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The fraction number lines are extremely simple and easy to use. Whenever we compare fractions of different denominators, we have multiple strategies that we use to solve for which is greater, and the virtual manipulative is a great way to double check our work or visualize it a different way. Our first strategy is always to use a calculation method, but if the fractions are simple enough the students are encouraged to draw. The fraction number line helps them check their drawings, or perhaps use a visual to check against their calculation. I only like to use it as a backup / reinforcement tool, as they will not always have access to the manipulative during assessments, etc.

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So here's where I'm at with this...all great stuff!  Way better if we have flash capability (which we used to have to download Photon for right?) or our third graders had ChromeBooks in the class or something.  Toy Theater manipulatives are great to show initial/intro modeling practices.  But we quickly need to transition into kids being able to draw base ten and fraction blocks and arrays themselves...and practice especially if they suck at it.  I'm sorry, I mean if they are developing in their abilities to model.  Again, great to show virtual manipulatives to introduce regrouping, array/multiplication, fractions, etc.....I would even be down for them using these for a few lessons, but would eventually like for them to be able to practice drawing their own bc at some point it would be nice for them to go into fourth not making their ones cubes or ten strips looking like hundreds blocks.

I really like the DreamBox games.  I know I only had access to the demos - unless I didn't do something right, but the games I sampled were well done.  I agree, Laura, they are aesthetically appealing.  Gamification of anything is a great way to garner buy in from the kids - way better than iXL...amiright? Unless you tie iXL with candy.  The graphics are good.  Might be a good alternative to "coolmathgames" which we know is just a place to play sweet games that have nothing to do with math.  I like that they are skill specific.  Some were pretty challenging...someone tell me how to master that grocery bag place value game...kudos for visually showing my kids what a thousand grouping could look like.

I'm glad you guys are leading us. TTYL

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I used the didax base ten blocks manipulative. This was SO crazy helpful with the chapter we just completed in Math. We worked on addition properties and using the base ten blocks they were able to show the numbers, and regroup using the base ten blocks.They liked this way so much better than drawing all of the base ten blocks on their papers. This also was helpful for me to use on the board so I didn't have to draw them either. This is a great resource I have now added to MyGAC page and we will continue to use this year.

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While I don't teach math this year, I am giving my homeroom students time to work on multiplication facts in class.  As a former math teacher I know this is important!
I can see how this virtual manipulative will be helpful for my 4th graders. They use the visuals to help put to memory the basic facts.

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Toy Theater - Place Value Chart - This chart is wonderful for place value. Students were still having trouble reading larger numbers. I found this chart to help with identifying  what place each digit is in, but it also shows the number in expanded form to help with number sense, as well as word form to help students read the numbers correctly. I have also added Didax and Toy Theater to Symbaloo for my students to access whenever they need it. 

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Toy Theater - Place Value Chart - This chart is wonderful for place value. Students were still having trouble reading larger numbers. I found this chart to help with identifying  what place each digit is in, but it also shows the number in expanded form to help with number sense, as well as word form to help students read the numbers correctly. I have also added Didax and Toy Theater to Symbaloo for my students to access whenever they need it. 

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https://toytheater.com/place-value-chart/

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Sarah and Laura, Thank you  for sharing these amazing resources! As an academic support teacher, I am always looking for more manipulatives to use with my students. As you all know, one manipulative might really help one student and not do much for another. The Math Learning Center allows me to choose several different virtual manipulatives for my students and can allow me to be more "hands on" with my sync students as well.

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Sarah and Laura, Thank you for sharing these amazing resources! As an academic support teacher, I am always looking for more manipulatives to use with my students. As you all know, one manipulative might really help one student and not do much for another. The Math Learning Center allows me to choose several different virtual manipulatives for my students and can allow me to be more "hands on" with my sync students as well.

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While the standard multiplication chart has not changed, re-introducing it as a student manipulative with color choices is helping my students visually grasp the multiples of a number. A bonus is that they are able to see the factors and products show up in the board and as a number equation on the bottom of the board. This multiplication chart lets the each child visually see and practice the basic facts and watch the multiples grow in an individualized student driven virtual manipulative. It has really helped solidify the multiples for those few who are having a hard time mastering this skill.

