame. You might have also used it for addition and
subtraction and we will be using this frame to multiply large numbers”.

● Continue, “Short bead frame was only up to ‘1,000’, whereas in long bead frame it
goes up to ‘1 million’ just like wooden hierarchical material”

● Draw the attention of the children towards the frame and say, “before working
with this should ensure that all the beads are towards left”

● Point to the white band on left side and say, “this also has family, we have units,
tens and hundreds of ‘Simple level’; Grey part represent – units, tens and
hundreds of ‘thousand level’; Black we have million and they are the units;

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● Green beads are for – units, blue beads are for – ten’s and red beads are – for
hundred. With wooden hierarchical material – we had huge cube for million and
it is the same million which we are talking here”

● Ensure all the beads are towards the left of the frame and say, “all beads should
be towards left before counting”

● Start moving the beads in Unit row one by one and say the count as you move the
beads, ‘1’, ‘2’, ‘3’…… ‘10’.

● Say, “this is 10 units and ’10 – units make ‘1 – ten’, shall we make that change
now”

● Move ‘1’ bead in ‘tens’ row towards right and move back all the ‘10’ unit beads
towards left

● Continue to count beads in ‘Tens’ row and say the count, ‘20’, ’30’, …... ’100’ and
say, “100 is nothing by ’10 – tens’, we shall make the change”

● Move ‘1’ bead in ‘hundreds’ row towards right and move back all the ‘10’ tens
beads towards left.

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● Continue to count beads in ‘Hundreds’ row and say the count, ‘200’, ’300’, …...
’1000’ and say, “1000 is nothing by ’10 – hundreds’, we shall make the change”

● Move ‘1’ bead in ‘thousands’ row towards right and move back all the ‘10’
hundreds bead towards left

● Similarly, continue to count up to 10th bead of million and say, “if we would have
had one more row of beads of ’10 – million’, we could change it”

● Say to the children, “can orally count and make the changes as needed”

Footnote:
If the child counts 20 – thousand as two ten thousand, then we say “‘two tens is twenty,
so let’s call it as ’20 - thousand’

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Composition of the numbers orally

Materials Required: Long bead frame

Pre-requisite: Children should know to read the large quantities

Purpose:
To help the children to compose and read quantities with long bead frame

Invitation:
Shashank, Shishir and Shagun, “we shall make numbers with large bead frame” (Invite
2 - 3 children)

Preparation:
Ask one of the children to have a workmat unrolled at the place of the presentation. Ask
the children to have long bead frame at the place of presentation.

Presentation:
⎯ Make a number ‘32’ on the frame and ask the child to read it

⎯ If child is unable to read, help the child to read, “say we should read the quantity
from last row where beads are towards right”
⎯ Point to the number of beads in tens row and ask, “Shashank, how many beads
we have here?”

⎯ Child says, ‘3’

⎯ And ask, “which hierarchy we have ‘3’ beads”
⎯ Child says, ‘tens’

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⎯ Say, “‘3 – tens is 30 and we have ‘2 – units’, so the number is 32”

⎯ Make another number, ‘85’ on the frame and ask another child to read it

⎯ Once child reads it, make another number ‘526’ and ask children to read it

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⎯ Similarly, go on until numbers are offered in all levels and ask children to read
them
⎯ After children have identified the quantities, ask a child to make a quantity with
the frame and read it, like ‘539, 218’ child would read it as ‘539 thousand and 218’

⎯ Say to the children, “make your own quantities on frame and read them”

Follow – ups
⎯ One child can make the quantity and other child can read it
⎯ One child can say the quantity and other child can make it on the frame

Footnote
⎯ Do not include ‘zero’ initially
⎯ Later, once children are able to read the numbers, make number having zero and
ask children to read them, like ‘401, 352’; ‘694, 038’

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Introduce Notation Paper

Materials Required
Notation paper and colour pencils (1 colour pencil to be other than symbolic colours of
hierarchies)

Pre-requisite
Children should be introduced to systematic oral counting and composition of numbers

Purpose
To help the children to write on notation paper

Invitation
Shashank, “we have been working with Long Bead Frame, today along with the frame
we have some long sheets let’s see how we can work with it. Can you please call Shishir
and Shagun to join us” (invite 2 to 3 children)

Preparation
Ask one of the children to have a chowki at the place of the presentation. Go along with
the children to the place of display and introduce the notation paper and ask them to
carry it to the place of presentation and ask them to have colour pencils too

