Our school serves a diverse community of K-5 students in Oregon. As a Title I school, nearly 65% of our students are economically disadvantaged, and 15% experience homelessness at some point during the school year. However, despite challenging circumstances, all of our students make incredible growth each year!
As a STEM school, our students enjoy a heavy emphasis on utilizing and studying science, technology, engineering, and math.
My students understand math best by seeing and touching it themselves, not just writing algorithms and answers on a paper. We build a foundation of understanding mathematical concepts like place value and fractions by actually using ones, tens, and hundreds, or pieces of a whole.
My Project
This project will fund a whole library of magnetic math manipulatives that I will use every day with my students.
Manipulatives are objects that students can move and arrange with their hands to help them understand mathematical concepts.
When we learn a new concept, showing or drawing a picture can only go so far. When learning about money, students should be able to see and use money pieces. When learning about geometry, they need to build and manipulate 2D and 3D figures. It's simply not enough to describe a cube to a 7-year-old. They need to see it from all angles and explore it themselves--children learn through doing!
The manipulatives in this project will allow me to use real objects in group lessons with my class so they can see and touch them as we learn. Most of these sets are magnetic, so all students will be able to see them on the whiteboard. They will also be available for students to use during math centers.
I have requested manipulatives to address math standards throughout the year: addition (addition regrouping kit), subtraction (subtraction regrouping kit), place value (magnetic place value blocks), money (magnetic coins and dollars, cash register), fractions (magnetic fraction circles and bars, fraction tiles kit), and geometry (Magna-Tiles, Geostix, geometric shapes kit). I have also requested magnetic pouches to keep them organized and accessible, and sentence strip pockets to display algorithms and learning targets!
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As a teacher-founded nonprofit, we're trusted by thousands of teachers and supporters across the country. This classroom request for funding was created by Ms. Nelson and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
