■'om concrete to abstract. The following are some guidelines for using manipulatives in :ne classroom. 1. Orient the students on how to use the manipulative. Give some time for the students to play with the manipulative. Allow them to explore the object and what they can do with it. 2. Give clear and specific instructions. State the goal of the activity and how the manipulative can help them achieve the goal. 3. While the students are at work, pay attention to their mathematical talk. Use their ideas to enhance the discussion that follows after the activity. 4. If some of the students are struggling, ask them "why" and "how" questions to scaffold their way through the activity. Many manipulatives are commercially available; the common ones are Base 10 Blocks (for learning value, place value, decimals, etc.), geoboards (for learning properties of plane figures), play money, and paper clock. However, you may also create manipulatives using readily available materials like popsicle sticks, buttons, boards, fasteners, etc. Making your own manipulatives is much cheaper and it gives you the benefit of customizing them according to your need.
Unit SSI * INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES FOR MATHEMATICS IN THE INTERMEDIATE GRADES
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