Manipulatives
Manipulatives are tools that can be used in both reading and math, but are a tool that is used more often and known more commonly for math. My students use manipulatives to help with one to one correspondence and seeing math visually and in a tactile form. Math requires a lot more patience and paper and pencil in most situations, but if there is an opportunity to have students moving objects and seeing math in a different format, it allows them to receive the information in a different format to reinforce what is being taught to them as a whole group.
In second grade, we focus a lot of our time on place value and numbers up to 1000. Recently, students have been struggling with addition and subtraction with regrouping. Using different types of manipulatives reinforces the strategies that can be used for working with two and three digit addition and subtraction with regrouping. Below you can see pictures of students using manipuatives for several different lessons and topics.
In second grade, we focus a lot of our time on place value and numbers up to 1000. Recently, students have been struggling with addition and subtraction with regrouping. Using different types of manipulatives reinforces the strategies that can be used for working with two and three digit addition and subtraction with regrouping. Below you can see pictures of students using manipuatives for several different lessons and topics.
Below you can see a couple of examples of lesson plans where manipulatives are needed and used to reinforce the skills we have learned whole group.
How does this help my students?
There are many different types of learners in my classroom. As a teacher, it is my job to make sure I know how to best reach my students and provide them with strategies to be successful. Allowing students to have access to manipulatives allows them the opportunity to complete their work and be more successful than if they are working in a form that they do not comprehend. It is imperative for me to understand my students and give them as many opportunities for success as possible.