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Have you ever tried Google Tour Creator? It combines Google Maps, Street View, and elements of a guided tour (key points of interest, written descriptions) to create a curated virtual tour. It can also be published in VR and paired with a VR headset and cell phone (for the budget friendly version). Check it out if you're looking for workarounds related to Google Earth. With our board being a Google Apps for Education board, it's super easy for students to use and is very cross curricular.

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Expeditions & Tour Creator are no longer available - Expeditions Help

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On June 30, 2021, we deactivated the Expeditions and Tour Creator apps. They’ll no longer work on your devices, and tours can’t be downloaded again after they’re gone. You can find many of the tours f

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I think manipulative are essential. For my own children, when they switched to virtual, I ordered a set of base ten blocks (actually it was a game called Place Value Safari) for my daughter in grade 2 who was doing addition and subtraction, a set of 100 connecting cubes for my daughter in grade 4 who was doing multiplication, and dice for my daughter in kindergarten to practice counting! Plus, 4 wipe boards and a variety of coloured wipe board markers. Best purchases! I really think kids need to have objects to look at and manipulate.

One manipulative that I'm going to try for my online class, in June, is Minecraft Education Edition. In Part 1 of this course we talked a bit about it and experimented with some of the things it does. You can have each student have a Minecraft avatar and be in the same room together. There are prebuilt worlds that have different "math stations" or centres. Teachers can swoop overhead and check out what their students are doing. It looked like fun.

I told my 5s that we were going to check it out next week, and they were pretty excited. (There are a couple of experts in the class who will help me figure it out!)

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Get Minecraft Education for your classroom. Find out how using this game will take your students' learning to the next level.

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While I was looking at activities I came across this video on the commutative and associative property of addition and subtraction using rubber ducks. Yes, even rubber ducks can be used as a math manipulative.

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Addition and Subtraction Strategies 1st Grade Math - Commutative and Associative Property

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I am not teaching math online this year so I was thinking of what I can do next year in the classroom to enhance algebraic reasoning in Grade 1 and 2. I know that I have mentioned this manipulative before but I think it is a great one to have in the classroom. I feel that it can help students develop algebraic thinking.  It is great for the addition of sums to ten. It can also be used to start making equations like 3+2= then tell the students that they have to use different numbers on the other side yet have the scale be balanced.

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Number Frames by The Math Learning Center

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Number Frames help students structure numbers to five, ten, twenty, and one hundred. Students use the frames to count, represent, compare, and compute with numbers in a particular range.

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One tool that I love using to teach proportional relationships is relational rods. I love that you can assign any value to one of them and have the others change as a result. If light green is traditionally 5, but was changed to 10, what would that make all of the other rods?

For younger students they're a great way to explore parts/whole, missing addends, and to show how equations balance. In a slightly more abstract way they can also be used for multiplication and division, but at that point I tend to lean toward base-ten blocks to model the concrete steps used to solve.

Relational rods can also be used to create artistic designs where students then add up the total value of their picture, or they can be used in variety of ways to explore spatial reasoning expectations.

It was only a few years ago that I was introduced to them (and I thought they were initially too abstract), but now I swear by them and love to use them with all divisions.

If you're ever in need of ideas on how to use them, or what games and activities you could try, e-mail me and I'd be happy to share anything I've created (or borrowed).

Mathies is still hands-down my favorite digital tool. It can't be run with Flash anymore, but can be for use on a teacher computer.

An alternative I use is: https://mathsbot.com/manipulatives/rods The colours are different than the physical tool, but that can be changed.

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The .exe format is a Windows installer. Double-click on the saved file to run the installer. Once installed, "Relational Rods+" will show up in your list of programs, accessible by pressing the Windows key.

If you have installed an older version, you may need to uninstall it first. If you are among the first to install a mathies app, you may get a message from your anti-virus software warning you of this fact. Any example files will be copied to the mathies subfolder of your documents folder.

