Toni Cameron, Director of Professional Development “The master coaches at Metamorphosis Teaching Learning Communities have been using bead strings in our work with NYC teachers. We have found this model is invaluable for a number of reasons. First, in early childhood, the bead string grouped in fives, has helped students understand place value big ideas. It has also supported the development of computational fluency in addition and subtraction, one of the mainstays of the CCMSS. Second, we have found that the multiplication bead strings have helped students develop key structural ideas (e.g., the idea of equal groups, ratio [two groups of five equals one group of 10], and the connection between multiplication and division) in multiplication and division. We highly recommend these products to anyone who is interested in supporting the development of student thinking in mathematics.”