Math Teaching Supplies

November 25, 2020 – 10:09 am

Classroom Supplies and Manipulatives

THE QUESTION:

What are some of your favorite manipulatives to use in math class?

MY ANSWER:

This question reminded me of a post I set out to do a year ago. Last year, as I was cleaning up my classroom for the summer, I decided I should do a blog post about what manipulatives and supplies I keep in my cabinet in my classroom. I took all the pictures, but I never actually got around to writing the post. So, these pictures are now a year old, but they're still a pretty good representation of what you'll find in my cabinets.

So, I present to you: Things in Ms. Hagan's cabinet. Some are manipulatives. Others are just random stuff that sometimes comes in useful for my classroom.

Storage Tubs for Each Group of Desks - I used these my first year of teaching. Things got unorganized way too fast. Haven't used them since...

Pattern Blocks - I have to admit that I actually haven't ever used these for anything...
Toothpicks - Great for Visual Patterns or Calculating Pi
Coordinate Grid Stamps - I inherited these from the previous math teacher.

My students have used these a handful of times, but the ink seems to bleed through the paper too much to be able to write on both sides of the paper.
Wax Paper - Perfect for making parabolas
Walk-On Number Line - My mom picked this up for me at a yard sale. I think this would be really cool to use to make a human dot plot.
Spinners - These were also inherited from the previous teacher. I need to find a way to incorporate these into my statistics class next year!
Ping Pong Balls - I picked these up in the Target Dollar Spot. I still haven't found a project to use them for. I know they will come in handy one day, though!
Graphing Calculators - Not sure I need to explain my having these...
Scissors - Necessary for making foldables!
Rulers - I keep a tub of rulers out at all times for my students to use whenever necessary.
Dry Erase Erasers - I promise I've got newer ones since then. But, they probably look just as bad as these now.
Liquid Glue - I prefer stick glue for foldables, but every once in a while, my kids need liquid glue for a project. My classroom has become to the go-to place to come for supplies when my students have projects to do for other classes.