As our school’s math coach, I am always on the lookout for resources that will support all of our learners with new and challenging concepts in math…visuals that help all students feel they can tackle any problem.

One of my favorite tools that has provided exactly this kind of support is our Math Mats.

What are math mats?

Math Mats are open-ended visuals that include:

• number charts
• grid paper
• dot matrix paper
• place value charts
• fraction models
• bar models
• open number lines
• decimal/fraction grids
• coordinate planes

And more!

Math Mats are an excellent resource for intervention and targeted instruction…I’ve used these simple visuals as with my intervention students for years now!

In fact, they’ve been such a success with my small groups, I’ve started working to get them into our classrooms for all students (more on this below!).

How do They help students?

The open-ended nature of these mats makes them easy to use with any math concept. They provide a clear visual for students and can be used:

• with manipulatives
• as reference charts
• to help create models

Math Mats with Manipulatives

I designed the Math Mats to be used with manipulatives, so students can build right onto them:

This helps students use manipulatives with purpose, as they are organized on the mats (such as these place value disks):

Math Mats as reference charts

Students also use the mats as reference charts, to identify key patterns:

Math Mats As Models

Finally, the math mats can be used to help students draw visual models to represent their thinking:

Ideas to set up Math Mats

There are several ways the Math Mats can be set up.

For small groups, I like to keep several in one dry erase pocket, so we can just shift to a new mat whenever needed. We pull the mats out and use the tabs to find what we need quickly:

This year I wanted to start getting these math mats beyond my small groups and into our classrooms, for ALL of our students.

Our math program (we use Ready Math) usually opens with a word problem that students must work through after unpacking for meaning as a class. I knew the mats would be the perfect support for those students who feel a little lost when it comes to the problem-solving time.

Since I’d be building them for entire classes of students, I knew we would need an easier format. I had the great fortune of working with our awesome grade 4 team, who suggested placing the mats in dry erase pockets, which is such an easy and affordable way to set them up.

Then, I had another idea…what if we bound them with a book-binding machine, to keep a set that students could flip through easily (and store without taking up too much space!).

From this, the spiral bound math mats were born!

I wasn’t sure if it was possible to punch holes in the dry erase pockets…but it turns out you can! Here’s a closeup:

I use my old trustworthy binding machine and these binding combs. Then I punch holes in the sheet protectors, print the pages on card stock, and slip the mats right in:

Having a little flip book of them provides an easy way for students to access any supports they may need while problem solving.

And it gets better.

Having choice empowers our students to choose the mats that will help them as they solve:

I am so excited about our new spiral-bound mats! I am looking forward to creating more for the rest of our classrooms!

Would you like to grab a set for your class? Click here for links to the mats on the site shop or TpT: Math Mats with Tabs

Thanks so much for reading! Is this something you would try with your class?

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