Skills Covered

How to Use This Pack

Five pages built on the number rods, read aloud to the child, with every rod drawn to the same scale so the pages work like the rods on the rug. Page 1 has six rods to count part by part, writing each rod's number in the box. Page 2 has six rods and six numeral cards: the child draws a line from each rod to its card, as when the cards are laid at the end of each rod. Page 3 has six rods out of order: the child writes 1 beside the shortest, then 2, and so on to the longest, the way the stair is built. Page 4 lays a rod beside the 10 rod and leaves a gap: the child circles the rod that fills the gap exactly, so the two rods make 10. Page 5 asks which of two rods is longer, then has the child color a rod one part longer than the one shown on a strip of squares.

In the Classroom

Use the pages after the child has worked with the real rods: built the stair, named the rods in a three-period lesson and counted them, touching each part. Let a child who is unsure take the real rods to the table and lay them on the page or beside it. On page 4, have the child find the two rods on the rug and lay them end to end next to the 10 rod before circling. The pages make a quiet follow-up to the work and a record of it.

At Home

Cut strips of paper one, two, three and up to ten squares long, color the squares red and blue in turn, and build a stair together. Count each strip, touching every square. Ask which two strips make the same length as the longest one, and lay them side by side to check.

Tips for Success

• Touch each part of a rod as you count it, and say the last number for the whole rod
• The rods start with a red part, so the red ends line up when the stair is built
• Each rod is one part longer than the one before it
• Two rods make 10 when, laid end to end, they are as long as the 10 rod
• Let the length check the answer: a rod that is too long or too short shows at once