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The .exe format is a Windows installer. Double-click on the saved file to run the installer. Once installed, "Relational Rods+" will show up in your list of programs, accessible by pressing the Windows key. If you have installed an older version, you may need to uninstall it first.

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I'm embarrassed I hadn't thought about using online manipulatives.  I'm a bit old school and have been getting them to grab items, things they could physically hold and count but I just found this free "10 frame" site and what I like about it is while you can structure the dots in 5, 10, etc frames...you can also just do free dots in two different colours.  This would be such an easy way to whip up a number talk and also have students make their own to share and take turns having the class answer...which I think is something we are going to try!

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Number Frames by The Math Learning Center

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Number Frames help students structure numbers to five, ten, twenty, and one hundred. Students use the frames to count, represent, compare, and compute with numbers in a particular range.

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I love using objects that many people can find around their homes and using them to display math concepts. Although this picture came off the interest, I have used all of the items in my math classroom. The paper plates have been my go to when introducing fractions, and I have also used things like kit kat bars and pizza to demonstrate similar ideas.

I did a lesson on symmetry where kids had to bring in food items from home and we checked to see how many lines of symmetry they had. A few kids did bring in noodles and it also ended up turning into an inquiry on types of noodles and how people cook them. A small math lesson turned into a writing task, a cooking demonstration, oral language etc et.

The easter eggs I used to LOVE using in Kinder and Grade 1 as they are an item the kids loved playing with and they always thought they were playing instead of learning.

I also find that if you can sue food, you will get the attention of many...

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Since learning from home I have struggled with this concept. I am such a hands on learner/educator that everyone in my classroom NEEDS and gets manipulatives even if they don't want them. By the end of a lesson or activity I will usually have everyone using the manipulative in a way that helps them better understand. Now with being home I sincerely I have not found anything that I can say has replaced that in the online learning world.
My students have pulled out a bag of chips because I asked them to go get something that had more than 12 pieces. I have brought them all a whiteboard and dry erase marker so they are able to show their thinking in a different way. Looking at all these lovely manipulatives I will try more of them out and I'm still optomistic that I will find something that will be just as good for online learning as it is in my classroom.

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I have to say I am with Kelsey,  using manipulatives during online teaching has been a challenge. Thanks to this course I have started to use Toy Theatre as someone had suggested it on a previous e-tivity.

When in the classroom my favourite manipulatives to turn to are the base ten blocks. I feel like they can be used in so many ways (addition, subtraction, multiplication, division) and they are an excellent visual for regrouping. I would not know what to do if I didn't have them available to me in my classroom (haha)
When I bought some math slides on teachers pay teachers, this person had created online base ten blocks, and I have been in heaven ever since! :)

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Online manipulatives bring all of the learning and fun without the mess. Our math virtual manipulatives help students grasp abstract concepts through modeling. Literacy virtual manipulatives create a fun space for practicing spelling, rhyming, and more!

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Virtual Manipulatives | Mathematical Modelling | Toy Theater

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Original teaching tools aimed at supporting teachers in the elementary school classroom. Two color counters, 3D dice, probability spinners, graph builders, fraction bars, base ten blocks, and more!

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Elaine has Toy Theatre and Cool Math Games

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Elaine has Toy Theatre and Cool Math Games

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With having to move in and out of the classroom more than once this year, I came across a website called Toy Theatre, which has virtual manipulatives for math. It has essentially everything you could use to teach math in the classroom, and likely more. It is also very easy for students to use because they do not differ much between those you would be using in the classroom, and those on the website.

https://toytheater.com/category/teacher-tools/virtual-manipulatives/

I realized that Toy Theatre was already shared (my bad), so here is another manipulative site I used more so in the classroom for Base Ten Blocks and patterning blocks. This website also has brain teasers that I like to use for Number Talks. Check it out!

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CoolMath4Kids - Math and Games for Kids, Teachers and Parents. Math lessons and fun games for kindergarten to sixth grade, plus quizzes, brain teasers and more.

