This year, I’m working as a math interventionist. I love teaching math all day long and getting to work with different grade levels.
Throughout the years, I’ve developed favorites, of course. If I had to pick my top five must-have supplies for teaching math, these would be them. You can find all of these on Amazon for easy shopping!
Double Dice
Double dice are perfect for math facts: find the sum, find the difference, or find the product!
These make great gifts for students, too. They love the novelty and always promise they will practice their math facts – ha!
I have these 10-sided dice in dice. My kids love them – even those in the upper elementary grades!
The same company also makes 6-sided dice in dice and jumbo dice in dice.
Magnetic Base Ten Blocks
I taught way too long without magnetic base ten blocks. Now I can’t imagine teaching math without them!
Base ten blocks have always been a must-have for me, but magnets are a game-changer when it comes to whole group instruction.
The kids love using them, too, just because they’re a little more special than regular base ten blocks.
Fraction Tiles
When it comes to fraction manipulatives, I tend to prefer circular tiles over rectangles, simply because it’s easier to see the wholes.
Find foam (i.e. – quiet!) circular tiles here.
Find magnetic circular tiles here.
My tiles have the decimal equivalent on the back, which can be super helpful when it comes time to teach decimals. These fraction bars are also double-sided.
Snap Cubes
Unifix cubes or snap cubes are definitely a must for teaching math skills. They are SO versatile!
I typically think of snap cubes as manipulatives for basic math like counting, addition, and subtraction.
However, they can be used for so many more things if you use a little creativity! I have personally used snap cubes for multiplication, division, arrays, factoring, area, perimeter, fractions… The options are truly endless!
I tend to use these subes for everything, but any sort of counters would work for many of the skills I mentioned.
Dry Erase Pockets
Last but not least – dry erase pockets.
These are great for all subjects, including math of course!
I like using them for practice in small groups (or for remediation) to cut down on the amount of copies I need. They’re also perfect for partner or group games that students might play in centers. Save paper, save time… Just write and wipe!
What’s Your Must-Have Math Manipulative?
Don’t just take it from me! I asked my Instagram followers… If you had to choose just one math manipulative, which one is it that you couldn’t live without?
These were mentioned repeatedly:
- Dice
- Base ten blocks
- linking cubes
- fraction tiles
- counters
Gotta have ’em!
Check out these curated lists on Amazon:
Please note that this post contains affiliate links. Purchasing through these links comes at no extra cost to you, but I do get a small percentage back that I use for the upkeep of this blog and other School and the City communications.
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