Education Unboxed- where to start for 5 yo

[Princess5]

my almost 5 yo ds can count till 39 straight, needs help with 40, 50 at ends so i guess he can go on with help.  he cant understand that if we have 10 gems and remove 1, how many will we have?  etc..We have Cuisenaire rods at home and I wanted to with him using education unboxed videos, but there are so many.... also i played a couple and not sure lot of time was showing the little girl is doing things slowly, not sure what i need to play for ds?  any guidance as to where to start/

[Alessandra]

I would start at the beginning. It takes a while to get used to the rods, to automatically associate a color with a number. The Cuisenaire guidebook I have recommended taking time to let kids play with rods in the beginning. I thought that sounded like a waste of time -- until we used them IRL, lol. As an adult, my first tendency was to see C rods as a means to an end. For my children, they were worthy of attention by themselves, and the appreciation of them as math helpers developed gradually.

 

And, if you let you son play with them, he will associate math with fun. At least that is my experience. Your son can let you know if he wantss to watch videos in order or not -- presumably he will be playing with his set of C rods while he watches.

 

The only real recommendation I have is to make sure that you have a lot of rods -- at least a small classroom set. And have a few 'flats' (from a place value set) on hand. Some of the videos use flats, so your ds might ask for them.

Edited September 26, 2016 by Alessandra

[Targhee]

That's great that your little guy is already counting. There's a big world ahead of fun math for him to explore! I love exploring math with kids!!

 

Did you watch the EducationUnboxed videos first, before showing your child? Although there were plenty I showed directly to my kids, the videos are designed to show *you* how to teach. The fact that the girls in the videos go slowly, and that the mom allows this thought time, is great! I think that even though your DS is counting you should still start at the beginning - there are lots of concepts covered besides counting (subitizing, equivalancies, base-10 structure, and much more). Understanding these concepts is important for actually working with math in calculations.

 

You may want to start with this great little mommy-made pamphlet that has games and activities to help the kids learn the rods and start thinking about their relationships. http://www.nurturedbylove.ca/resources/cuisenairebook.pdf

 

I also give the kids lots of time playing with the rods - building, making pictures, creating trains and equalities - with no direction, just play. I think it helps them get a natural sense of relationships.

 

Have fun!

[ReadingMama1214]

We just started with my daughter. She'll be 5 in December. We started with the videos that introduce the rods. So we are learning the rods together and helping her really solidify which rod equals which number. After the "where to start" videos, we will do the PreK/K videos.

[ReadingMama1214]

We also never show the videos to Dd. I watch them the night before and then do them with her.

[MotherGoose]

My dd loved that booklet and the cards that go with them. Well the cards are for her, the booklet is for you. And definitely just let kids play with them, build houses, etc. I sometimes showed her the videos too--If she wasn't willing to do the activity sometimes it helped her to see the other little girl doing them :) and then she was willing.

[ReadingMama1214]

And I agree. The rods are great for playing. My daughter made a picture of a volcano out of them last week. Definitely encourage exploring the rods