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So, when researching for this E-tivity I wanted to connect music and math. I love the idea of exploring dance, guitar, piano and making connections to different mathematical concepts. From here, I stumbled across a video by Dan Finkel (who we've talked about in this course) and his 5 principles of teaching. The three principles that really had an impact on me were that students need to play, struggle, and be provided with authentic questions. Considering these ideals, I think it's important that we carefully select appropriate games to explore math. To be clear, I'm not suggesting we play Prodigy or Sumdog (not that I'm against either), but rather play a game that requires cards, dice, block and most importantly, conversation.

In my mind, students can have fun and strengthen their understanding of money, addition, subtraction, counting, strategy and conversing playing monopoly.

In our house, we've written sight words for our two kids on Jenga blocks. As we play, they read the word and then we make up funny sentences using the word. It's a great time and their reading has improved dramatically

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Instantly built a devoted audience of children and adults who fell in love with the game's beautiful, colorful display, and connection with deep mathematical understanding.

Take a look at Prime Climb, an excellent new game... perfect for adults and children alike.

This game is so rich in mathematical ideas that I literally spent a week investigating it with my class.

Games for Young Minds

Rated #1 Educational Math Game!

Honestly, this has got to be one of the most engaging and effective ways of introducing the idea of primes being the 'building blocks' of numbers and building other general logic skills... Overall, Prime Climb is an incredibly flexible game, and certainly met the high expectations it set itself.

Mathemaddict

This game blew my mind! It blew my wife's mind, it blew my kid's mind... it is one of the coolest visualizations of mathematics and prime numbers I've ever seen ever. It is awesome!

Edo's Game Reviews

By far one of my favorite game releases of 2014.... I cannot get over beauty and functionality of this game!

Sam Blanco, Teach Through Games

This board game will make you a math genius, and it is actually way fun!

Geektastic Dad

Instantly built a devoted audience of children and adults who fell in love with the game's beautiful, colorful display, and connection with deep mathematical understanding.

The mental gymnastics can get pretty dazzling... Exciting, energizing fun!

Tilliwig Toy and Media Awards

A surprisingly fun math game!

Parents' Choice Children's Media and Toy Reviews

A great way to develop mathematical processing in a meaningful way.

Academics' Choice

If you were looking for a Candy Land-esque repetition you are in for a surprise!... a fantastic family game!

Engaged Family Gaming

Prime Climb is an excellent way to teach about prime numbers, factors, common multiples, and that math is fun!... I loved how Prime Climb engaged my math loving kids and my kids who tolerate math. It was engaging and challenging enough that no one was bored, but easy enough to understand that no one was frustrated. It was the perfect balance. (It was fun for the adults as well.)

Simply Schooling Reviews

This is an amazing game! It is genius actually. You can play this with both young and old and adapt it to anyone's ability. Players must not only use their math skills but their strategy skills as well. I believe this game should be in every classroom in America as well as every home!!

Amazon Reviews

If you are looking for a fun and educational game... this one is an absolute no brainer.

Mike's Math Page

As a roomful of math teachers, we loved the mental math aspect of this game.

Sarah Hagen, Math = Love

A total success.

Benjamin Leis, Running a Math Club: My Experiences

Amazing... one of those games that can be altered for any level of mathematics.

Lady Lilith, Little Lady Plays

A fun and simple way to bring multiplication, division, and prime numbers all in one easy to play game. Awesome!

Momma's Bacon

For a game that is a relatively pure experience of math equations, I think you'll be surprised how much fun it can be for players of all ages.

Top of the Table-Stellar Board Games that Actually Teach, by Matt Miller

A terrific new math game!

New York Times Numberplay Blog

I love that the game plays well with even the youngest of children, but some of the included game types scale up to match skills available to slightly older players. I also love that the game includes a brief guide for grownups on how to help kids enjoy and learn as they play. Tiny Polka Dot makes this list for its fun factor, not [just] because of its educational elements.

