What About 5?

Early this year I taught a lesson on rounding. In one of the activities, each student was given a full set of cuisenaire rods. As a class, we had already established the value of each rod. After having some time to play, students were asked to sort them into two piles; rods that are closer to 0, and rods that are closer to 10. Together, we made a graph showing which rods went into which pile. Here is what we agreed on: 

Immediately, a number of students said "What do we do with 5?" One student, Gemma, shared how she grouped her cuisenaire rods, pictured below. 

Me: "Why did you put the yellow rod in the closer to 0 group?" 

Gemma: "So there would be an equal number of rods in each group. Even in the table there would be an even number." 

What makes sense about what Gemma did? 

What does her work tell us about her thinking?

What would you say/do next?