Cuisenaire Rods

[Rush]

i need some help:blushing:

There are so many sets of Cuisenaire Rods out there so I'm not sure which one shall i go for? wooden, plastic, mini set, huge set. the same about the activity book, are they still the same? could we use any set rods with any ideas book?

thank you

Edited April 21, 2012 by rushhush08

[boscopup]

Plastic, no notches:

 

http://www.amazon.com/CUISENAIRE-RODS-SMALL-GROUP-155/dp/B001AZ6W7E/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1334993653&sr=8-2

[mumto2]

:iagree: You may want more eventually with 2 kids. But this set is plenty for now. Perfect for Minquin if you go that route. Should work with any book that say it uses cuisiare rods.

[Rosie]

Small group plastic set (NOT the connecting ones) and get Miquon Orange and Red to start out with. If that's too advanced for her yet then any idea book will do.

[wapiti]

I like the small group wood. These practically live on our kitchen table, as even the older kids play and fiddle with them all. the. time. :)

 

free preschool booklet

Miquon Orange

First Grade Diary

Lab Sheet Annotations

Red level

Edited April 21, 2012 by wapiti

[KristenR]

Another vote for plastic, no notched ones. I have this tub of 155. It seems to be plenty for now for my oldest, but I'm thinking I'll pick up another one when soon when my middle daughter starts utilizing them too.

[PookieMama]

Plastic, no notches:

 

http://www.amazon.com/CUISENAIRE-RODS-SMALL-GROUP-155/dp/B001AZ6W7E/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1334993653&sr=8-2

:iagree:

[Ellie]

You could consider Mathemtics Made Meaningful, which comes with marvelous task cards and a set of rods.

[FairProspects]

You could consider Mathemtics Made Meaningful, which comes with marvelous task cards and a set of rods.

 

:iagree:You really need some ideas on what to do with the rods and these are great.

[eloquacious]

You could consider Mathemtics Made Meaningful, which comes with marvelous task cards and a set of rods.

 

Yes, this! I bought a set of wooden rods used on Amazon and got this accidentally. It came with a book and a set of cards. I LOVE the cards, because they break down the cool stuff I've seen in the various Cuisenaire books into super easy chunks. It's exactly my type of "planning," too. I just do the next card. I don't really have to create a calendar or look for ideas. ;)

[Ellie]

Yes, this! I bought a set of wooden rods used on Amazon and got this accidentally. It came with a book and a set of cards. I LOVE the cards, because they break down the cool stuff I've seen in the various Cuisenaire books into super easy chunks. It's exactly my type of "planning," too. I just do the next card. I don't really have to create a calendar or look for ideas. ;)

Many years ago, several friends raved about Cusenaire rods, and I just didn't get it. So eventually, when I owned an umbrella school and did some curriculum counseling--this was when all the "experts" said that every single child Must Have Manipulatives-- I took a class on using "manipulatives." What the heck?? We spent 2½ hours doing pattern blocks and and pentominoes, and I still couldn't tell how on earth these would help children learn basic arithmetic (I was the only non-professional teacher; *they* were all gaga-eyed over that stuff. Whatever. :glare:) The last half hour, we did base 10 blocks. At last!!! Something that made mathematical sense to me!

 

So then I decided that I needed to understand C. rods; I bought MMM and did all the task cards myself, starting with the very first one. At last! Something that made mathematical sense to me!!! I thought it was ingenious that the children learned about the rods, and their relationships to each other in size, long before numerical values were attached to the different colors. It is why I suggest that people go through quite a few of MMM task cards before they start Miquon [looks around hoping that Spycar doesn't see this :D].

[UmMusa]

Wooden isn't better?

[Mother-Duck]

I've just ordered mine, with notches...waiting for the shipment to arrive. I've never used these rods before and am wondering, what is the the advantage of the no notches one?

Regards,

Lida

[KristenR]

Wooden isn't better?

 

It's funny but the plastic ones feel more wooden and durable to me than the wooden. I've heard the same thing from quite a few folks on this board too. Odd but true.

 

I've just ordered mine, with notches...waiting for the shipment to arrive. I've never used these rods before and am wondering, what is the the advantage of the no notches one?

Regards,

Lida

 

I got no-notches because I didn't want my kids to end up counting the individual squares instead of just learning the relationship by size. Down the road I plan on using the rods for fractions, decimals, geometry and algebra.... In these ways 6 notches won't mean 6. Or 2 squares on a rod isn't going to mean 2. My thinking is that it would be less confusing in the long run.

[fourcatmom]

I already feel stupid posing this question but since we are talking about C-rods, I will take a chance at it. My 4th grader is really struggling with math and always has to some degree. We are using TT4 and she is doing okay but new concepts take a long time. She loves working with manipulatives. Since I had heard so many people talk about how they love C-rods, I just went and bought a set. I am really struggling with HOW to teach using them since I am not suing a program that requires them. Would it be worth working through Miquon or some other math program as a supplement or is there a book or something that would help me introduce concepts using the c-rods and then follow up with TT?

 

Thanks!

[Dinsfamily]

Wooden isn't better?