Matt Miller, Game Informer

Then, in a moment out of a sitcom, [my daughter] cheered and cried, "Yay! I can do tough things!" Then gave me a hug.

This... doesn't happen often in my math classroom..

Matt Vaudrey, Math Teacher

Tiny Polka Dot is absolutely fantastic. It gives J a structure that he enjoys exploring, and when he tires of the Match 7 game, we will move on to Match 8, Match 9, or any of the dozens of games and iterations we can create from these cards.

These cards are going to be part of our playtime for years to come.

Kent Haines, The Process Column

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Instantly built a devoted audience of children and adults who fell in love with the game's beautiful, colorful display, and connection with deep mathematical understanding. Take a look at Prime Climb, an excellent new game... perfect for adults and children alike.

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I know these are more of the old basic manipulatives but I think it is helpful that with online learning we are still able to offer manipulatives that the students are familiar with using to support them from home. This website offers apps for apple and google products as well as a web version that can be used online.

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Sharing in an app allows educators to pose problems and investigations for students by using an 8-character code or link. Students can share their thinking with their teachers and classmates. Share codes remain available for continued use for 18 months from the date they are last accessed.
Watch the video to learn how sharing works.

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Sharing in an app allows educators to pose problems and investigations for students by using an 8-character code or link. Students can share their thinking with their teachers and classmates. Share codes remain available for continued use for 18 months from the date they are last accessed.

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It turns out Legos aren't just toys for kids (or the worst nightmares for barefoot parents). In Alycia Zimmerman's classroom, they are important tools for learning.

Zimmerman, who teaches third grade at Chelsea Prep in New York, uses Legos to help her students learn math. "In the classroom, the tiny bricks are now my favorite possibility-packed math manipulative!" she wrote in a blog for Scholastic in 2013.

Her use of the classic toy recently picked up speed, thanks to Bored Panda. On Dec. 8, the site shared Zimmerman's ideas in a post on Facebook that has been liked more than 40,000 times in two days.

Zimmerman uses the building bricks to explain math concepts like fractions, multiplication and division. She wrote on her blog that if parents take Legos beyond the playroom, they can make a big impact.

"Find some LEGO bricks in a storage closet or basement, and take some time exploring how they work," she wrote. "Count the studs, explore the dimensions, build some towers. And I guarantee, you'll now be thinking... MATH!"

Check out the way Zimmerman illustrates important math concepts with Legos below and head over to her blog on Scholastic for more information and resources.

Fractions

Part vs. Total

Square numbers

Multiplication and division

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How Legos Might Turn Your Kid Into A Math Lover

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It turns out Legos aren't just toys for kids (or the worst nightmares for barefoot parents). In Alycia Zimmerman's classroom, they are important tools for learning. Zimmerman, who teaches third grade at Chelsea Prep in New York, uses Legos to help her students learn math.

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Lauren - National Library of Virtual Manipulatives

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Lauren - National Library of Virtual Manipulatives

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Very straightforward to navigate through by strand and division

Lots of virtual manipulatives

Used to be one of my ‘go tos’ until they began having issues with Java- I do know some colleagues who use the app now!

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National Library of Virtual Manipulatives

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A digital library containing Java applets and activities for K-12 mathematics

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My favourite in terms of being user friendly, clear and accessible

Tons of great options for manipulatives for math

Bonus games, puzzles and assessment opportunities for math, reading, music and art

Note: it leans a little more towards the primary audience, however there are lots of great manipulatives for J/I

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Online manipulatives bring all of the learning and fun without the mess. Our math virtual manipulatives help students grasp abstract concepts through modeling. Literacy virtual manipulatives create a fun space for practicing spelling, rhyming, and more!

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Virtual Manipulatives | Mathematical Modelling | Toy Theater

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Original teaching tools aimed at supporting teachers in the elementary school classroom. Two color counters, 3D dice, probability spinners, graph builders, fraction bars, base ten blocks, and more!

