Virtual Manipulatives in Mathematics

Hey teachers and welcome back to another episode of the Simple Tools for the Online Teacher Podcast. I have some big news this week! I’ve been talking about my upcoming video series on different edtech resources you can use in your online and in person classrooms to up engagement. Well, I decided to make one of the videos free for you! The free video shows you how to use Blooket. It’s a short video and will take less than half an hour of your time. It’s sure to bring the fun back to review games and informal assessments. Ready to get your hands on it? Head on over to onlineteacherallyson.com/preview.

Alright math teachers, today is for you! Last week we covered read alouds in the online classroom. If you missed it, make sure to catch last week’s episodeEpisode 15: How to Improve Read Alouds in the Virtual Classroom or catch the blog post here. So today, let’s talk math. This episode was designed for elementary teachers, self contained or departmentalized, that teach math. However, if you are a middle school or higher teacher, you still may find some valuable nuggets of information inside. In today’s episode I’m going to give you quick and easy ways to implement manipulatives in the online classroom. As teachers, we all know how valuable those little hands on items can be.

First, let’s limit the play

My senior year of college, along with student teaching, I was also required to take a few courses. One of these courses was a math class specifically learning how to teach math to elementary school students. One day, we all walked into class and there were bins of manipulatives on the tables.  Before my teacher started her lesson, she allowed us a few minutes to play with the manipulatives. Yes, play. That’s exactly what we did and what we needed – even as adults! This let us get out that urge to build the longest stick possible that we could out of those connecting cubes, and build cool towers with the different colored blocks and geometric shapes in front of us. 

I say this to encourage you to do the same with your students – in person or online. If we needed the 5 minutes of play as adults, why wouldn’t your students need this as well? This is something I have brought into my classroom with me. Although it doesn’t eliminate 100% of the play, it drastically reduces it. 

Now think about them virtually

Now, I want you to think about virtual manipulatives. It is very likely your students have never used online manipulatives, and if they have, it hasn’t been very often. The urge to play and explore will be quite high across all types of learners. Let them play, teacher friend! They may just learn something along the way. 

But, enough of the stories, let’s get into specifics. When you think of math manipulatives, which are your favorites? You’re probably naming manipulatives like the clock, tens cubes, fraction tiles, money and coins. I could go on and on. But, how do you effectively use these in the virtual classroom when you can’t expect your at home learners to have the same tools you have in your classroom? 

How would you do it, Allyson?

Well, teacher friend, that’s where you’re going to have to get creative. I recently taught an online lesson on equivalent fractions. How do you show fractions are the same? How do you show different ways to make the same fraction? Wouldn’t it be boring if they just watch? Well, I started with displaying my fraction rods first. I used my document camera to show this. But next? Next is where the fun, and creativity begins.

Let’s get creative. What do your students have at home?

For fraction rods, I want you to think about what your students probably already have at home: construction paper, playdoh or clay, regular lined or printer paper. You can get as complicated or as simple as you or your students require. You can also create them in Canva or powerpoint for your students to (hopefully) print and cut. But, for the purpose of my most recent lesson, we used construction paper. I modeled with my student how to take the paper from a full sheet, to strips, to equivalent fractions. This can be a lesson in and of itself!

Next, we used the fraction strips to model equivalent fractions. We extended the lesson by talking about the denominator and how that even though the number was bigger, the fraction size was actually smaller. Fractions tend to be an intimidating subject for many students, but we had so much fun together! As teachers, you know your students and your classrooms best, so I won’t tell you exactly what to ask and what your lesson needs, you know where to go next!

If you want something completely online…

So, now that we’ve gotten physical manipulatives created, what about virtual? Well, I have these as well! A quick Google search comes up with TONS of different sites and resources for every math manipulative you could need. One of my favorites is on a Google Site. You can grab the link here. I specifically looked for fraction strips here and wasn’t disappointed. Inside this Google Site the creator has created Google Slides for you to copy (the Google copy button) and reuse in your classroom. Within the slide, they have short tutorials showing you how to use each one. This is quick and simple, but the website is so detailed.

They have resources for upper and lower elementary as well as trackers, learning targets, RTI, reviews, and resources in Spanish and Chinese. Some of my favorite resources are the fraction strips, base 10 blocks, and pattern blocks. But, let’s get onto my favorite.

Nearpod

Remember Nearpod? Inside Nearpod there is a section filled with math games that help review basic and more advanced concepts. There is a full breakdown of Nearpod on Episode 4: Online Teaching Tool Swap 2.1 – Up your student engagement by leveling up your Google Slides and Powerpoint lessons with Nearpod or grab the blogpost here.

But most specifically for math, inside Nearpod you will create a new lesson. Inside of that slide you will see an option for ‘content’ or ‘activity’. Under content, you want to click ‘simulation’. Once inside, you will see tons of different game-like activities you can incorporate to help your students gain mastery of the topic. When I click on ‘elementary math’ I can see there are practice activities for area, decimals, multiplication, balancing, fractions, and even one called “John Travoltage” which made me literally laugh out loud. Not an elementary teacher? There’s sections for middle school and high school as well. The same thing for science in this simulation section. This is why I love Nearpod. It makes some things quick and simple. What more can a teacher want? Except the obvious, of course.

Which method do you think you’ll be trying?

So, which method do you think you will be trying first? How do you think it will help level up your online teaching? Let me know! I want to hear from you! Send me an email at onlineteacherallyson@gmail.com. Your feedback helps drive my content and helps me create these weekly podcasts so they are as relevant to you as possible. And, while we’re at it, if you feel so lead, I would love for you to leave me a 5 star feedback wherever you are listening to this episode. It helps this show get into more ears, helping students everywhere. That’s it for now, teacher friend. I hope you’re having a great week. Chat soon!