Making decisions about what to buy is an important part of implementation planning, and is impacted both by budgetary considerations and the amount of time teachers have for preparation.
The basic materials teachers need are the curriculum units for the units they will teach, and the manipulatives those units require. The units are available as grade-level sets, or, if teachers are piloting one unit or implementing gradually, as individual units. The grade level Student Materials Kits include all of the necessary manipulatives and are a good option for classrooms that do not already have basic math materials such as cubes or pattern blocks. Classrooms that require only one or several manipulatives can order them individually.
Some materials must be purchased, such as Geoblocks or calculators. Others can be made, and still others can be gathered in a school setting and/or with help from families. What to Purchase, Gather, and Make presents the materials needed for each grade level, sorted into these three categories.
For more support in making such decisions, consider how several districts that are implementing Investigations (1998, 2004, and 2006 editions) answered the following question: Our district is strapped for money. What materials do we really have to buy and what can we do without?
Return to 1st edition ordering.
