Hey
Kirsty, remember these? Growing up in New Zealand in the 1970s,
cuisenaire rods were integral to my early mathematics education.
I'm guessing that cuisenaire rods are not around in schools any more and certainly not the smooth wooden ones like I used to have.
I have a set that looks exactly the same that we used a little for homeschooling.
ReplyDeleteMy kids got cardboard squares and strips in similar colors in German first grade. I'm still finding them slipped between pages and at the bottom of school backpacks. ;-)
ReplyDeleteI sooo remember those!!
ReplyDeletewe had plain brown wooden ones too(with the units marked with a square), but the coloured ones pictured were the coolest.
I had forgotten all about cuisenaire rods-the words brought back memories of my mother teaching school in the sixties (in Connecticut). She got her degree in 1928-so cuisinaire rods were considered very unusual. I (age 14) was drawn to their smoothness and colors.
ReplyDeleteKathleen
They are definitely around in US elementary classrooms, it just depends on where you look. They are important for teaching number concepts, addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. Look up Marilyn Burns mathematics, I am sure she talks about them to this day! Awesome tool!
ReplyDelete