Here is a free math video that shows an excellent activity to do with preschoolers (or any age when first working with Cuisenaire Rods!) to help them internalize more of the structure of our number system. This is the gateway to learning multiplication, division, and fractions. Even very young children can begin to learn about these topics when they are presented this way. You will spend a lot more time teaching these concepts if you only use pencil and paper to introduce them! Cuisenaire Rods help children and adults to SEE the patterns inherent in our number system.
Tag Archives: help
Shorter, Longer…
This free math video shows another good activity to do when introducing the Cuisenaire Rods to preschoolers. This obviously got pretty difficult for my 4 year old when we started working with more than three rods. It’s a good activity to build critical thinking skills.
Teaching Place Value
This free math video shows another way to introduce the concept of place value in the decimal system. This is a more traditional way to do it. People usually use Base Ten blocks, but Cuisenaire Rods work perfectly well, too!
Notice that I don’t tell her the English name for every single number. It is more important at this point that she understand the “tens and ones” concept than that she attach each quantity to a particular name. Eventually it will all come together in her mind that “ten and three” and “thirteen” and “13” are all the same thing.
Let me repeat: It is much more important that children first understand “tens and ones” than that they be able to say “thirteen” when they see “13.”