On Wednesday 26th February, colleagues from Newham and Tower Hamlets participated on a Bar Modelling course at Lansbury Lawrence. This was the first of two sessions with a focus on part-whole relationships using cuisenaire rods to make bar models. After observing a lesson, participants were able to ‘have a go’ at bar modelling themselves using a range of manipulatives.

Sentence stems supported the children’s understanding of finding missing information when presented in a bar model.
Variation – how many ways can use cuisenaire rods to explore mathematical concepts?
One of the themes of today was supporting children to be flexible with their mathematical thinking and to make connections with their learning. The above image shows how one group used cuisenaire rods to represent a range of concepts.