I made a short film this week on my lesson on primes and prime factorization in my 6th grade math class. It’s one of the first lessons I’ve use manipulatives in that class. I share my struggle with using manipulatives in the video, as well as what worked with the lesson, what didn’t, and what I would change for next time.
It was really fun to make the video, but it’s hard to be teacher and filmmaker at the same time. I was wanting to really hear what they were saying but also wanted to make sure I was capturing it well.
A few of the resources from the video:
I got this activity from the RL Moore Inquiry Based Learning Conference in 2015. Session led by Judith Covington of Louisiana State University – Shreveport. Activity taken from A Mathematical Foundation For Elementary Teachers.
Great idea to use the stacking blocks on the paper to help the student record and remember what they’re doing with the manipulatives.
I will be using this idea in the future!
I also had success this year using the interlocking cubes to teach factors as factors create rectangles, but non factors have missing blocks. Even though I didn’t tell them they were finding factors, by the end of the class, they figured it out. Yeah blocks!
Thanks for the feedback Michelle! Let me know how it goes when you do it 🙂