Bright Idea #3 - Number Chips

I am excited to be teaming up with an amazing group of teacher bloggers, once again, to bring you the "Bright Ideas Link Up". This link up was created to bring you practical classroom ideas from a variety of teachers, from different grades and subject areas. I hope you find some great ideas that you can easily implement in your own classroom. 

Enjoy!

In previous posts, I have talked about filling your classroom with math visuals and manipulatives for little, to no money. This month I thought I would share another idea I use in the classroom with you - using number chips. I hope you find it useful!

To make a set of number chips , get your hands on some bingo chips. (your local dollar store will likely have some). Using a permanent marker, label sets of 10 chips with the digits 0 - 9.

To use the number chips, provide each student with a set of 10 chips, and have them manipulate the chips to create different numbers based on concepts being taught.

Here is an example of some questions I give my students to answer using the number chips.

         
         For easy storage, I keep each set of number chips in an old film canister. I get the canisters from my local photo-lab for Free, as they just throw them away. I was very surprised at how many people still use film, as they gave me a whole shopping bag full!

I hope number chips are something you can use in your classroom!

If you enjoyed this bright idea, please consider joining me on Facebook for more great ideas!

For even more bright ideas, please browse through the link-up below, and choose a topic/grade level that interests you. Thanks for visiting!

An InLinkz Link-up

Bright Ideas Blog Hop

I am so excited to be teaming up with an amazing group of teacher bloggers to bring you the first official "Bright Ideas Blog Hop". This blog hop was created to bring you practical classroom ideas from a variety of teachers, from different grades and subject areas. I hope you find some great ideas that you can easily implement in your own classroom. 

Happy Hopping!

My "Bright Idea"

This month, I will stick with my current theme of filling your room with Math manipulatives on a budget.

Are you ready for my bright idea?

GET YOUR STUDENTS INVOLVED! 

Crazy concept, right?

By getting your students involved not only can you fill your room with manipulatives for FREE, but you can quickly collect enough items to keep you busy throughout the whole year.

I start collecting math "junk" right at the beginning of the year, by sending my students on a scavenger hunt in their own houses.

In order to collect items that I will incorporate within my math lessons, I challenge my students to scavenge their houses. In order to encourage enthusiasm and participation, I make it into a game in which students can earn points for “junk” collected. I would hold the scavenger hunt for a week or two, tallying points as students bring stuff in.

**On a side note, the first year I did this, I let it go for a month, by the end I had enough “junk” to last me 3 years and not enough room to store it all! It will all depend on how enthusiastic your students are about collecting, and bringing the items into school. Just make sure you have room in your classroom to store the stuff you will not need right away.**

I also used the items collected in my science class as well, for dioramas, models, experiments, etc.

Of course, you do not need to collect all these items at once, especially if you have a lack of storage. You could also send home short notes, asking for specific items right before you will be using them in your class.

Remember: Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle

Here's a sample letter I send home. Of course, the items you request will depend on the concepts you teach throughout the year.

Here are some examples of "junk" in use.

There are so many ways to make junk into something useful for your classroom. If you are creative enough, you can think of another use for just about anything. I would love to hear any ideas you have tried! I hope you enjoyed my "bright idea".

If you’re looking for more great ideas, here is a great post by Kate at EduKate and Inspire on how she utilizes a Super Improver Wall in her classroom (whole brain teaching). She shares some great tips that you will definitely want to check out!

Looking for something specific, browse the bright ideas below:

Make sure to check in next month for another batch of "bright ideas"!

How to fill your math classroom with visuals and manipulatives...on a budget

As some of you know from previous posts, I am a very frugal person. If there is a cheaper way of doing something, I will find it! This not only helps me out in my personal life, but also my teaching life. I know I am not alone, when I admit to often looking at something destined for the garbage and think "How could I use that in my classroom?" Anyone else guilty of this?

When it comes to teaching math, I find using any kind of visuals and/or manipulatives to be a huge benefit to many of my students. However, a lot of these hands-on items cost a small fortune in the Math supplies catalogs and teacher stores. So....when I can, I make my own, or enlist the kids to help make them.

This is my "Math Cart" (made by my talented husband), and almost everything in it is made by me, except for some dice, cards, and cube-a-links. Looking at this picture, reminds me that I really should label each bin accordingly.

Here is a quick list of some of the things that fill up this cart.

- all my centers (including directions, and any supplies required to complete them)
- all my number lines
- all my bingo cards (one for just about every concept I teach)
- all my matching games and concentration/memory games  (one for just about every concept I teach)
- all my "I have, who has?" cards (one for just about every concept I teach)
- all my task cards ( I've just started this collection and hope to have a set for each concept I teach by the end of the year)
- all my 3-D shapes for my geometry unit (paper ones used to represent solid shapes, and wire ones used to represent the skeleton of the shape)
- all my place value tents for teaching expanded form.
- film canisters filled with numbered bingo chips (used for my Making Numbers warm-up)
- 2 bins are filled with magazines, as the students are always using them for activities in their Math Scrapbooks
- and more...

Looking at this list, I wonder where I ever found the time. These items have all been collected over my almost 10 years of teaching, and most were done before I had my own children. But, let's face it, creating, cutting, gluing, laminating, and cutting again, takes time. Since discovering TpT, adding to my math cart has become a lot easier and less time consuming.


Two things I use constantly in my room are cards and dice.

Decks of cards are easy enough to come by and are fairly cheap. What's better than cheap? FREE! Call up your local casino and ask if they would be willing to donate their used cards to your classroom. Did you know that they are only allowed to use a deck of cards once? After that, they usually get hole-punched to signify that they have been used, and they are free for the taking. Luckily this year I have a parent who works at a casino, so I get them delivered right to my class by one of my students. She politely pointed out that my decks were looking a little worn and thought I could use some new ones.

*Helpful tip - To make sure your decks do not get mixed up (especially if they are all the same brand), make sure to number them in the top-back corner. Makes for easy re-organizing, when those random cards inevitably get left on the desk or floor somewhere.


Dice, are also fairly easy to come by and also reasonably priced. I love all the different ones you can get these days. 10-sided, 20-sided, etc. However, they are still pretty limited in what you can do with them, especially when you get into the higher grades. So I started making my own dice.

My mom, a retired elementary teacher gave me the idea for quiet dice! One of the disadvantages I find about dice, is they are noisy, and half the time the kids roll them so hard that they roll off the desk on to the floor...sometimes never to be seen again!

I realized that if I made my own dice, the possibilities are endless, as I can put whatever I want on the 6 sides. I started by making them out of old toothpaste or cracker boxes, wrapping, and "laminating" with packing tape. Here are the directions from a resource of mine.

I found these fairly successful, but even with the laminating they don't hold up long term.

Last month I found a fantastic alternative. I came across these foam blocks (50 in a pack) at my local Dollar Tree for $1.25! They are basically the same size as standard dice, maybe a bit larger, and I can make them into whatever kind of dice I want with a fine-point permanent marker! I was sold, so I cleared the shelf of them!

Over the next couple of weeks I will be posting ideas on DIY dice that can be used for specific topics in your math classroom.
I would love to hear your ideas as well.

Stay tuned!

If you happen to be heading to the Texas Middle School Association Annual Conference, you just might get your own set of DIY dice. My blogging friend Michele Martin Luck from A Lesson Plan for Teachers, will be there with a great display of TpT products and has graciously offered to put some of my dice packs in the goodie bags for those who stop by her booth. Make sure to hunt her down if you are there!