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When parents ask how to get the benefits of manipulatives like base 10 blocks in distance learning, teachers can share strategies for using common household items.

Math manipulatives, as teachers know, help students develop conceptual understanding by empowering them to build concrete models of abstract ideas. The play that manipulatives encourage is done with purpose, not at random. It provides a common language with which students can describe phenomena and communicate with peers and teachers.

With manipulatives, students create a multidimensional framework on which their math foundation can grow and abstract ideas can come to life. Evidence-based research pointing to the efficacy of the use of manipulatives is strong and shows that student achievement improves over the long term when they are used.

If manipulatives are a key component of your hands-on instructional strategy and these days you're teaching remotely, you likely have parents with questions about what they can use to replace classroom supplies like color cubes and tiles, bug counters, and base 10 blocks.

The answer is easy: household items found in pantries, toy boxes, sewing kits, and junk drawers.

When parents ask what objects they can use in place of classroom manipulatives, first review with them the concept being taught and explain why the manipulative is used-how it fits in with a specific learning approach. Then share possible substitutions.

With counters, for example, explain to the parent how classroom versions (plastic animals or round counters) are used to help students learn quantity or do addition and subtraction; then suggest alternate items that are alike in size, shape, and possibly color. Dried beans, buttons, and coins are easy substitutes. Those same manipulatives can also work for modeling multiplication or division by combining or creating groups.

For fractions, explain to parents how students use manipulatives such as the counters to arrange items, often of different colors, in groups and identify a portion of a group. Then suggest buttons or beans of different colors. Paper strips cut to equal length and then folded, one in thirds, another in quarters, and so on, can also help students understand which fraction is larger. (Note that the tactile aspect of physically folding the paper is more concrete than a representation by drawing and can really make a difference in the learning component.)

Math Manipulatives From Household Items

Here are additional ways you can offer parents support as they search for manipulatives that can be found or created in the home:

10 frames: First explain what a 10 frame is (a 2x5 rectangular frame of squares) and how they support instruction (they give students visual benchmarks to help see how numbers fit together and develop number sense; teachers often have magnetic versions).

Share with parents how to draw a 10 frame at home: two adjacent, parallel rows of five squares each on a sheet of paper.

To go 3D with 10 frames, suggest that the parent use an egg carton: Cut off the lid and one of the ends, leaving spots for what would have been 10 rather than 12 eggs.

For either version, advise parents to find small objects that fit in the spaces to count.

Linking cubes: Explain to parents how these interlocking, different-colored plastic blocks are great for topics from counting to bar graphs to fractions, and that some varieties of linking cubes connect end to end to make towers, while others snap together on all sides to form geometric shapes. You can suggest components of children's building-block toys that are similar and can be substituted, or you can suggest using different-colored squares of paper.

Base 10 blocks: Explain to parents how these help children understand 10 and see how place value impacts numbers; students use them to build number combinations, practice regrouping, and discover how they can make "trades" to build larger pieces or break down a figure into smaller pieces. Explain how regrouping is the beginning of understanding the process of carrying or borrowing.

A few suggestions for home substitutes include linking cubes (interlocking plastic blocks) or craft sticks, which students can bundle into groups of 10 with rubber bands. Cutting pieces from graph paper or using pipe cleaners strung with 10 beads for a 10s place would work, too.

Geoboards: Explain to parents how these boards with uniformly spaced, elevated pegs and rubber bands are used to help students understand shapes, areas (arrays), and graphing.

At home, a pegboard or cork board with a uniformly spaced grid will do. Parents can supply pegs or thumbtacks and rubber bands or string.

This is just a start; other teachers and parents will have additional ideas. Keep in mind that virtual models of these manipulatives are available online and offer another mode for students using the same approach.

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The Math Manipulatives Hiding in a Junk Drawer

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When parents ask how to get the benefits of manipulatives like base 10 blocks in distance learning, teachers can share strategies for using common household items.

