Modeling Fraction Concepts with Cuisenaire Rods

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Do NowWhat is your familiarity with using Cuisenaire Rods?• Are you serious? I can totally do this training!• I’m in love with Cuisenaire rods, my life has

been changed because of them.• I used Cuisenaire rods that one time in college.• I think I have a box of those things in my closet.• My head hurts thinking about them

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Are you serious?

I love them

One time in college

Box In my closet

My head hurts

ObjectivesThe Participants will:

Understand how to use Cuisenaire rods to model fraction concepts at the elementary level

Use concrete models to solve contextual fraction problems

Make connections with how these activities can be used in the classroom

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Reflection Activity: Classroom Observation Video

http://www.teachertube.com/video/using-cuisenaire-rods-by-marilyn-burns-84001

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Vertical Alignment1. What similarities do you see across the 3 grade

levels?2. What mathematical language is consistent in all

3 grade levels?3. How can collaboration happen on your

campus?

The Original Staircase

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Turn-and-TeachWhat do teachers and students need to know about Cuisenaire rods before learning fractions?

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Building a Foundation: Partitioning

Joseph has a candy bar. He cuts it into two equal pieces. Which rod(s) could be Joseph’s candy bar? • How can you use words to describe

Joseph’s candy bar?• How can you use words to describe one of

the two parts of Joseph’s candy bar?

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Building a Foundation: Halves and Fourths Rebecca has a candy bar. She cuts it into four equal pieces. Which rod(s) could be Rebecca’s candy bar? • How can you use words to describe

Rebecca’s candy bar?• How can you use words to describe one of

the four parts of Rebecca’ s candy bar?

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Building a Foundation: Identify Examples and Non-ExamplesBrandon picked up the red rod. He said that this rod is an eighth of the orange and purple rod. Is Brandon correct? -Why or why not?

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Building Foundation: Counting Beyond a WholeAlan purchased a large bag of chocolate candy bars. Each of the candy bars can be partitioned into four equal pieces. Alan ate some of the pieces of his candy bars. He now has only10 pieces left. Using words to describe his pieces as fractions, how should Alan count how many total pieces he has remaining?

– What is another way Alan can count how many total pieces he has?

TEKS: 3.3A Represent using • Kimberly used Cuisenaire rods to

represent that she has completed of her chores around the house. How might she have represented this using Cuisenaire rods?– Show at least two different solutions.

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Grade 3: Representing FractionsRichard spent of an hour studying for an upcoming test. He represented the fraction of an hour she did NOT spend studying using Cuisenaire rods. Show at least three ways Richard might have represented this.

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Grade 3: Unit Fractions• Lance created a model to show that one of the eight

tasks on his to-do list was complete. Build a model that shows this fraction. Explain what the different parts of Lance’s model represent as they relate to the fraction.– What fraction names this model? – What does the number 1 mean? – Where do we see the number 1 in the model? – What is being counted? – What does the number 8 tell us?– How do you define numerator? Denominator?

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Culminating Activity 1. Choose one of the third grade TEKS2. Using your knowledge of Cuisenaire Rods,

Create a real world problem that addresses the standard

3. Use color pencils to illustrate/describe your Cuisenaire Rods with graph paper.

4. Be prepared to share with the group

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Resources

Cuisenaire Companyhttp://Cuisenaire.co.uk

National Library of Virtual Manipulativeshttp://nlvm.usu.edu/

Enriching Mathematicshttp://nrich.maths.org

Math Playgroundhttp://mathplayground.com

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Thank You