Thursday, October 20, 2011

Make-It-Yourself-Math...Counting Rope


At the Northwest Math conference I felt very privileged to sit in on several Kim Sutton workshops. If you've seen her, you know how amazing she is. If you haven't, I highly recommend checking into her work at Creative Mathematics.

In one of her workshops, she briefly held up a "Counting Rope." I thought it a very nifty math manipulative and received permission from Kim to make a video showing how to make your own. This is an incredible visual model for demonstrating addition, subtraction, counting and more!

If you like the video, I encourage you to comment here or on YouTube, showing your appreciation to Kim for allowing me to pass on this information. And look for Kim's book, Do The Math (scroll down on this page), for activities using the counting rope. Enjoy!

22 comments:

  1. Love this! Looks like my answer to an affordable Montessori Short or Long Bead Chain. Thank you for sharing.
    Discovering Montessori
    www.godwhohasnohands.blogspot.com

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  2. Pinning this and love it the idea may give it a try with my 7 year old.

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  3. Thank you for sharing this brilliant idea!!! Going to make these tonight - can't wait to try them tomorrow! And I love the video. It was very helpful!

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  4. Thanks so much for the video - this looks so easy once I saw you actually make it. We are definitely making some of these!

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  5. Thanks for sharing! I am making a twenty bead one for a first grader. I think it will really help with his hands on nature.

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  6. Awesome! Thanks for sharing. I came here from TJEDMUSE group. :)

    adiyendasi

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  7. wow thank you kim and cindy. these are really amazing. i will surely have to share this and make them too

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  8. I saw your post on the TJEDMuse list and had to come check it out. Thank you for the great video! You made it look easy-peasy! I think these will make a fabulous addition to our math supplies and can't wait to make them with my children next week. If you want to see some of the math-y things we do, you can read my Living Math section at wetoatmealkisses.com.

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  9. Thanks for your comments, all!

    Tracy, what a great math group you have! You guys would love doing the marble roll lessons from The Math Learning Center. See picture/link on the right side of my blog.

    Keep up the great studies! Love your blog. :)
    Cindy

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  10. LOVE this idea!!! :)
    Miss you guys!

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  11. This is a great idea! I love anything that gives them a more hands on approach to math. Thanks for sharing.

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  12. Thank you soooooo much for sharing! After viewing the video I attempted to make the counting rope (and as we would do in our class while snapping our fingers, it was 'a piece of cake'!). I then took one of my students and taught them how to make a counting rope. They in turn taught two other students. I now have an assembly line of students, who during a spare moment, either begin, or continue making a counting rope. I surmise that by the end of the week, I'll have enough for the class (and perhaps even the class next door!). WOOHOO!!!!!!!!!!!!1

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  13. DD...that's so awesome! ;) Keep that assembly line going!

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  14. Thanks for this post, I've pinned as well as have a post with some math ideas using this counter. Great idea and what a way to make math fun!

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  15. Neat! Loved Kim Sutton when I was a public school teacher.. and have been thinking of adding some materials to my homeschool. The counting rope reminds me of "Sacrifice beads" that some Catholics use (we are Cathoilc), learned from St. Therese. Kids also use them for a decade of the rosary. Pulling the beads helps them keep count as opposed to a normal rosary. Anyway, we are definitely going to make these with my 4-8 year old crowd. THanks to Kim for letting you share!

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  16. Thank you for showing how to make the counting rope. Really useful, esp the beads don't move by themselves, and Child has to really move beads.

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  17. How long do you make the rope for a hundred bead rope or a 50 bead rope? Does anyone know?

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    1. Hi Lynn,
      I've never made one that long, so I'm not sure. If you try it out, let me know!

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  18. I make bracelets, but love this idea. Can't wait to have my firsties try it. Thank you for sharing.

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    1. You are so welcome! I'm interested to know how it goes. :)

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  19. Thanks for the video. It was great! Thanks Kim for letting her make it. :)

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