26th Day: Math Manipulatives for Partners or Individuals

Even though I teach sixth graders, I use math manipulatives often. For many students, it gives them a "visual" to which they can attach their thinking.

While many primary classes use Base 10 Blocks for representing whole numbers, we use them to show decimals...

seven hundredths

three tenths

thirty-four hundredths

one and forty-one hundredths

This also helps students see that, for example, forty-one hundredths is also four tenths and one hundredth, or that one and forty-one hundredths can also be seen as one hundred forty-one hundredths. And this talk eventually translates into a discussion of percents. I have often wished there was a "whole" yellow "flat" that I could actually break (like Kit Kat bars!) into pieces (hundredths). I think that would make the concept even clearer. One hundred little squares on each desk is a nightmare! (Believe me--I've tried it!) The closest I have come is taking "the whole" apart on the Promethean Board...

Storage in any classroom is a problem, and like most teachers I stored my manipulatives in bins.

And I felt I was making progress when I actually LABELED the bins!

However, whenever I wanted to do an activity, I needed to get the materials "ready." "Ready" is  not always easy for me. It seems like the clock is always ticking faster than I can move. And even with a handful of sweet student helpers, it seemed that this process of "ready" took more time than I was willing to spend.

Last year, I finally caught up with the rest of the teachers who had moved to individual sets of manipulatives. What a time saver! I usually ready baskets of materials before class and this makes it easy to say, "If you are sitting at Spot 3, please go and get the basket of manipulatives for your table" or, if I am really lucky (and really "ready"), the bins are on their desks when they walk into the room! I also use "math tool boxes" in my classroom (a topic for another post in the future...) which allow students to always have access to various tools for problem solving.

This is one time when using the "good" baggies is important. (Only a teacher would recognize the difference between the "good" baggies and the "just fine" baggies!). The ones with the sliders seem to work best in this situation. Recently, I separated the "cubes" into snack size ("just fine") baggies. This allows me to use just those pieces for different tasks--or to combine these with the "rods" and "flats" to do other things.

I don't always have enough manipulatives for each student, so partners often share. The "baggie system" allows for quick clean up as well, as students learn to become responsible for making sure all of the pieces are returned to the baggies before they are put away. (I post the count of materials for each bag and I make sure to have a box of "extras" on hand.) This saves me precious minutes for the next lesson because the bags are always "counted" and ready to go! The baggies of manipulatives are stored in a bin in the closet when they are not in use, and some sets remain in the math tool boxes.

How do you deal with manipulatives in your classroom? Do you package math materials for individual students? Do you have any other tips to share for managing manipulatives in the classroom?