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It was hard to choose just one to focus on! I have posted Toy Theater and Didax on my Google Classroom for students to use as a resource. My third graders have been learning addition strategies the last several weeks and the base ten blocks and unifix cubes we normally use (and share) did not seem possible with everything that is going on right now. Also, my students groan about how long it takes to draw their models, now they can easily create them on their iPads. Using these virtual manipulatives was extremely helpful in keeping our students safe, while using colorful and engaging tools to help them learn. We are currently learning mental math strategies for subtraction and am excited to continue utilizing these tools for not only this chapter, but as we move into multiplication, division, and measurement.

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Base Ten Blocks | Teaching Tools | Toy Theater Educational Games

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Use these blocks of one and ten to model place value and help kids visualize the concept of 10.

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Each day, fifth graders complete a Daily Math assignment which consists of problems reviewing or introducing various math skills.  Two of the skills students have had difficulty with are probability and writing/identifying time to the minute correctly. In reviewing the Virtual Manipulative options, I located a geoboard and an interactive clock to assist with these skills, respectively.  We initially tried the geoboard to assist with probability.   Since this was their first time using the geoboard online, many wanted to explore with the geoboard rather than solve the problem.   Exploration time is important even for fifth graders.  However, after careful review of the activity, I would recommend using the color tiles for probability.

The interactive clock was very helpful to the students in telling time to the minute.  The interactive clock shows both digital and analog time.  Students had to write the digital time 13 to 11.  Many had difficulty showing the time digitally.  Some students knew to subtract 13 from 60 to determine the minutes before 11:00.  Others had to start at 11:00 and move the clock back in increments of 5 and then back 3 minutes to determine the digital time.  The students were receptive to using the clock and found it beneficial.

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I would be excited to use all of these virtual resources in math!  Since the last time I taught math was in second grade, I love the base ten blocks and fraction strips.  I agree with Jo Anna and Ansley about the analog clock too.  I love all the choices available for virtual tools in math. 

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I would be excited to use all of these virtual resources in math!  Since the last time I taught math was in second grade, I love the base ten blocks and fraction strips.  I agree with Jo Anna and Ansley about the analog clock too.  I love all the choices available for virtual tools in math. 

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I use Desmos with my Pre-Algebra students in 7th grade and it is AWESOME! You can use their virtual tools (Like a graphing calculator) or they have pre-made interactive activities that students can work through. I introduced angle pairs and angles of triangles in our Geometry unit recently, and used this "Puzzling it out" as a practice activity after taking notes (link at end). You can create a single session code, and view all the students in real time as they are working through the questions. It is a great opportunity to share on the board good work other students are doing and to share different perspectives on a problems. All students can work at their own pace, and it's really easy to include virtual and in-person students. I love how interactive it is--its not just mindless clicking!  https://teacher.desmos.com/activitybuilder/custom/5d896650e796e00c23556d76 

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I use Desmos with my Pre-Algebra students in 7th grade and it is AWESOME! You can use their virtual tools (Like a graphing calculator) or they have pre-made interactive activities that students can work through. I introduced angle pairs and angles of triangles in our Geometry unit recently, and used this "Puzzling it out" as a practice activity after taking notes (link at end). You can create a single session code, and view all the students in real time as they are working through the questions. It is a great opportunity to share on the board good work other students are doing and to share different perspectives on a problems. All students can work at their own pace, and it's really easy to include virtual and in-person students. I love how interactive it is--its not just mindless clicking!  https://teacher.desmos.com/activitybuilder/custom/5d896650e796e00c23556d76 

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Using the analog clock will be very beneficial in helping student understand the amount of time that  has passed and how much time is remaining during one of our class times. Students have used their own clock to manipulate and set the time that will help them to practice telling time. In addition, we use games often in my class. The spinner is a great opportunity for students to understand probability as they can create their own spinner with their own amount of points for reward. Students have used this spinner for the game of Kaboom. This game can be used in any subject- but we use it in Bible weekly. 

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Because many of my students have difficulty reading an analog clock, this can be a challenge for self-regulation, especially with time management. Also, many students struggle with differentiating between the hour, minute, and second hands. Since most clocks on ipads, computers, watches, etc. are digital, many 5th grade students do not have the opportunity to read and/or they are not required to read an analog clock. In order to teach and to cultivate independence, especially in regard to self-regulation for time management, I have shared the Toy Theater analog clock with students. After a quick lesson on analog clocks, students use the link I provided on the Topics page to produce the clock on their desktops. Now, my students are able to see the connection between the digital and analog time/clocks. Because they can see what digital time looks like on an analog clock and in watching the hands move, they are able to distinguish the difference between the hour, minute, and second hands. In addition to using the analog clock individually, I am also using for whole-group learning. Rather than a countdown timer, I tell the students how much time is remaining for an activity, and are able to see the time pass and regulate their remaining work time themselves. The Toy Theater analog clock provides a quick and user-friendly way to connect digital and analog clocks. Overall, the analog clock is a great to to facilitate time management, especially with seat work, and it is helping my students to conceptualize the connection between digital and analog clocks - a much needed life skill.

