Biggest List of Cuisenaire Rod and Gattegno Resources
This is my working collection of Cuisenaire Rod and Caleb Gattegno resources. These are the books, organizations, tools, and materials I return to when I want to understand the mathematics more deeply or find another way into an idea. I will continue adding resources as I find things worth sharing.
On this page
Where to Start
If Cuisenaire Rods or Gattegno are new to you, begin with a small amount of guidance and spend time using the rods. Gattegno Mathematics Textbook 1 is short, dense, and full of possibilities. A mediated introduction will help you see what the spare directions leave open for discovery.
Begin with Learning Well at Home
Start with the current orientation, course, or workshop that introduces how we use Cuisenaire Rods and Gattegno’s ideas. Replace this button with the best current starting point in Heights.
Join the Community
Learning this way becomes easier when you can watch someone mediate a lesson and talk with other parents. Replace this button with the current Learning Well at Home community link.
Cuisenaire Rods and Foundational Books from Educational Solutions
The Cuisenaire Company UK
The Cuisenaire Company UK makes the best rods I have found. They are the original UK producer of Cuisenaire Rods and also publish important books by Caleb Gattegno and Madeleine Goutard.
Used Rods on eBay
Good used sets appear regularly on eBay, often for much less than new sets. Look for complete sets of wooden rods in the standard Cuisenaire colors and check the photographs for missing pieces.
Essential Books
Gattegno Mathematics Textbook 1
This is the first mathematics textbook. It introduces the rods, algebraic relationships, the languages of the operations, fractions as operators, symbols, and numbers through 20. There is enough here for years of exploration.
Now Johnny Can Do Arithmetic
Gattegno wrote this accessible introduction for parents. It offers a helpful entry into the Cuisenaire-Gattegno approach and gives the reader a clearer sense of what the rods make visible.
Mathematics and Children
Madeleine Goutard describes mathematically rigorous work with Cuisenaire Rods and addresses the situations that arise while teaching. If I were choosing one Goutard book, I would begin here.
Talks for Primary School Teachers
Goutard offers practical guidance for teachers using the Cuisenaire-Gattegno approach. The booklet is especially useful when Gattegno’s compact directions leave you wondering what the teacher might actually do.
Working with Rods and Why
This ATM collection brings together writing on mathematics education with accounts from teachers using the Cuisenaire-Gattegno approach in classrooms. It connects the theory with the lived work of teaching.
Cuisenaire: From Early Years to Adult
Helen Williams, Mike Ollerton, and Simon Gregg offer activities for learners across a wide range of ages. The diagrams and classroom photographs help readers see how mathematical structure can be represented with the rods.
Free Resources
Handbook of Activities
Guy Gattegno and Martin Hoffman assembled a substantial collection of elementary mathematics activities. The Bronx Charter School for Better Learning gave us permission to distribute this out-of-print book.
Gattegno Tens Chart
The tens chart supports investigations of relationships among the numbers. Download the chart, use it with rods, and ask what changes and what stays the same as you move through its structure.
Cuisenaire and Gattegno Films
The Association for Mathematics in Education maintains a collection of films and related material. The collection includes historical footage and resources that help place Gattegno’s work in context.
Prime Climb Cards in Cuisenaire Colors
These cards connect the factor structure of the Gattegno wall chart with the colors of Cuisenaire Rods. They are useful alongside towers, factor investigations, and Prime Climb.
Related Mathematical Resources
Math for Love and Prime Climb
Prime Climb gives a beautiful visual representation of prime factorization and invites work with multiplication, division, exponents, fractions, and notation. Math for Love also publishes lessons and a free Prime Climb color chart.
Learning Well at Home Articles
Use this space to point readers toward your strongest public articles, game reviews, and investigations involving Cuisenaire Rods. Add the current links after the page has been rebuilt.
Have Something to Add?
This is a living collection. If you know of a book, archive, activity, or organization that belongs here, send it my way. I am especially interested in resources shaped by Gattegno’s work and thoughtful uses of Cuisenaire Rods.