We were able to take on a full day of numeracy with Carole Fullerton as a PD with SD57. While it went through primary, intermediate and middle years math, it all played with Cuisenaire Rods.

In the primary section the focus was on meaning making, with parts and wholes, and little to no focus on the numbers themselves. We asked questions like “how can you…”, “how many ways…” and “what do you know about…”. Some subtraction work was done around difference by comparison and taking away.

In the intermediate portion of our day we looked more at division as sharing, and fractional thinking. Going from small parts to a larger whole is factoring, and reversing that, going from big to small is multiples (all multiplicative thinking). With fractional thinking we could compare parts of a whole and see if it was more or less than a half and seeing where that would be placed on a number line, which made a concept that can be tricky for learners to grasp seem much friendlier.

Algebraic reasoning was the focus for the third session, targeted at the curriculum for grade 7 to 9. While the rods were left behind, there was still some fun ways to enter the conversation around algebra and expressions versus equations. We looked at preservation of equality, and making sure learners remembered that when you do something to one side, you must do it on the other. The values of cats compared to raccoons, and green squares compared to another made it a visually appealing lesson, and less intimidating than a typical variable or unknown.