My staff/wand won't work on my action bar?

I just recently got my first wand.. and I'm pretty new to this so I don't know any of the world of warcraft lingo so I apologize. Anyway, so I get my wand.. it's all in the right spot, but it only works if I open up my spellbook and click it from there. On my action bar, all my spells work.. just not my staff or my wand. Does anyone know why?