<html><head><style type="text/css"></style></head><body><div style="font-family:times new roman,new york,times,serif;font-size:12pt"><div>Hi Folks,<br><br>We have used Cuisenaire rods a lot for all grades. <br><br>We always take magic markers and draw arrowheads on one end of the rods to give a sense of direction to the magnitudes when used in operations. <br><br>Vectors are a very powerful way of thinking about numbers and quantity and this is a great way to get them started with a measuring and magnitude idea that generalizes to more dimensions. <br><br>After a while you can start to use slender dowels for 2D calculations, etc.<br><br>Etoys objects are actually vectors, and Etoys actually has a "hidden" vector vocabulary for doing vector arithmetic in two dimensions.<br><br>Cheers,<br><br>Alan<br></div><div style="font-family: times new roman,new york,times,serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br><div style="font-family: times new roman,new york,times,serif; font-size: 12pt;"><font face="Tahoma" size="2"><hr size="1"><b><span style="font-weight: bold;">From:</span></b> Steve Thomas <sthomas1@gosargon.com><br><b><span style="font-weight: bold;">To:</span></b> Caroline Meeks <caroline@solutiongrove.com><br><b><span style="font-weight: bold;">Cc:</span></b> iaep@lists.sugarlabs.org; Patricia Curtis <patricia.curtis@gmail.com><br><b><span style="font-weight: bold;">Sent:</span></b> Tue, October 26, 2010 9:49:44 PM<br><b><span style="font-weight: bold;">Subject:</span></b> Re: [IAEP] Ideas<br></font><br> <div><div class="gmail_quote">On Thu, Oct 21, 2010 at 12:01 PM, Caroline Meeks <span dir="ltr"><<a rel="nofollow" ymailto="mailto:caroline@solutiongrove.com" target="_blank" href="mailto:caroline@solutiongrove.com">caroline@solutiongrove.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding-left: 1ex;"> <div>I have had requests for a few things over the years.</div><div><br></div><div><span><a target="_blank" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuisenaire_rods">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuisenaire_rods</a> - these are popular math manipulative and an online version would be cool.</span></div> </blockquote><div>Here are some Cuisinaire Rods in Etoys (sorry Patricia, I am NOT trying to discourage you, just support your request on what is <u>needed</u>)</div><div><br></div><div><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.squeakland.org/showcase/project.jsp?id=10355">Fraction Bars and Number Lines</a> and <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.squeakland.org/showcase/project.jsp?id=9442">Fraction Tools</a> both have Cuisenaire Rods built into the projects. The rods can not only be used for activities shown in the projects (and other activities and lesson plans), but also for kids to journal/describe their understanding of fractions and units.</div> <div><br></div><div>Stephen</div></div></div> </div></div> </div><br> </body></html>