Teaching number sense should be fun and engaging!
Develop
Math Practices
1. Focus
on the Process, Not the Answer
Focus on where your students are, not the curriculum.
Standards describe
the skills that students need in order to be successful mathematicians. To develop a deep understanding of math, we want students to get into the habit of asking themselves if things make sense as they work with numbers. Students should be checking their work and explaining their thinking. This helps kiddos “making
sense of problems and persevering in solving them” (math practice 1).
2. Let them Talk
I like to have students work in pairs and explain their thinking especially when subitizing. I try to have a high math student work with a student that needs help. When kids work together to explain their thinking strategies and listen to others, they are “constructing viable
arguments and critiquing the reasoning of others” (math practice 3). Analyzing builds number sense and the ability to think
flexibly about numbers. By sharing, they see there are multiple ways of solving math problems even though math problems may have one right answer. Get Bird number cards here.
3. Provide Practice
When students practice counting,
they’re learning one-to-one correspondence, or how to match each object they’re
counting to each number they’re saying. This can be done so easily with a number path. To help them practice this concept, give students a number path, to take apart and put back together.
addition and subtraction problems, follow the same approach. Encouraging your
students to discuss how they came up with their answers gives them an
opportunity to vocalize their thought process, which is critical for self-correction
and developing an understanding of different strategies for solving problems.
4. Observation
Watch and observe what your students do as they solve math problems then give them plenty of opportunities to practice and play with numbers.
