Bye..bye..worksheets! (Math 1510)

I think anyone who has an elementary school child can agree with me that they are thankful for local recycling programs that accept paper.  I have three of my four children attending school now and I am dumbfounded each day by the amount of paper I clean out of their backpacks.  Now don't get me wrong I know there is a time and a place for everything, and many times worksheets are essential learning materials.  However, I am excited to be a teacher that commits to using manipulatives.  I myself am a hands-on learner and I feel that children benefit greatly from being able to personally touch, feel and relate in the real-world sense to the lesson they are being taught.  Using items such as blocks, colored chips, m&m's, cards, dice, beads, or any other small trinket give students this opportunity.  I feel that using this teaching approach motivates children to be active thinkers because they are physically "in charge" of moving the items in a manner that produces the desired result.

I found this article "7 Musts For Using Manipulatives" and thought I would share.  This particular teacher has used manipulatives in her classroom for 30 years and, "I'm convinced I can't — and shouldn't — teach without them."

This video is also very simple, but it makes some good points...I laughed when when she made the comment that by using edible manipulatives students, "take their mind off Math."

So, to sum this up....I think the greatest benefit to manipulatives is offering students an alternative learning method.  Manipulatives are very versatile and with the correct planning can be fun and educational to use in many areas of math!