Magnifying Mathematical Skills with Much Needed Manipulatives
Help me give my students additional resources and tools such as games, calculators, and place value blocks to solidify and reinforce their learning in the classroom.
I teach functional mathematics to high school students, grades 9-12, in a high needs special education setting. My students have a range of ability levels as well as intellectual, physical, and sensory needs. My students work hard to learn functional math skills so that when they are done with school, they feel confident in their abilities to apply these math skills in their everyday lives.
My students work hard to develop their math skills through their participation and self-advocacy so that they can be as independent as possible when they finish their schooling.
They work hard to learn basic money skills such as coin names and values as well as more challenging skills such as calculating change from a transaction.
My students typically interact with at least 3 other high needs special education teachers throughout their day to focus on other academic and functional areas and skills in addition to general education electives.
My Project
All of my students have varying learning needs and ability levels. As their teacher, I strive to provide them with differentiated instruction and opportunities to learn, practice, and apply the skills they have learned. I strive to teach my students with materials and examples that are meaningful to them so that they are able to apply these skills outside of the classroom.
Many of my students require reteaching and repeated reinforcement of concepts, specifically relating to money, to maintain their skills.
When I am able to use manipulatives, my students are better able to grasp the concepts that we are discussing such as addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division as well as applying these mathematical concepts to real-world applications such as money skills.
The products I have selected will help my students by providing them with tools and manipulatives to help them find solutions to mathematical problems in the classroom. I have selected a set of 10 calculators so that each of my students is able to have equitable access to a calculator when solving difficult multi-step problems and to double-check their work. The Unifix Cubes and Place Value Blocks have been selected to use as manipulatives in the classroom so my students are able to manipulate the math problems alongside the teacher and can demonstrate their understanding of the concepts. The Money file folder games have been selected as reinforcement tools that students can use when they need additional enrichment and practice on topics that are more difficult. Each of these has been carefully selected so that my students can each benefit from these much-needed resources.
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