​Today I get to do the Colour Tablet Box Number III.  I have already learned my primary and secondary colours – I have matched tablets to each other, to things in my classroom and to coloured pencils – I even finished a whole colouring sheet – it looked like a rainbow of colours.  I need a big rug for this.  I think I’m going to do the sun today instead of just the rows on a rug. 

​I marvel at the feel of the piece of felt I will use as my centre point – some people use the pretty pot of flowers…or nothing…but I like this round colourful piece of felt.  This box has many tablets so I must lift and carry it carefully to my rug. Look at this!  There are different yellows and greens and purples…all the colours!  I’m going to start with blues…hmmm…which is the darkest one…the darkest one left…the darkest one left. 

​The knobbed cylinders…every Montessori child’s favourite at some point.  Rectangular blocks housing knobbed cylinders that vary, by block, in height, width, weight and shape.  In the initial lesson each cylinder is removed from its housing, is examined visually and tactically and placed on the working mat in front of the space from which it came.  All cylinders are removed.  One by one, slowly, with much thought, they are returned to their correct space.  Each cylinder only fits properly into its own space – no student needs an adult “correcting” their work - Montessori’s marvelous materials show the way.  After all four cylinder blocks have been explored at different times – I challenge myself by mixing the order of the cylinders once removed.

​Can I through sight and/or touch find the perfect space for each one.  Further challenge could involve combining the cylinders of 2/3/4 blocks and returning them to each of the specially created spaces.
 
Think of it – gradation, sequencing, comparison, independent work all through only one piece of Montessori material!