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Mackenzie - 14 Easy Math Manipulatives Kids Can Use for At Home Learning.

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Mackenzie - 14 Easy Math Manipulatives Kids Can Use for At Home Learning.

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Great at Home Manipulatives

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There are so many challenges we're facing with teaching remotely or in a hybrid model. One issue is that students might not have access to the colorful and fun manipulatives you are used to teaching with. But chances are, students will have at least some of the at-home math manipulatives below. Stay flexible with the manipulatives kids choose to use and invite them to explore the math learning around them.

1. Beans, cereal, or dried pasta

Little kids can use dried goods as counters, or to practice estimation or measurement. Challenge older students to find the angles in dried pasta, like the activity above!

2. Dice

Not all kids will have access to dice (no harm in borrowing from a favorite board game), but if they do, there are so many fun ways to use them for math learning.

3. Playing cards

We love using cards to teach evens and odds, or to play a fun math card game.

4. Coins

Students can obviously use coins to practice money skills, but they also make great counters or weights for other units.

5. Beads

String beads on pipe cleaners to use them as counters, or place them in egg cartons as impromptu ten-frames.

6. Buttons

A jar full of loose buttons isn't as common as it once was, but if your students have access to them, they can be a fun way to support all kinds of learning. Check out our favorite ways to use buttons for learning here.

7. Loose parts

Source: @adventschool

In early childhood, educators use the term "loose parts" to describe any group of items that could be used for learning, such as seashells, egg cartons, blocks, Barbie shoes ... the list goes on. When it comes to at-home math manipulatives, older kids can adopt a "loose parts" philosophy too. Here are some of our favorite ways to use loose parts for learning.

8. Paper plates

Students can use paper plates to explore fractions, fact families, and more. Check out some of our favorite ways to use paper plates here.

9. LEGO bricks

LEGO bricks are an amazing manipulative in and out of the classroom and can be used to teach almost any math skill you can think of. Here are some of our favorite ways to teach math with LEGO.

10. Play-Doh

Play-Doh is great for tactile and sensory learners! Use it to practice fractions, model 3D shapes, and more. Check out more ideas for using Play-Doh here.

11. Craft sticks

Pair craft sticks (or regular sticks from outside!) with Play-Doh to build geometric shapes. See more ideas for using craft sticks here.

12. Yarn

Younger students can use yarn to make numbers and practice non-standard measurement. Older kids might try making one of these geometric line designs.

13. Cardboard or other recyclables

Have students hit the recycling bin to create their own math manipulatives from cardboard, bottle tops, or other recyclables. Here's our full list of ways to teach with cardboard.

14. Pumpkins, apples, or other produce

The refrigerator is another place to turn for math learning. Check out ways to teach math with pumpkins and apples.
What at-home math manipulatives have worked for you? Come and share in our WeAreTeachers HELPLINE group on Facebook. Plus, the best websites for teaching math.

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14 Easy Math Manipulatives Kids Can Use for At-Home Learning

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There are so many challenges we're facing with teaching remotely or in a hybrid model. One issue is that students might not have access to the colorful and fun manipulatives you are used to teaching with. But chances are, students will have at least some of the at-home math manipulatives below.

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Since we are learning at home I thought this was a great website to use to find manipulatives students can use at home.  Often it is hard to model math through a computer screen so I also included a math site I use to demonstrate using manipulatives to my students.

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Alissa - Tools to help Students become Effective Problem Solvers.

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Alissa - Tools to help Students become Effective Problem Solvers.

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We use manipulatives every single day in my kindergarten room - we love hands on learning! When I randomly taught Grade 5 a couple of years ago, I pulled out the manipulatives every day in that class too, and once the students got over how weird that was, they loved using them. Math was so much fun! I also found it was highly beneficial for my students with learning differences.

In my research for this e-Tivity, I found this video which explains the importance of manipulatives and gives some examples of how to use them in the classroom. This quote stayed with me: "Moving away from paper and pencil learning, manipulatives allow students to demonstrate their thinking. They don't have to hold as much information in their working memory which allows them to focus on the task at hand." YES!

