I was an English major, which is probably why I'm so passionate about using manipulatives for math. When I was younger, math didn't make a lot of sense to me because it looked like a bunch of numbers and signs on paper. But, when real objects were used, it all began to make a lot more sense in my little brain. So, I use as many math manipulatives as I possibly can.
Many of the ideas are listed in the teacher's manual (crackers, above); others are not, but I have objects on hand so that I can visually demonstrate concepts to my students, such as dividing by three.
And this is one of my favorites -- a yardstick that folds into three feet and even has three separate colors, one for each foot.
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