Teaching Your Students
to Use Manipulatives
Sarah
Picard
When
teaching an investigative math curriculum rich in word problems,
it is important the children have access to all the manipulatives
they will need to solve the problem. It can be difficult to predict
what a child may decide to use to solve a problem, that’s
why all the manipulatives in my classroom are available for students
to use every day.
This doesn’t
mean that I put all the manipulatives on the shelf and say, “Here
you go! Use what ever you want, whenever you want!” I carefully
introduce each manipulative on the first days of school, and the
students and I talk about how we would use each manipulative.
This may sound time consuming and unnecessary, but a week of setting
expectations in the math workshop will pay off every day you teach
for the rest of the year.
Your overall
goals during that first week may include objectives about the
tools and how to use them. Following is a list of some of my objectives:
-
Students
will gather at the rug in their assigned rug spot when the
workshop begins.
-
Students
will transition from mini-lesson (at the rug) to independent
work (out at tables and carpets) and back to the rug for the
share.
-
Students
will use the names of the math manipulatives (unifix cubes,
pattern blocks, color tiles, geoblocks, etc.) in their conversations
about the tools.
-
Students
will get materials independently and return them to the shelves
independently.
-
Students
will try out each of the math tools and understand how they
work (for example: unifix cubes come in different colors,
and they snap together).
-
Students
will begin to imagine the ways in which they will use the
math tools to solve problems.
Here are some
of the activities my students and I do during the first few days
of school in the math center.
-
Name each
tool and give students time to explore the tool independently.
Ask students what they notice about each tool and how they
could imagine using the tool.
-
Practice
gathering and leaving the carpet area for independent work.
-
Label
the baskets together with students and decide which shelf
will house each basket.
-
Practice
getting tools from the shelves and putting them away.
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