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Math Manipulatives: Tools to Help All Students Become Effective Problem Solvers

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Lindsay -  The Big WOW with this one: The Beautiful mathematics of Coral!

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Lindsay -  The Big WOW with this one: The Beautiful mathematics of Coral!

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Margaret Wertheim: The beautiful math of coral

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Margaret Wertheim leads a project to re-create the creatures of the coral reefs using a crochet technique invented by a mathematician -- celebrating the amazements of the reef, and deep-diving into the hyperbolic geometry underlying coral creation.

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Lindsay - From Youcubed. Visuall Math Improves Performance.

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Lindsay - From Youcubed. Visuall Math Improves Performance.

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"Mathematics is a subject that allows for precise thinking, but when that precise thinking is combined with creativity, openness, visualization, and flexibility, the mathematics comes alive."

"Maryam Mirzakhani, arguably the most important mathematician of our time, works almost entirely visually...Maryam joked to reporters that her 3 year old daughter probably thinks she is an artist."

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Visual Math Improves Performance - YouCubed

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Mathematics educators have long known that engaging students in visual representations of mathematics is extremely helpful for their learning. When youcubed offered “How Close to 100” as an activity for learning math facts with visual representations, teachers across the world were thrilled and resp…

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I am currently teaching multiplication to my grade 2 class online. As much as I encourage the kids to bring some loose parts to math class with them, many forget or don't bring enough. I have been using this Virtual Manipulatives for Math website a lot:

The students like using the colour tiles to make equal groupings and arrays to help them solve multiplication problems. I like that there's the pen feature that allows the students to write out their math sentences as well.

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Hands-On Math Goes Digital In and Beyond the Classroom!

Explore Our Collection of FREE Virtual Manipulatives

From Number Lines to Base Ten, Pattern Blocks to Place Value, Disks our collection of free Virtual Manipulatives gives educators and families access to visual and hands-on digital resources that lead to understanding. Students can use these resources in class and at home to practice math concepts, reinforce their growing math understanding, technology they love in the process.

Free Resources & Instructions for Teachers and Families

We've developed these resources for easy access and easy use:

How-To Videos

There's a short video for each of the Virtual Manipulatives in our collection so teachers can use these digital materials easily and confidently with students.
Watch Now

Activities

Activities from the Didax books that teachers use most for easy download. Engaging challenges address core math operations, concepts and skills, from early numeracy all the way to introductory geometry and algebra.
Access Now

FAQ

Download this document of FAQ's to answer your Virtual Manipulative questions.
Download Now

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Demonstrate key math concepts in your classroom using our new virtual manipulatives!

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I came across this website while I was researching for this activity. While it is geared to high school students it gives a really great perspective of how you can create cross curricular learning at all grade levels. I guess this shows how art literally becomes the manipulative in math class and how art and math are all around them!

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The Art of Math program at Oakridge Secondary School in the Thames Valley District School Board (TVDSB) strives to foster imagination and creativity while also developing a deeper understanding of mathematical concepts. In this program, Visual Arts and Mathematics curricula are blended and taught together to create a unified learning experience for students in Grades 9 and 10. Creating opportunities for students to explore mathematical and visual concepts together allows them to adapt and transfer their mathematics knowledge into different contexts. This program combines both applied and academic math pathways with an open-level art credit. Throughout this program, students complete the same art explorations, however the types of math tasks and concepts that connect through art are differentiated based on their individual learning pathway.

The Art of Math program is a fun and engaging way for students to see art and math in the world around them. For the student who struggles in math, or is new to art, or for those students who are passionate about math and art, this program encourages everyone to extend their learning and apply concepts in new and innovative ways.

The Art of Math program inspires reflections and learnings on a number of themes, including:

the power of team teaching and staff collaboration

cross-curricular learning

student well-being including math anxiety

the role and support of school and system leadership

Here are a number of videos and activities that explore these themes, as well as ideas and learnings from the Oakridge Secondary School team on how to launch a similar program in your own school.

