Thursday, October 2, 2014

Teaching Kindergarten Math with Manipulatives


When you begin teaching basic math concepts in Kindergarten or first grade, I have found using manipulatives help to connect the concept for little ones.



We have had a set of little rubber animals for  almost 20 years that I used with each of the kids. It does not matter what you use as long as you have a lot of them. You could use any small similar items. This particular set has been great cause I use it to teach patterns, color grouping and many other preschool items plus they are fun to play with for the little ones.

teaching addition, using manipulatives in kindergarten


Here we are beginning to start addition. I take a sheet of paper and write out five problems a day and provide a handful of the rubber animals. My daughter uses the manipulatives to figure out the problems. Many children are very visual so this really helps them "see" the math problem. Also, the kids find this fun and it keeps them engaged.

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4 comments:

  1. I love your little animals Elaine ... that's a great way to teach maths.... Hugs ... Barb xx

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  2. Elaine-
    I'm blown away by this!
    Not using manipulatives...but that the manipulatives you've shown here are little animals...and not little blocks!
    I had a set of manipulatives and after the kids were all through with school- I sold them.
    I am now teaching my grand daughter who is a little younger than Q and... well, she would love these.
    We're not working on math addition on paper yet.
    we use an 100's chart everyday...which is slightly hands on...she can remove the numbers and replace them- it's home made. We use the calendar... days of the week, etc.
    Oh! and I guess our manipulatives for pattern and some addition and subtraction have been plastic forks and spoons! very cheap at the dollar store. (I forgot about those)
    It has been years since teaching this age... I like your refreshers. ;)
    So glad you posting them!

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  3. I taught high school math for a number of years - manipulatives are fantastic (not to mention fun :-) )! One of the most important things I learned in my education classes is that memory and learning are enhanced when the maximum number of senses are involved - manipulatives help with the visual and tactile part of that ... keep up the good work, we need more kids interested in math :-)

    Patty

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  4. Looks like "math their way" to me. The DollarTree is a perfect place to find cute little manipulatives.

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