The activity in this free math video helps bring the child’s work with the 3-dimensional Cuisenaire Rods down to 2-dimensional paper. It is important that children understand that every fraction represents a point on the number line. This is one way to help develop that understanding.
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Improper Fractions
This free math video shows a simple way to introduce “Improper Fractions” using Cuisenaire Rods. It’s best to do this activity first with only white rods and your “one” rod. My daughter has worked with fraction concepts using Cuisenaire Rods for a couple months so she understands that she can just use a purple rod in place of 4 white rods to represent 4 as the numerator. If this is confusing to you, get the rods out and do this activity yourself! It really does help!
Reducing Fractions
The activity in this free math video helps build understanding of what “writing fractions in lowest terms” means. Notice I am not telling them any rules at this point. They are simply exploring the relationships within certain “families.” Eventually, they should be able to intuit the rules for themselves or, if not, at least understand why the rules make sense.
Using Cuisenaire Rods to learn about fractions gives children a visual and kinesthetic way to explore concepts that are rarely understood well. Instead of learning rules about symbols they will DISCOVER rules about the numbers that those symbols represent. (4 is not a number – it is a symbol that represents a number.)