Examples of Cross-Curricular Learning Opportunities:

Perspective drawing: Slope and rate of change are directly connected to effective perspective drawing. If the slope of a drawing is not accurate, the piece of art as a whole is distorted. Similarly, if a drawing of a building looks slanted, a student knows there is an issue with the parallel and perpendicular lines within the drawing.

Ratios and colour mixing: Ratios and proportional relationships between colour are directly related to the development and creation of colours and gradients. When creating scale drawings or larger works, it is important to ensure the proportional relationship between colours remains constant to create consistent shades.

Composite shapes: Students can analyze properties of composite shapes when creating artwork or decomposing decomposing artwork into series of composite geometric shapes.

Math being driven by art: Building efficient containers for sculptures involved students using the most efficient and optimized packaging.

Art becomes a tool to communicate understanding of math: When given an image or drawing a shape, encourage students to ask these types of questions: "what do I notice?", "how does that link to what I am learning?", and "how can I represent that?"
Examples of Reducing Math Anxiety and Supporting Student Well Being:
Students in the Art of Math program were surveyed about their experience. The survey revealed that:

87% of students felt the cross-curricular art projects helped them better understand the math.

78 % of students found it more interesting/engaging to complete math based on their own artwork rather than a textbook question

78% of students felt the bundled courses helped their social well-being

From the survey, one grade 9 Art of Math student shared "I never thought I was good at Math, I just realized I wasn't learning it in a way that made sense to me."

Examples of Administrator Recommendations on Timetabling and Staffing:

The role of the administrator is critical in creating conditions that support this type of student engagement and educator collaboration. Some examples include:

Thought-out timetable schedules so that the teachers had a common preparation period to provide regular opportunities for co-planning and collaboration.

Flexibility as an administrator to help students and classes work around the building. While their home classroom was a home base, student groups and teachers often worked from other school-based locations, including the cafeteria, atrium, and other school spaces.

When creating cross-curricular course programs, consider course combinations that bring together a mandatory credit with an elective credit or second mandatory credit. This helps build ongoing sustainability of the interdisciplinary course model.

The program was timetabled and scheduled as per student and staffing guidelines and included the equivalent number of students and amount of space to fulfill two classes/section. One issue faced with staffing was how to replace a teacher in this specialized course bundle if/when needed. As the teaching model included two regular teachers, in instances when one teacher was away, replacement occasional teachers were supported by the co-lead teacher. An added bonus of this model was that as occasional teachers came into the classroom model, there was a growing understanding of the nature of the program, and an increased number of system educators introduced to this collaborative teaching model.
Reflections from Mike Phillips, Principal Oakridge SS - 2018-2019:

"As an incoming Principal, I find the Art of Math bundles to be invaluable. They provide students of all levels (locally developed, applied and academic) who don't see themselves as math learners the opportunity to gain confidence with math skills while learning in a cross-curricular environment. As well, student data (EQAO results, course pass rates and classroom culture surveys) show that students in the Art of Math program are very successful. The Art of Math bundles are a unique classroom experience where students are fully engaged in the Ontario Visual Art and Math curriculum simultaneously. If interested in seeing it in action, teachers and/or administrators can contact the school to arrange a possible visit."

Educator Recommendations on the Collaborative Team-Teaching Model:

Staff should engage in a series of cross-curricular projects prior to initiating this team-teaching model to help develop the collaborative working relationship between colleagues.

Ensure teachers can teach together in the same space simultaneously. When teaching together in this model, both educators found more connections to their subsequent subject areas.

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The Art of Math program at Oakridge Secondary School in the Thames Valley District School Board (TVDSB) strives to foster imagination and creativity while also developing a deeper understanding of mathematical concepts. In this program, Visual Arts and Mathematics curricula are blended and taught together to create a unified learning experience for students in Grades...