Manipulatives

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Home : 2006 : November : 10

Manipulatives
By Bob

I always highly recommend manipulatives. I find that kids need to do the math, not just do the right answer.

I like base ten blocks. For a fact family of 7, get out 7 blocks. Break the blocks into fact families
and write them.

Fact family greeting cards are a lot of fun. On the front, write the sum number. Inside, paste beans to show a fact from the family. Put one addend on one side of the card and the other addend on the other side. The kids can write all kinds of fun messages to the family.

Breaking kids into fact families while they act out a story is helpful. They

get up and moving, and I like to keep kids active at some point in a lesson to get blood into the brain if for no other reason. 10 kids stand up. They are building a fort. One kid goes home to get a hammer. When he comes back, two kids go home to get snacks for everyone, etc.

Pantomime invisible manipulatives such as hamsters, rabbits, etc. The kids really get into this pretending; sometimes someone's invisible rabbit will even escape from his/her desk.

Be careful with triangle cards. They're great, but kids often think of them as a separte type of calculation, in other words, they think the teacher is teaching 3 types of calculation, adding, subtracting, and triangling. They don't always get the connection right away.

As a veteran teacher myself, I would be surprised if your students' parents would be critical. We went through first year teaching, too. Hey, it's tough! I'd recommend discussing your lessons with them for their advice.