Math Manipulative Organization

It’s time to talk math organization! I am a firm believer that students must be able to access manipulatives–whether they be counters, rulers, dice, or whatever–without an adult passing them out and saying “Today you will use these!”.

As mentioned in the Common Core, students need to be able to successfully “Use appropriate tools strategically”, and helping them know how and when to select them is key. Below you will find one of my favorite storage system for miscellaneous “counters”, so that students can take a drawer right back to their work space whenever needed. You can see the bucket of rulers and protractors next to it, and the shelves below house dice, calculators, base 10 blocks, and other math supplies.
Students need to learn to access and use math manipulatives independently, so we need to have classroom organization strategies to help!  Check out this post about how I organize math supplies.
These awesome drawer sets come in a variety of shapes and sizes. This one was pretty reasonable at a local home improvement store…I have put an affiliate link to one on Amazon here if you are interested.  It’s not identical–but similar.

Each drawer gets filled with a variety of different counters…some “standard” issue ones–and others that I have picked up at the dollar store and other fun places! Mini erasers, bingo counters, plastic “gems” from the floral area…all work just great and are super inexpensive.
Students need to learn to access and use math manipulatives independently, so we need to have classroom organization strategies to help!  Check out this post about how I organize math supplies.
To me, the most important thing is that students have easy access to everything they need WITHOUT prompting. We want them to independently use tools and to THINK about what will help them solve the problems they encounter!
Students need to learn to access and use math manipulatives independently, so we need to have classroom organization strategies to help!  Check out this post about how I organize math supplies.
This is my trusty dusty math cart…a shelf for a tub of markers and a tub of fabric squares for erasers and the top shelf for my whiteboards. We can wheel it to wherever the math happens!  I have had a LOT of requests about where I got this cart…it’s so old I can’t even tell you! I have put an affiliate link on Amazon to something I think would work just as well (and actually much cuter!)

I’d love to hear any great math organization tips you might have! I love to learn new ways to make MY life easier and to make math more accessible to students.  Remember, we want students to be independent so we can free ourselves up to teach, observe, and coach! 

Rather pin this for later?  Here you go!

Students need to learn to access and use math manipulatives independently, so we need to have classroom organization strategies to help!  Check out this post about how I organize math supplies.

Meg