Early Elementary Math Resources

Early elementary math roundup!

I’m cleaning out our cupboards and thought I’d share the math resources I used in our earlier years, grades one through three. They are pretty basic and except for a few books that I purchased used, we had all the supplies in the house already.

Math in the first three years of school is all about working with the four processes of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division in very practical ways. My simple supplies reflect how little you really need. I kept things fun, light and practical.

• Acorns, beads and rocks: We used these as counters. When we were discovering place value, I made little bags for ten rocks to be held and bigger bags for hundreds (which have already been repurposed). For addition and subtraction, we used beads on pipe cleaners to do the exchange in place values. I also made a multiplication wheel out of a simple cork board pot holder from IKEA and some push pins.
• Games for Math by Peggy Kaye: This is the best! The children loved every activity I created from there and it covers all four processes and then some. All you need are pencil and paper for most of the activities.
• Active Arithmetic: This book was fun too. I didn’t use it as often, but it gave me some good ideas for movement exercises. During math movement exercises we often clapped or used beanbags or balls to help keep rhythm while reciting the facts.
• Lots of paper and pencils, along with a small lap sized chalk boards. I loved using chalk boards with math because you can simply erase to add something new without having to re-write everything out new each time.

And that’s it! Occasionally I’d print off a few facts practice sheets from a website because my children enjoy the repetition, but beyond that, it was very simple, hands-on and homemade.

If you have any questions, please do reach out!

Until next time,
Marina