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in Literacy· math

Five Class Manipulatives from The Dollar Store

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More often than not, it happens to me than when I visit the Dollar Store, I see tons of class manipulative ideas there. Around Thanksgiving time, we were invited to a “friends-giving” by our Colombian friends. I went to the Dollar store to pick up a few things to bring to the gathering, and my teacher brain made me buy  more items for the classroom than for the actual “fiends-giving.”

class manipulatives

Let me begin by saying that this is not a sponsored post full of affiliates links. This is just an article that contains great ideas to do in your classroom with items from the Dollar store.

PVC Whisper phones

class manipulatives

I bought these PVC elbows a while back when I was still teaching first grade. I use these PVC whisper phones during guided reading. As all students read their book and I confer with other readers, these come in handy for those students who cannot read silently yet.

Comprehension Gloves

These retelling gloves are perfect for guided reading as well. I made these a while ago, but now that I teach 2nd grade I would add a section for the lesson in the story, and character point of view.

class manipulatives

I have them for non fiction too.

The kids really love wearing  these ones, they go back into the text to find evidence to support their answers, and to practice their reading strategies. They also give me a chance to model, model, model.

class manipulatives

Book Talk Flowers

 

class manipulatives

My students do a book talk when they finish reading a book and record themselves using Seesaw. These pinwheels flowers come from the Dollar Store as well. I put them, fiction and nonfiction, in a vase. They use the flowers to answer the standards-based question each petal, my favorite petal? Book recommendations.

class manipulatives

The students pick a flower and answer the questions on the petals as they record themselves using our classroom iPads.

class manipulatives

 

Circular Trays

These were the actual trays that I went to get from The Dollar Store for the “fiends-giving.”  When I was in line to pay at the register, I realized that they are perfect for sorting… but I also realized that they could be used as a learning map.

I have been using these trays for place value and number sense during BUILD math centers time. My students take a picture of their finished trays and send it to me via Seesaw. Easy Peasy!

They are so great to use during strategy groups time since we have been analyzing characters. Despereaux has been our favorite so far!

 

Cafeteria Lunch Trays

 

These lunch trays did not actually come from the convenience store. They are from my school cafeteria. However, you can find plastic ones at the store which are actually more practical because you can write on them using dry erase markers. My students really LOVE these hands-on number sense activities, they also get to practice many different standards while they are at it.

class manipulatives

I surely do hope that you found some great manipulative ideas for your classroom. If you think about it, all of these activities can be adapted to your grade level standards.

Until next time!

 

6 Comments

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Comments

  1. Collette says

    January 12, 2019 at 12:24 pm

    Love these ideas! Thank you! I’m on my way to the Dollar Tree.

    Reply
    • Laura says

      January 12, 2019 at 6:10 pm

      Hahaha! The Dollar store is the best!

      Reply
  2. Stella says

    January 13, 2019 at 1:13 am

    These are great ideas that cost very little! Thanks for sharing!

    Reply
    • Laura says

      January 13, 2019 at 4:37 pm

      I am so glad your liked them! Thank you!

      Reply
  3. Brenda says

    January 19, 2019 at 12:26 am

    I’ve never seen pic pipe at the dollar store. I’ll keep my eyes open for them. Thanks!

    Reply
    • Laura says

      January 19, 2019 at 10:13 am

      I bought mine at the Dollar General, they were not necessarily $1, but no more than$3.00 a piece…It has been a while since I have bought them though.

      Reply

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