THE MANIPULATIVE CENTER

Activities

*Use vocabulary to define quantities and relationships and make comparisons
*Demonstrate concepts such as part and whole by sorting, matching, sequencing and classifying
*Form groups by sorting and matching
*Develop perceptual awareness skills
*Practice counting
*Experience-basic-addition/subtraction concepts
*Discover similarities and differences
*Develop small muscles, grasp and wrist rotation with puzzles and connecting pieces
*Develop three dimensional eye-hand coordination
*Make and repeat simple patterns using objects
*Discover color, shape, line and texture
*Work-on-persistence,-attention-and problem-solving skills

Getting Organized

For children to use puzzles and other small-scale manipulative materials, there needs to be a defined area for their use away from foot traffic. There should be small tables, benches and an open space with a floor mat where individuals or small groups can play games. Many varied and interesting materials can be assembled for use in this area – anything that invites children to construct, fit things together or develop patterns. Shelving at the child’s level, with picture and word labels for containers, will keep the area from becoming messy. Puzzles and manipulatives need to be rotated as children look for the next level of challenge.

Basic Equipment


*Puzzles of varying difficulty and puzzle rack
*Matching games
*Pattern blocks and patterns
*Linking and Lego-type materials
*Beads and string with bead patterns
*Button, zip, lacing and snap boards
*Light table with clear, colorful sorting and
patterning objects
*Counting objects
*Peg and geo boards
*Building sets/Legos
*Simple dominoes and Lotto games

The art of teaching is the art of assisting discovery
by Mark Van Doren

"Doing things well with their hands is important for many things children will learn in school. They need to be able to hold pencils and crayons correctly so they can learn to write and do mathematics. Play that involves the use of hands, muscles and eyes helps children develop coordination and problem-solving skills. Puzzles and pegboards give practice coordinating hand-eye movements. Simple number games aid the learning of concepts and functions of numbers. In particular, children this age need a lot of practice in digital dexterity – opening and closing items and using things without dropping, breaking or spilling them. If they can’t use their hands well, they will be afraid to try new things, and trying new things is an important way that children learn."

Moving Through all Seven Days link:http://www.lulu.com/content/e-book/moving-through-all-seven-days/7386965#http://www.helium.com/users/406242.html
http://www.associatedcontent.com/user/237923/Kathy_stemke_dancekam.html
http://kathystemke.weebly.com

Assessing the Value of Learning Math by Using Manipulatives

Manipulatives are any various objects designed to be moved or arranged by hand as a means of developing motor skills or understanding abstractions, especially in mathmatics. Children can use these manipulatives to get concret pictures of abstract concepts. Research indicates that the best way for students to learn is in three phases: first, by seeing the mathmatical concepts in a concrete, hands-on way; second, by drawing pictures that represent the same things as the concrete; and finally, by moving to the abstract, theoretical concepts.

The use of manipulatives would be essential for the first phase of learning.
Everything we know about young children dictates that early math programs must be concrete, filled with play and exploration. It's commonly believed that when you hear something, 10% of the information is retained. If you see it, hear it and say it, 40% is retained. But, if you also handle it, you retain 70%-100% of the information. Using math manipulatives, handling concrete objects helps the student to learn and retain abstract concepts in math.

TO READ THE REST OF THE ARTICLE WITH MANY PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS CLICK ON THE FOLLOWING LINK:
http://www.helium.com/items/1166822-math-manipulatives-unifix-cubes-value-of-learning-educational-resources-geometric

Kathy Stemke's websites:
Moving Through all Seven Days link:http://www.lulu.com/content/e-book/moving-through-all-seven-days/7386965#
http://www.helium.com/users/406242.html
http://www.associatedcontent.com/user/237923/Kathy_stemke_dancekam.html
http://kathystemke.weebly.com

More Multiplication Tips!!

If you're children are struggling with multiplication, try these mental and physical multitasking activities to get your children back in the swing of things. This hula hoop game is fun with two or more players taking turns and keeping score, but can work as well with one.

HULA HOOP MULTIPLICATION

1. Have your children make individual lists of the multiplication tables. (skip counting) Fold each list and place them in a bowl.
2. Each child takes a turn picking from the bowl. They must recite the table while using the hula hoop. (Ex. 4,8,12,16...) The other child can time them and check for correctness.
3. Now the next player gets a turn. After several turns, the player with the highest time wins.
4. You can modify this activity by changing the movement. (Ex. jump in and out of the hoop, hop on one foot in the hoop, circle the hoop on your wrist)

CIRCLE AND BEANS MULIPLICATION

Cut a 12 cicles and laminate them for durability. Use a bag of beans for counters. Write a multiplication problem on an index card. Explain that the first factor is the number of circles you need to use, and the second factor is the number of beans to put on each circle. (Ex. 5x7=) 5 circles with 7 beans on each circle. The kids will love this fun way to use concrete manipulatives to understand abstract concepts.