momma2owen29 Posted August 16, 2012 Share Posted August 16, 2012 (edited) Hi there! I'm new to this forum and will be homeschooling for the first time this fall. My son is 5.5 years old and is ready to start kindergarten math. After much research + deliberation, i've decided that I'd like to use Singapore essentials for our workbooks (really like the idea of number bonds!), but with the math-u-see manipulatives. I've searched to find another thread where members were using this same approach, but have come up empty handed. This leads me to believe one of two things... Either I'm missing something and shouldn't be using these two together for our math curriculum after all. Or, this is much too elementary to deserve a thread. ;) Please forgive me if this has already been covered. I know that I can purchase a base ten set of manipulatives through Sonlight and i can definitely see the merit in using those to teach place value with a ones/tens/hundreds chart. But- if I go that route, I wouldn't receive any 2, 3, 4, 5, etc blocks. I guess one of the main ideas that I like about the math-u-see manipulatives is that they seem like a fantastic way to introduce the idea of whole + part or number bonds. For instance, with the math-u-see blocks, I can easily demonstrate to my son the idea that the number 5 can be made with several different parts or combinations... 4 and 1 or 2 and 3, etc. Am I thinking of this correctly? Anyone else use Singapore essentials with math-u-see blocks? Do you see any cons with using this approach? Is there a better manipulative that I should be using to teach the Singapore method? I am aware of the c rods, but like the idea of the notched math-u-see manipulatives instead... Unless, of course, someone could change my mind. :) Thanks in advance! Any help would be much appreciated!! Edited August 16, 2012 by momma2owen29 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boscopup Posted August 16, 2012 Share Posted August 16, 2012 I used C-rods with it. Why do you think you need notches? My 4 year old figured out the values of the rods quicker than I did. With notches, he'd probably still be counting them every time. Watch some educationunboxed.com videos to see the rods in use. They really are nice to have in book B when you do missing addend. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dinsfamily Posted August 16, 2012 Share Posted August 16, 2012 Use Cuisenaire Rods. Sonlight even sells them if that is your preferred seller (I bought mine from SL). They are on a cm scale like the base ten set (which I use later alongside C-Rods) and have 1-10 pieces. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
craftyerin Posted August 16, 2012 Share Posted August 16, 2012 Singapore EM with c-rods is my plan. We've been playing with c-rods and some of the PK/kinder concepts on the Education Unboxed videos for now and having a lot of fun with them! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aoife Posted August 16, 2012 Share Posted August 16, 2012 you can just get a normal base ten set if you want to go that route and IMHO they are indispensable. Base ten are used heavily in montessori and used in singapore later on as well. And you can teach place value to a kindergartner with them and have them really understand it! :tongue_smilie: here are some examples of montessori using the bead material (their version of base ten) http://www.montessorialbum.com/montessori/index.php?title=The_Exchange_Game http://www.montessorialbum.com/montessori/index.php?title=Bead_Layout Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mommie_Jen Posted August 16, 2012 Share Posted August 16, 2012 I'm another one who is using EM with C-Rods...although we really haven't broken out the rods much yet. We like it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kathryn Posted August 16, 2012 Share Posted August 16, 2012 We left MUS for Singapore and sold the MUS blocks for cuisenaire rods and base ten blocks. The advantage of c-rods over MUS blocks is in the fact that they aren't notched. Later, you can make the blocks stand for different numbers when doing fractions. They are more focused on the relationship between the numbers rather than on the numbers themselves. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Walking-Iris Posted August 16, 2012 Share Posted August 16, 2012 My Kinder has been working with essentials. I use c-rods. There's not really any adding etc until the B workbook btw. I planed on using c-rods because he'll move into using Miquon next. The colors of c-rods and MUS blocks don't correspond. Essential also suggests linking cubes, like unifix. I just use chunky Duplo lego blocks for that kind of counting practice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PookieMama Posted August 16, 2012 Share Posted August 16, 2012 I used C-rods with it. Why do you think you need notches? My 4 year old figured out the values of the rods quicker than I did. With notches, he'd probably still be counting them every time. Watch some educationunboxed.com videos to see the rods in use. They really are nice to have in book B when you do missing addend. We left MUS for Singapore and sold the MUS blocks for cuisenaire rods and base ten blocks. The advantage of c-rods over MUS blocks is in the fact that they aren't notched. Later, you can make the blocks stand for different numbers when doing fractions. They are more focused on the relationship between the numbers rather than on the numbers themselves. :iagree: Learning the colors of the rods is not a big deal at all. They are so much more versatile w/o the notches! We also like the base ten blocks for teaching place value. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
momma2owen29 Posted August 18, 2012 Author Share Posted August 18, 2012 (edited) Thanks so much, everyone... Your replies have been more than helpful! I've ordered a set of c-rods and can't wait for them to arrive so we can start playing around!! :) The videos at education unboxed are just fantastic!!! Edited August 18, 2012 by momma2owen29 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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