Thank you for posting your questions. With RightStart Math we are teaching with the idea that our first manipulatives are our fingers. We are programmed to see in groups of 5's and 10's. Yes, you are correct in stating that often we see 5 as 3 and 1, however, we also want to have our children see 5 without the aid of dividing the number visually for a child to see. The goal here is for the child to be able to read the quantities on the abacus, therefore you do not need to do the 5 as a dice pattern. When working through RightStart make sure to read the objectives and notice if the objective says, introduce, practice or master. This helps us as parents to know if we can move on to the next lesson. What I and many others have found is that sometimes moving on helps solidify the previous lessons.

So, in essence, when asking children to "see" quantities put the quantities out in a row, with only a space between the 5th and 6th object, remembering that once on the abacus quantities will be easier to "see".

I hope this helps. Please feel free to email, call or post with any questions you might have.

Sincerely, Rosine