Cuisenaire Rods lesson #2

As my second lesson with Cuisenaire Rods, I decided to do an activity that was some sort of challenge or game. I chose Train Riddles from the Cuisenaire Rod section under grades 3-5. I chose this lesson because it looks like a lot of fun and I know that many of my students will step up the the opportunity to make riddles that are unique and challenging to figure out. In this lesson students work in pairs to create a train of Cuisenaire Rods with a certain number of rods. Then the students create clues to help others figure out the different rods that make up their train. Eventually, each pair of students trade clues with another pair and try to figure out the correct train according to the clues provided. I like this activity because it is very hands on and it also provides students with an opportunity to practice descriptive language as well as various mathematical concepts.

Virtual Manipulatives

I recently explored the Congruent Triangles manipulative under grades 3-5 Geometry. Although congruency is a review for 5th grade students, some kids still struggle with the difference between similar and congruent figures. Using this manipulative, students do more than simply label shapes as congruent or similar. This activity allows them to manipulate predetermined lines in order to make triangle that are congruent. In my opinion, this is a helpful activity because the students actually create the shapes they are using. In this way, the concept is made more concrete and meaningful to them than if they were simply classifying someone elses shapes as congruent or similar.

Cuisenaire Rods lesson

For a lesson using Cuisenaire Rods, I have decided to do a lesson pertaining to triangles. My lesson is adapted off of the class disk under the 5-6 grade section. The title of the lesson is Making Triangles. In this lesson, students will explore creating triangles with Cuisenaire Rods. Students will also discover that certain rods will not form triangles when grouped together. Once they have explored creating triangles, they will work on classifying all of their triangles by their sides. Students will sketch each triangle on their record sheet, label the lengths of each side, name each triangle, and record the perimeter. As a closure activity, each student will come up to the front of the class and share one of their triangles. The class will determine whether or not their classification and perimeter are correct using Communicators to show their work.