Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Homeschooling — Math Manipulatives

What are they? Some of the coolest math manipulatives and one of my favorites!

These three (3-for-$1) bins hold the original versions that I had. I got them when the girls were younger, and each set was probably around $12 to $14.

They are equivalency cubes that snap together, and each set can interchange with each other. They coordinate because they show the fraction, percent, and decimal equivalents. Of course each color coordinates between each set.

The only thing that would have made it better is if the blocks would have had all three equivalencies printed on each one. This week I went to a teacher store for the first time since I arrived in Michigan, and it's the best one I've ever been to. You know what I found? Equivalency cubes that have the fraction, percent and decimal equivalents printed on three sides of the same blocks.

How genius is that? They were $14.95 for the set, and in my eyes definitely worth it even though I own the other three already. This is an area that is always a challenge to work through, and we always pull out these blocks. You can use these sets for:

Showing pairs of unit cubes that are equivalent
Parts of a whole
Making two equivalent decimals by comparing heights (also percents and fractions)
Adding and subtracting
Simplifying fractions

Love these!


1 comment:

Lora @ my blessed life said...

We've been using manipulatives this year for The Princess' K5 year and we love them! They are so helpful!

 
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