 

I prefer wooden but the material is just a preference. The important thing (IMHO) is to get the non-notched, non-connecting rods. I'd definitely get at least the small group set. I have two individual sets and will probably buy a third soon.

[rebereid]

I wish I read this thread a week ago! I just bought the connecting, notched plastic rods and they arrived in the mail today.

 

My four year old had fun playing with them this afternoon: "These are like Legos!" he said. And he spent a while putting them in smallest to largest order, connecting them to be a "train," and making "things" out of them, without any prompting from me...

 

We are starting K4 work next year, and since he's so interested in math, etc, I was considering getting the first Miquon book. For those who've used the C rods, is the fact that I have notched connecting going to be an issue at this point?

[Rush]

Thank you for everyone! I'm so glad i have come across with this forum. :thumbup:

Many years ago, several friends raved about Cusenaire rods, and I just didn't get it. So eventually, when I owned an umbrella school and did some curriculum counseling--this was when all the "experts" said that every single child Must Have Manipulatives-- I took a class on using "manipulatives." What the heck?? We spent 2½ hours doing pattern blocks and and pentominoes, and I still couldn't tell how on earth these would help children learn basic arithmetic (I was the only non-professional teacher; *they* were all gaga-eyed over that stuff. Whatever. :glare:) The last half hour, we did base 10 blocks. At last!!! Something that made mathematical sense to me!

 

So then I decided that I needed to understand C. rods; I bought MMM and did all the task cards myself, starting with the very first one. At last! Something that made mathematical sense to me!!! I thought it was ingenious that the children learned about the rods, and their relationships to each other in size, long before numerical values were attached to the different colors. It is why I suggest that people go through quite a few of MMM task cards before they start Miquon [looks around hoping that Spycar doesn't see this :D].

 

Thank you for sharing this info with us. Considering that i am from Europe I had to order this set from over here http://www.cuisenaire.co.uk/Products.aspx?PageId=78

There was one in plastic, but I didn't realized earlier. Well, hope the wooden one will be ok too:001_smile:

[Ellie]

I already feel stupid posing this question but since we are talking about C-rods, I will take a chance at it. My 4th grader is really struggling with math and always has to some degree. We are using TT4 and she is doing okay but new concepts take a long time. She loves working with manipulatives. Since I had heard so many people talk about how they love C-rods, I just went and bought a set. I am really struggling with HOW to teach using them since I am not suing a program that requires them. Would it be worth working through Miquon or some other math program as a supplement or is there a book or something that would help me introduce concepts using the c-rods and then follow up with TT?

 

Thanks!

You could do Miquon. :-)

 

Or you could start out with Mathematics Made Meaningful, then do Miquon. You just have to relax and enjoy it, though, because it won't necessarily be introducing concepts your dd is learning in TT, KWIM?

[fourcatmom]

You could do Miquon. :-)

 

Or you could start out with Mathematics Made Meaningful, then do Miquon. You just have to relax and enjoy it, though, because it won't necessarily be introducing concepts your dd is learning in TT, KWIM?

 

Thank you for the feedback.

[besroma]

.

Edited April 22, 2012 by besroma
double post

[besroma]

This is a great thread regarding Miquon...be sure to read spycar's post.

 

http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=265681

 

I agree with others....plastic with no notches.

Edited April 22, 2012 by besroma

[Iucounu]

I wish I read this thread a week ago! I just bought the connecting, notched plastic rods and they arrived in the mail today.

 

My four year old had fun playing with them this afternoon: "These are like Legos!" he said. And he spent a while putting them in smallest to largest order, connecting them to be a "train," and making "things" out of them, without any prompting from me...

 

We are starting K4 work next year, and since he's so interested in math, etc, I was considering getting the first Miquon book. For those who've used the C rods, is the fact that I have notched connecting going to be an issue at this point?

We did the same thing, and my son wound up with a great grasp of basic math facts. I see the only possible drawback of the notches being that if you use the rods for other things besides basic number relationships, as a previous poster mentioned, the notches might get in the way, but I wouldn't know about that.

 

Bill (Spy Car) has posted in the past that the notches are bad because they take away an original intended benefit of the Cuisenaire rods, that of getting away from counting on fingers. That makes sense to me, but on the other hand I think it's nice to have the notches because if a child needs to double-check a fact they are available for counting; and in any event in my experience children quickly get past the point when they need to count things that are 4-5 or less in number.

 

In the end, the only thing I really don't like about our notched plastic rods is the Lego-like protrusion on one end of each rod to enable the connection feature (which I like, just not the protrusion). However, it never seemed to get in the way of understanding.

 

In my opinion, though it's good to get away from counting on fingers, it's not good to try to memorize number relationships without any reference to what the numbers are on a basic counting basis either (at least at the earliest stage-- and past that stage the notches won't hurt, because a student won't feel the urge to count them). That is, one can memorize "6 + 4" as two colors going together, but to me that smacks more of rote memorization than re-constructing the relationship based on counting one's fingers, and I'm not persuaded that it really builds a stronger math foundation than counting on one's fingers, though it may seem to give more basic calculation proficiency at an early age.

 

Part of my different opinion on this might be that we didn't use manipulatives much in general, and didn't spend much time with C-rods either. I still think they provided some benefit during a brief period.