Math Manipulatives

This blog is going to focus on the use of manipulatives to aid students with their math skills. I hope you have had an opportunity to view some of my other blogs related to Universal Design, RTI, and the Common Core Curriculum because they are all directly related to this blog.

When one walks into the standard math classroom they will likely witness students sitting at their desks working independently on math worksheets or from their math books. The problem with this is that likely only the students who have a very solid grasp on math are benefiting from this "hands off" type of instruction. The ones who struggle with math such as RTI tier 1 and tier 2 students need the support of UDL which would offer them the concept development skills needed to understand math. The following are a list of manipulatives that might benefit your students.

1. Unifex Cubes make math a hands on activity.

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2. base 10 blocks help students understand place values.                                                                                                                               
3. Money lines help students learn to identify coins and their values.  
4. Real Money is also a valuable tool because struggling students often don't have the concept of paper money or plastic coins.  

     5. Counter Chips are especially helpful when teaching positive and negative numbers.


         




                                                                                                         
Please refer to the following video to see an example of students benefiting from math manipulatives.