Presentation
Part A (Writing without Zeroes)

⎯ Say, “we have been counting with large bead frame, now let us count and write on
this paper”
⎯ Show the notation paper and say, “we have ‘Simple level’, ‘Thousand level’ and
‘Million level’ in this paper. You all know that in every level there are ‘3’ members and
‘units’ is marked in green, ‘tens’ in blue and ‘hundreds’ in red”

⎯ Draw attention of the children to the ‘dot’ and say, “we will use them to put
comma and we shall see when we can use them”

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⎯ Say, “Shall we see how to write on the notation paper? We don’t need the left side
now, so we will fold the notation paper vertically into half and we start writing from the
right side. Should write the number exactly on the line”
⎯ Say, “now let’s start with the first line from right – the green one”
⎯ Ask, “which hierarchy is it?”
⎯ Children would say, ‘Unit’
⎯ Say, “move the bead of unit and write ‘1’ on the green line”
⎯ Move another bead and say ‘2 - units’, and ask the child to write ‘2’ below ‘1’ on
the green line

⎯ In this way after moving each bead in units, ask the child to write the numbers
until ‘9’
⎯ Ask, “what comes after ‘9 units’?”
⎯ Children will say, ’10 units’
⎯ Say, “10 units is ‘1 – ten’”, move the 1 blue bead of ten and push back all the
green beads of units
⎯ Say, “as you move the beads of tens, write numbers on the blue line”
⎯ Ask anyone of the children to write ‘1’ on the blue line, just below the ‘9’ of unit
and continue”
⎯ Say, “we would say ’1 - ten, 2 - ten, ……’ but write ‘1, 2….’ here, so continue
writing in this manner on the blue line”

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⎯ Ask, “what comes after ‘9 - ten’?”

⎯ Children will say, ’10 tens’
⎯ Say, “10 tens is ‘1 – hundred’”, move the 1 red bead of hundred and push back all
the blue beads of tens
⎯ Say, “as you move the beads of hundreds, write numbers on the blue line”
⎯ Ask anyone of the children to write ‘1’ on the red line, below the ‘9’ of tens and
continue”
⎯ Say, “we would say ‘1- hundred, 2 – hundred, ….’ but write ‘1, 2 …...’ here, so
continue writing in this manner on the red line”

⎯ Ask, “what comes after ‘9- hundred’?”

⎯ Children will say ‘10- hundred’
⎯ Say, “10 hundred is ‘1 – thousand’”, move the 1 green bead of thousand and push
back all the red beads of hundred
⎯ Say, “as you move the beads of thousand, write numbers on the green line”
⎯ Ask anyone of the children to write ‘1’ on the green line of thousand, just below
the ‘9’ of hundreds and continue”
⎯ Say, “we would say ‘1- thousand, 2 – thousand, ….’ but write ‘1, 2 …...’ here, so
continue writing in this manner on the green line”

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⎯ Ask, “what comes after ‘9- thousand’?”

⎯ Children will say ‘10- thousand’
⎯ Say, “10 thousand is ‘1 – ten thousand’”, move the 1 blue bead of ten thousand
and push back all the green beads of thousand
⎯ Say, “as you move the beads of ten thousand, write numbers on the blue line of
ten thousand”
⎯ Ask anyone of the children to write ‘1’ on the blue line of ten thousand, just below
the ‘9’ of thousands and continue”

⎯ Say, “we would say ‘1- ten thousand, 2 – ten thousand, ….’ but write ‘1, 2 …...’
here, so continue writing in this manner on the blue line of ten thousand”

⎯ Ask, “what comes after ‘9- ten thousand’?”

⎯ Children will say ‘10- ten thousand’
⎯ Say, “10 ten thousand is ‘1 – hundred thousand’”, move the 1 red bead of hundred
thousand and push back all the blue beads of ten thousand

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⎯ Say, “as you move the beads of hundred thousand, write numbers on the red line
of hundred thousand”
⎯ Ask anyone of the children to write ‘1’ on the red line of hundred thousand, just
below the ‘9’ of ten thousand and continue”
⎯ Say, “we would say ‘1- hundred thousand, 2 – hundred thousand, ….’ but write ‘1,
2 …...’ here, so continue writing in this manner on the red line of hundred thousand”

⎯ Ask, “what comes after ‘9- hundred thousand’?”

