Cuisenaire rods and Cuisenaire Alphabet Book..anybody use these?...

[Sue G in PA]

From the looks of it, Cuisenaire rods are a LOT like the MUS blocks. Each number length is a different color. Am I correct? Also, if you've used the Alphabet book, did you like it/find it helpful? It is recommended w/ the MFW K pack I have for ds5 who is just starting the program. I have SOOOO many math rods, manipulatives, etc. and just wondered what made these particular ones special? Any opinions?

[TengoFive]

We've used the Alphabet book for most of my kids so far. I think its a great resource for K. We did it for Pre-K math instead of anything too formal. They are remarkably like MUS blocks. In a way I like them better, just the feel of the wood and that you can't count on the blocks to see how many it adds up to. You have to actually know that 3+2=5. On the MUS blocks you can count the individual spaces to determine what it adds up to. That can be good or bad, depending on what you're teaching. They're a little smaller in scale than the MUS blocks. It's really up to you whether or not you want the extra manipulatives. One other benefit though to the Cuisenaire rods, is there are several books that utilize them for different things. For example, I recently bought a spatial problem solving book for my 10 year old that uses them. That may make a difference for you.