Getting ready to start a unit on fractions?! Hands-on and providing opportunities for young learners to make meaning of their learning is my top priority. Whether you are teaching second grade, or fifth grade, or any in between, I know you can use these ideas for your students. Here are my favorites tools and go-to manipulative with teaching fractions to my elementary students. This blog post contains affiliate links and when you click on the products and choose to purchase them, I will make a small commission.

Fraction Action is wonderful in increasing student's vocabulary on fractions! Vocabulary is essential in helping students grasp the concepts. Lots of different examples to show students fractions in various ways.

Fraction Fun is a great book that makes the concept of fractions easy for students to understand. This book dives into numerators and denominators and the beginnings of comparing fractions!

Full House is a fun, whimsical way of reinforcing the concept of fractions! I would suggest this book more for primary though as concepts are basic.

The Lion's Share was one of the first books I purchased for my teacher read aloud library, so this one holds a special place in my heart! This is a great story that visually helps students to see the value of different fractions.

Fractions in Disguise is another book I purchased years ago, as an elementary ed teacher I wanted as many books as I could get to build my teacher library. This book introduces simplified and reduced fractions with equal parts, so I would suggest this for grades 4-6. 

Sir Cumference and the Fraction Faire is another book I enjoy reading to my students. This teaches the basics of fractions to elementary students. I enjoy all the Sir Cumference math tales!

This is another line of math texts I love! Pigs in the Pantry: Fun with Math and Cooking makes the connection between qualities and cooking in recipes. This would not be the text I would base my fraction teaching from, but more of a fun book to add into the instructional unit!

Fraction tower cubes are a great hands-on way for students to compare the fractional units, as well as explore with equivalent fractions. This would be great for homeschooling families, or as an exploration center within a classroom.

Magnetic fraction circles is another great hands-on tool to help students visualize and see the fractional sizes. These are durable and great for teacher and student use alike.

Pattern blocks are a great way for students to create alternative models of a fraction. If the yellow hexagon is their whole, how could they recreate that hexagon shape by using alternative shapes? What fraction of the whole would one of those shapes be?

Plastic fraction tiles is another great hands-on manipulative that allows children to line up the fractions to visually see how many eighths fit into a whole, or how many sixths fit into a half. 

Hopefully you've found some new tools or texts that you will be able in teaching your students about fractions! Let me know if you have any favorites I've forgotten!

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Momma with a Teaching Mission

With most of teachers teaching remotely, I thought I'd share some advice, as to what things are must haves for teachings working remotely during this distance learning time!

Teaching from home, in some sense, has been a joy! I get to see my own children learn new things and interact with their teacher and classmates on Google Meetings. But something that I have found most beneficial for me is headphones, so I can hear meetings, co-workers, and students more clearly!

This mint/gray pair of Elecder i39 Headphones with Microphone sells on Amazon for $18.99. They are adjustable and have a built in microphone. I have not used this brand, but they have decent reviews. They also come in a wide range of colors!







These Sony ZX Series Wired On-Ear Headphones are the ones I have been using this week. They sell on Amazon on about $18.49. I haven't found them to be the most comfortable headphones though. And to be honest, I've only been using them because my earbuds have been misplaced!!






Another item that I have found to be essential is the ability to communicate with my students through video. My computer, a Mac Book Air, has a built in camera, so I have been able to use that. But if you are in need of a relatively inexpensive webcam, here are some ideas:

 This KLJKUJ Webams HD Computer Camera with Absorption Microphone sells on Amazon for less than $8. It's ad claims that it can be used on both laptops and desktops.

This FENGTING HD Webcam is also made for laptops and desktops. It is more expensive, as it sells on Amazon for $26. The camera is also rotatable 360 degrees.






If you are wanting to show your kids how to do something, for example, highlight a text, or write an informational paragraph, a doc camera is what you would use in your classroom, but here are some inexpensive options for at home:


This cellphone/iPad holder isn't quite a document camera, however it holds your phone, and allows your to take videos/pictures as a doc camera would, and it's not as pricey, it costs $18 on Amazon.





This portable camera also sells on Amazon, for a bit heftier price of $50. It has a built-in microphone, and is versatile for taking pictures, video conferencing, creating time lapse videos.

What about some ideas to use with your student? My students loved Prodigy back before we were learning remotely. You can math standards for a certain date range, and they answer questions based off that standard, and you can look at their data how they are performing and what areas they are struggling in. My students also love Mystery Science. They have some great videos and the content is high interest! Another essential I have found while using Google Classroom platform is a daily slide agenda, as shown here:

These slides are editable, as well as there are different color options. My students see this on our daily stream and they know what they have to get done for the day.

I have been creating resources on Teachers Pay Teachers since 2013, and in 2017 I started creating Interactive, Paperless Resources  in order to use them in my classroom and in Google Slides and Google Classroom. I have created over 50 resources that you can send you students through Google Classroom, Microsoft OneDrive, or just through email or link. 

If you have any other suggestions what has worked for you during these #distancelearning days, please feel free to post below! This post contains affiliate links that I make a small commission from when you choose to click the link and purchase the products, thank you~ 

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Momma with a Teaching Mission

During our most recent trip to the library, Alexa, my 6 year old kindergarten chose a handful a books, some she could attempt to read, and others she chose with the intent of me reading to her. But I thought I would share these books that peaked her interest. 

The first book she chose was one that she read at school, Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes. He is a wonderful author, and I know I own quite a few of his books in my classroom library at school. Chrysanthemum is a funny and honest school story about teasing, self-esteem, and acceptance, perfect for any time of year. Chrysanthemum thinks her name is perfect, until her classmates begin to make fun of her. This book is a favorite of both Alexa and I.

The next book Alexa chose was one that she skimmed through and felt confident she would be able to read most of it, it is titled, Bunny will not Smile by Jason Tharp. Bunny will not smile no matter what his friend Big tries, Alexa laughed her way through the silliness of this Level 1 Ready to Read book.

The next book Alexa chose because of the cover, she longs for snow living in Florida, so she wanted a book that had snow in it. This book is titled, The Winter Visitors by Karel Hayes. This story takes place at a summer cottage once the visitors have left for the winter. Much information is gained from the pictures as there are very few words throughout the story, but it lends itself to relying on the pictures to tell the story. 

Alexa chose this book, Tales for Very Picky Eaters by Josh Schneider, because she said it reminded her of her Uncle! This ridiculous tale, of the main character James, taught a valuable lesson that we should always try new things! This is a short chapter book, wonderful for newer readers.

Alexa also chose this book Biscuit's Big Friend by Alyssa Satin Capucilli with the intent of reading it without 'mommy's help'! This book is from the series of I can read, using basic language, word repetition, sight words, perfect for emerging readers!

Alexa chose this book, Step into Reading Disney Frozen 2 Spirits of Nature because she is probably the only 6 year old that hasn't gotten to see Frozen 2 yet, or at least that's what she tells me! Step 2 Readers use basic vocabulary and short sentences to tell simple stories.

The last book Alexa chose this week at the library was The Snow Lion by Jim Helmore and Richard Jones. Again Alexa chose this book because it had the word snow in the title. This story is about making new friends and is encouraging to shy or lonely readers. 

I hope you enjoyed Alexa's selection of books she picked out this week! Have a wonderful day!

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Momma with a Teaching Mission