⎯ Children will say ‘10- hundred thousand’
⎯ Say, “10 hundred thousand is ‘1 – thousand thousand’ and we know thousand –
thousand is called as ‘Million’”, move the 1 green bead of thousand-thousand and push
back all the red beads of hundred thousand
⎯ Say, “as you move the beads of thousand thousand, write numbers on the green
line of thousand thousand / million”

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Part B (Writing Zeroes)

⎯ Once the above activity is completed, say “we will open the folding and will write
on the right side of the paper”
⎯ Ask one of the children to write numbers from 1 to 9 by moving the beads on the
frame and at the count of 10 – units, change by moving 1 blue bead to right and push
back all green beads of units
⎯ Say, “write 1 in the blue line of tens”
⎯ Ask, “what do you see in the unit”
⎯ Child will say ‘zero / nothing’
⎯ Say, “for me to reach to ten it was because of units, but we do not have anything
here, so let us put ‘0’ in unit place but with different colour pencil”

⎯ Ask one child to write ‘10 – 90’ on blue line and ask another child to move 9 beads
of tens in the frame also simultaneously

⎯ On the count of ‘100’, say, “’10 – tens is 1 –hundred’ and for me to reach to 100, it
was because of tens” and change ‘10 – tens’ to ‘1 – hundred’ and move back the tens
beads
⎯ Ask the child to write ‘1’ on red line and just below the ‘9’ of ten and ask, “what
do you see in ten and unit row?”
⎯ Children will say, ‘nothing’
⎯ Say, “write ‘0’ in the tens and units place but with different colour pencil”
⎯ Say, “now we will continue writing hundred on the paper and we write ‘0’ each
time to show nothing in the ten and units place”

⎯ Similarly help the children to write up to ‘1 – million’ in this manner, by writing

zeroes but with different colour pencil

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Composition and recording of Mixed numbers

Materials Required
Notation paper and colour pencils

Pre-requisite
Children should be introduced to notation paper activities

Purpose
⎯ To help the children to read and write larger quantities
⎯ To help the children to understand the place value in the decimal system

Invitation
⎯ Sindhu, “let us write some numbers in notation paper. Can you please call
Shishir and Shagun to join us” (invite 2 to 3 children)

Preparation
⎯ Ask one of the children to have a chowki at the place of the presentation. Ask the
children to get their previously used Notation paper and ask them to have colour pencils
too

Presentation
⎯ Say, “we have been writing with notation paper, now let us use the same sheet of
paper but we will make use of left side of the paper now”
⎯ Say, “let us make a number – seventy-five thousand six hundred and
twenty-eight
⎯ Ask one of the children, “what is the quantity?”
⎯ Child will say ‘75, 628’
⎯ Continue, “whenever we write a number, we begin with units”
⎯ Ask, “how much we have in units?”
⎯ Child say ‘8’
⎯ Say, “we have line for units in simple level, write ‘8’ on that”
⎯ Ask, “what is at tens?”
⎯ Child say ‘2’
⎯ Say, “we have line for tens in simple level, write ‘2’ on that”
⎯ Ask, “what is at hundred?”
⎯ Child say ‘6’
⎯ Say, “we have line for hundred in simple level, write ‘2’ on that”
⎯ Say, “we have finished writing numbers belonging to one level, so we shall put
comma and then continue writing numbers of next level”
⎯ Similarly, help the children to write numbers in thousand and ten-thousand line
and say, “when we write, we write it from right but when we are reading, we should read
it from left, so let us read it”

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⎯ Ask one of the children to read the quantity aloud, ’75, 628’
⎯ Ask children to decorate around the number and offer another number
Follow – ups
⎯ Children can write numbers of all hierarchies including all levels, starting from
small numbers
⎯ Offering numbers with ‘0’ at any hierarchy
⎯ We can do a number on frame and ask children to write it on the notation paper
⎯ One child writes the number on the notation paper and another child reads it
aloud
⎯ One child makes the number on the frame and another child writes it on the
notation paper

Footnote
⎯ Children need to be informed that after we write the numbers of a level (i.e.,
units, tens and hundred), we need to put comma and then continue writing numbers of
next level

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4.2 LBF - Long Multiplication

Theory Notes
The Large Bead Frame starts the work in Long Multiplication. Long Multiplication
means that there is more than one step involved, sometimes there are partial products.
When there are two or more-digit multipliers, partial products are produced. Partial
products are recorded as they occur. The bead frame is cleared each time. The final
product will be arrived at by adding the partial products on the paper. The final product
is the sum of the partial products.
A number of passages are shown which illustrate certain aspects of long multiplication.
● Place value is the point of emphasis which is determined by understanding the
function of 0.
● The second aspect is that we are going to multiply by 10 and powers of 10. It is
leading the children towards abstraction but does not represent abstraction in itself.

