Friday, September 18, 2009

Making Math Tangible

To help Olivia visualize the math problems she's doing, I suggested she use some shells. It makes math so much easier for her.

It's nice to hear her work through her math lesson ("If I have three sea shells and I add one sea shell, I have FOUR sea shells!").

Having natural math manipulatives is important too. Rather than having children count with plastic items, it is as easy to use small pebbles, acorns, twigs, or other items found in nature. Fall is a great time to find beautiful, colorful leaves.

Go outside for a fall nature walk, and bring bags to collect the treasures that can be used during math. Children love discovering items outside on walk which only adds to the excitement when they use them during math.

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