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Original poster

concept of tens and units, etc.

27 replies

nannyme · 02/06/2006 00:31

I am thinking of getting some cuisinere rods (sp) to help with this but does anybody else have any bright ideas?

Did consider getting away from using the term units by asking my 6 year old to think of something small like a blueberry for units, a strawberry for tens, orange for hundreds...

We could then actually use these as physical representations on the kitchen table when we do arithmetic. Is this confusing the issue?

Units were an abstract thing tonight it would seem.

OP posts:
MamaMaiasaura · 02/06/2006 00:32

There is a garfiled game thing.. hang on will go get it

Cadmum · 02/06/2006 00:34

Have you seen Montessori golden beads? My SIL and I made our own with beads and wire. I will find you a link with photos...

MamaMaiasaura · 02/06/2006 00:34

Garfiled its all about learning for ages 6-7. It has a section on maths and THTO (Thousands, HUndreds,Tens, Ones).

With ds we statred off with adding ones (units) and tens traditional style

10

  • 5 15

Then built to hundreds. He has not full grasped it (only 6) but it seems to be sinking in.

hth x

Cadmum · 02/06/2006 00:40

Not the clearest picture: \link{http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=www.yellow-web.com/vshop/images/montessori/vs499.gif&imgrefurl=www.yellow-web.com/vshop/hits.php%3Fid%3D499%26PHPSESSID%3D08fda3e90c0890fb43eacafd0487f10d&h=140&w=130&sz=6&tbnid=gLEhYcavDG9oMM:&tbnh=88&tbnw=81&hl=en&start=23&prev=/images%3Fq%3DMontessori%2Bgolden%2Bbeads%26start%3D20%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26client%3Dsafari%26rls%3Den%26sa%3DN\here} The truly brilliant part is that it means the child can see and feel the difference between units, tens, hundreds and thousands. (A thousand beads are quite heavy!)

Original poster
nannyme · 02/06/2006 00:41

Thanks cadmum...would be grateful of link to pics.

Awen, is this an online resource or software of some kind? Will Google if so.

OP posts:
MamaMaiasaura · 02/06/2006 00:43

sorry - is software. Has writing and grammer, reading and phonics, its all about maths and its all about vocab & spelling. It is ok - cost 9.99 toys'R'us. am considering though getting the SATS/Key Stage software as has better games on for the kids.

Original poster
nannyme · 02/06/2006 00:43

Oh that's cool CM - I get the idea and figure how you could make them.

I guess you could paint them Gold, Silver and Bronze too if one so desired!

OP posts:
Cadmum · 02/06/2006 00:47

Here is a picture of the material in use: \link{http://www.montessori-vienna.at/\golden beads}

Cadmum · 02/06/2006 00:48

Traditionally they are all made of gold because the tens ARE ten units; the hundreds are ten tens etc etc...

Cadmum · 02/06/2006 00:49

Can you tell that I was a Montessori teacher in a former life?

Original poster
nannyme · 02/06/2006 00:49

Thanks again Cadmum

Got you Awen, ta for that!

OP posts:
Cadmum · 02/06/2006 00:54

If you google Montessori math you will find many pages that explain how to use the material.

Cadmum · 02/06/2006 00:55

And you're welcome. I would love to teach maths all day with the beads...

Original poster
nannyme · 02/06/2006 01:00

Of course (about the gold thing) makes sense now. Different colours would encourage child to theorise that they were conceptually different, right?

But of course, a 'ten' is the same as ten units, etc....I see! I mean, I knew that of course but hadn't thought about how the child needs to see how the components of aten and a unit are one and the same thing.

Gosh, I am tying myself in knots trying to even explain myself here!

OP posts:
Cadmum · 02/06/2006 02:47

Sorry for not replying... I was trying to get my monkeys off to bed!

Your explanation was clear though.

There are some decimal presentation trays on ebay (with plastic as opposed to glass beads though).

They have 9 units, 9 tens, 9 hundreds and 1 thousand cube.

Introduction to the Decimal System (Golden Beads):

Small round beads, gold in color represent categories. One bead, referred to as a unit, represents the quantity one. Ten golden beads, threaded together on a wire are referred to as one ten. Ten tens wired together into a square are named one hundred. And then the one hundreds wired together into a cube are named one thousand. During an initial lesson a variety of games familiarizes the child with the names of these four categories and the matching bead quantity.

The golden beads allow the child to see and feel the quantities from one to a thousand and to understand for the first time on a basic level, the concept of squaring and cubing of numbers.

singersgirl · 06/06/2006 14:02

I used some games on this \link{http://www.ictgames.co.uk\site} to explain 10s and units to DS2.

He particularly likes Shark Numbers, but there is also a Dinosaur Place Value game.

I was thinking about Cuisenaire rods too.

(We are not home edding, by the way, but just noticed this).

Debbiethemum · 18/10/2007 18:45

I know this is an old thread. but does anyone know where I can get some cuisinere rods

Runnerbean · 18/10/2007 19:48

Hi,
I got some nice wooden ones from:
www.woodentotsmk.co.uk
My dd 4 likes to play with them and has worked out which numbers added up together make 10 or 5 etc. They are an excellent visual and tactile tool to help a child understand simple maths.

Saturn74 · 18/10/2007 19:50

brightminds.co.uk sell the plastic ones

Debbiethemum · 18/10/2007 23:05

Thank you for those, I will search those sites properly in the morning.
Are they still called cuisinere rods, or have they got a new name these days?

ShrinkingViolet · 19/10/2007 08:44

DD2 and I did this with sweets - 1-9 individual sweets, then wrap up ten in a packet to make "a ten", the ten packets make "a hundred", and so on (we got a bit carried away and were trying to imagine stacking ten warehouses on top of each other, and what you could wrap that with ). Then it's easier when it comes to column-method subtracting as you "unwrap" a packet from the tens column, to make ten individual sweets for the units column.
Golden Beads are obviously the same idea (DD3 prefers them as she hasn't got her headr round "virtual sweets" and if we used real ones, there wouldn't be enough left to count with!)

Saturn74 · 19/10/2007 09:54

Still called cuisenaire rods.

search.brightminds.co.uk/?action=Search&query=cuisenaire&image.x=0&image.y=0

Debbiethemum · 20/10/2007 09:21

Thanks Humphrey - it was my spelling that let me down Cuisinere/Cuisenaire. They are ordered and dispatched (about 1 hour between placing the order and them sending it).
Meanwhile we are using the Rugby - he has scored a try, which is 5 if it get converted how many points, now add a penalty on to that...

Newbie07 · 01/11/2007 15:57

Hi all,
My first post
A good tool i've found is the 5 minute box - it was recommended by a teacher, so i thought it might be of interest to some of you? I have googled it to find a link: www.fiveminutebox.co.uk/index.htm

redpyjamas · 12/11/2007 23:20

What about using an abacus? I use it with my 4 (nearly 5) year old when we play games involving numbers (Snakes and Ladders, Pass the Pigs, WAR etc.) It really helps to visualise the tens and the units, and how they are expressed in numerals. I did it this way (just playing a lot, and repeating things like "26 is 2 lots of ten and 6 more") with my now 6 year old, and now her mental maths and concept of numbers is fab. And she is not (I don't believe) and natural mathematician. HTH