Pre-requisites: Wooden Hierarchical Material, Multiplication facts, composing

numbers on LBF

4.2 Multiplication
i. Single digit multiplier

Materials Required:
Long bead frame, Notation paper and colour pencils (1 colour pencil to be other than
symbolic colours of hierarchies; multiplication work chart (if required)

Pre-requisite:
Children should have worked with all activities around the notation paper

Purpose:
⎯ To help the children with large number multiplication
⎯ To give a clear understanding of process involved in long multiplication
⎯ To help the children with decomposition of numbers
⎯ To help the children with math facts of basic numbers
⎯ To help the children to understand the dynamism of multiplication

Invitation:
Somu, “let’s work with multiplication today using frame and notation paper. Can you
please call Suresh and Snigdha to join us” (invite 2 to 3 children)

Preparation:
Ask one of the children to have a chowki for themselves at the place of the presentation.
Ask the children to have long bead frame as well as notation paper at the place of
presentation and ask them to have colour pencils too

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Presentation:
⎯ Say, “in our previous activities we have used only right side of the paper, today
we will work with both the sides of the paper. Am going to propose a problem, you need
to write the problem on the left side of the paper, and we will use right side of the paper
to solve the problem”
⎯ Propose a problem, ‘6, 428 x 3’ (help the children to record the problem for the
first time)
⎯ Say, “first we need to decompose the multiplicand. It means we need to write the
numbers of multiplicand as per their hierarchies and we are going to write this on right
side of the paper”
⎯ Ask, “what is in units?”
⎯ Child says ‘8’; ask the child to write 8 on the green line of units. Also ask other
children to write in their notation papers
⎯ Ask, “what is in tens?”
⎯ Child says ‘2’; ask the child to write 2 on the blue line of ten, below the unit
⎯ Say, “2 tens mean we do not have anything in units, so write ‘0’ in units place”
⎯ In this manner, help the children to decompose the multiplicand completely
⎯ Continue, “we need to take this quantity ‘3’ times” put a flower bracket for the
decomposed number and write ‘x 3’

⎯ Say, “let us start multiplying and take quantities in the long bead frame at the
same time”
⎯ Point to the unit in decomposed number and say, “we have 8 - units and it needs
to be taken 3 times”
⎯ Ask, “how much is 8 taken 3 times is?”
⎯ Child says, ‘Twenty-four’
⎯ Ask, “how much is 24?”
⎯ Child says, ‘2 – tens and 4 – units’
⎯ Ask the child to take ‘2 – tens and 4 – units’ on the frame

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⎯ Point to the ten in decomposed number and say, “we have 2 - tens and it needs to
be taken 3 times”
⎯ Ask, “how much is 2 - tens taken 3 times is?”
⎯ Child says, ‘6 - tens’
⎯ Ask the child to take ‘6 – tens’ on the frame

⎯ Point to the hundred in decomposed number and say, “we have 4 - hundred and it
needs to be taken 3 times”
⎯ Ask, “how much is 4 - hundred taken 3 times is?”
⎯ Child says, ’12 – hundred’
⎯ Say, “12 – hundred if we write it will be 1 – thousand, 2 - hundred”
⎯ Ask the child to take ‘1 – thousand, 2 - hundred’ on the frame

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⎯ Point to the thousand in decomposed number and say, “we have 6 - thousand and
it needs to be taken 3 times”
⎯ Ask, “how much is 6 - thousand taken 3 times is?”
⎯ Child says, ’18 – thousand’
⎯ Say, “18 – thousand if we write it will be 1 – ten thousand, 8 - thousand”
⎯ Ask the child to take ‘1 – ten thousand, 8 - thousand’ on the frame
⎯ Say, “we have multiplied all the quantities now, let us see what we have got”
⎯ Ask one of the children to read the number on the frame.

⎯ Child reads it as ‘Nineteen thousand two hundred and eighty-four (19,284)’

⎯ Ask all the children to record it on the left side of the paper just below the
problem.

- Say, “let us do another problem before that decorate the problem as you want”`

Follow – ups
- Children can take their own numbers up to million level and work on their own
with single digit multiplier

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