Middle School

Teachers have long relied on manipulatives to introduce new math and literacy concepts and enhance learning. Manipulatives are useful at all grade levels, from kindergarten (think Unifix Cubes) through high school (think algebra tiles), with students of all abilities, including and especially those with special needs and learning differences.

Jumbo Unifix® Cubes, sandpaper letters and numerals, and Omnifix cubes are just a few of the go-to resources used in many SpEd classrooms throughout the country.

As the school year draws to a close, many teachers a thinking about packing up their classroom. Whether you’re staying in the same room and want things ready for the fall or moving to another grade or another school, keeping things neat and organized will help get the next year off to a good start.

When first introduced to fractions, students in the intermediate grades sometimes struggle to make sense of equivalence and fraction operations. By helping students develop a deep understanding of the role of factors in comparison and fraction operations, we also prepare them for topics that follow and that build upon this knowledge.

Many of the tools used to introduce these early fraction concepts can also be used later to help students recognize the relationships between fractions and ratios, rates, and proportions. Fractions with Prime Factor Tiles is the perfect tool to introduce and explore these concepts.

Helping students build an understanding of fraction concepts is a challenge in the intermediate and middle grades. The pictorial representation is a critical tool for making the connection between the concept and the procedure. Conceptual understanding occurs when students can explain why the procedure works, showing that they have assimilated or integrated this understanding into their basic knowledge of fractions.