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Time | Free Virtual Manipulatives | Toy Theater

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A fully functioning analog and digital clock set to your local time. Time flies when teaching with Toy Theater!

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My third graders are learning mental math addition strategies. In order to foster a visual representation of what mental math strategies look like, I used Dream Box - "Addition on the Number Line using landmark numbers." This tool allows you to use a number line to represent benchmark numbers close to what you are adding. Students loved playing with the tool once I showed them how to use it on the Active Board. I would use this digital tool again!

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My students have been working on identifying which numbers 'make a ten'. For my virtual learners, it has been a challenge to meet their needs, especially during center time. However, I found Toy Theater has multiple dice-throwing resources. To play 'make a ten', my sync learners went into breakout rooms and used the virtual dice to throw four dice at a time. If their dice allowed them to 'make a ten', they could keep that number of dice to accrue points. The Toy Theater dice made them feel included in what my in person students were completing and the breakout room allowed them to play the game with a partner and feel that connection as well.

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Miss G loves playing all sorts of card games, so when I came across Make Ten, a simple game that focuses math skills and uses just a generic deck of cards, I knew it would be a total hit.

{this post contains affiliate links}

The idea came from this awesome book that's brand new to our shelf - 100 Fun & Easy Learning Games For Kids. It's written by Amanda and Kim, the ladies behind The Educators' Spin On It and I can't tell you how great it is. It's absolutely chock full of really fun, really doable games that promote all sorts of learning using the simplest of materials. We've got loads of the pages marked with activities for the summer months, but I decided we'd start with Make 10 because it's a true partner game and I was feeling like I needed to spend some good quality one-on-one time with my girl today.

Though totally not needed, I decided to make a play mat to go along with our game just for fun!
{Download our printable Make Ten play mats here.}
And since I haven't yet splurged on a laminator since leaving Kuwait, we took our two printed copies and laminated them with the self-adhesive laminating sheets our dollar store now carries, which I think work just as well for projects like these.

While I worked on the laminating, Miss G removed all of the face cards and the jokers from our deck of cards, leaving the aces in to use as ones.

Then it was time to play! To get started, we shuffled our deck {minus the face cards of course}, and dealt the entire stack out between the two of us. Then we placed our decks face down on our mats and flipped the top four cards over onto the numbered spots.

The goal of the game is simple - to make ten using any combination of the four facing up cards. If you can make ten, you take those cards and place them off to the side, replacing them with new cards from the deck {we chose to keep our tens in separate piles off to the side so that we could count them up afterwards}.

if you can't make ten, you choose one of your face up cards to put at the bottom of your deck, before replacing it with a new card from the top of the deck.

What I love about this game is that it really gets you thinking. Though sometimes you'll get a '10' {or a simple combination of ten} and it'll be really easy, other times you have to get creative in order to come up with a combination of cards that make ten. Throughout our game, Miss G said things like, 'Well I know that 5 and 5 make 10, but I only have one 5... But WAIT! I also have a 2 and a 3 and that makes 5, so really that's like having two 5s!!!' She also was thinking ahead in terms of what she had on her play mat... 'Well, I have 7s and 8s, and those can't be put together to make 10, but if I could make a trade and get a 2 or a 3, then I could!'

The game ends when you run out of cards or when you can no longer make any more groups of ten. Though we both became unable to make any more groups of ten on the same turn, Miss G wanted to declare a winner, so we decided to count up the number of 'tens' we had each made... Sure enough, we'd both made 8... A tie!

Afterwards, we added our play mats to our bin of card games where they'll be kept until we play again. And in the meantime, we'll definitely be trying some of the other games in the book!

100 Fun & Easy Learning Games for Kids | Printable MAKE TEN Play Mat

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Make Ten {an easy card game for kids} - Mama.Papa.Bubba.

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Miss G loves playing all sorts of card games, so when I came across Make Ten, a simple game that focuses math skills and uses just a generic deck of cards, I knew it would be a total hit.