Math Talks: Practical Information to Get You Started NOW!

FLUENCY is a big buzzword in elementary math these days. Another one is NUMBER SENSE. Do you know what number sense means? Number sense has 7 parts:

• Counting

• Subitizing

• Cardinality

• More/Less

• Spatial Relationships

• Part-Part-Total

• Benchmark Numbers

ALL of these help with FLUENCY and can be tackled during Math Talks/Number Talks. Let's break down what each of these means.

We all know that counting is really important for young mathematicians. Practicing counting should be an everyday occurrence in early childhood classrooms. Connecting that counting to real-life is super important too. This is a good order to approach counting.

• Counting to 10-preschool
• Counting to 20-preschool
• Counting to 40-beginning K
• Counting to 80-middle K
• Counting to 100-end of goal in K
• Counting to 120-beginning of 1st grade
• Counting to 120 starting at any number-end of 1st grade

Connecting the numerals to counting can come as students are ready. Here is a great resource for this!

This 100/120 Pocket Chart resource has cards for all seasons and cards that alternate red/blue. 

Subitizing means we can look at a group of objects and tell how many there are without counting. Having items in a pattern like those of dice or dominoes makes this task easier. Generally, young children can subitize 3 items and eventually up to 5 unless they are in a pattern that can be memorized and then they may be able to recognize more.

Here is 5.

And this is also 5. You can see how the green dots are easy to subitize but for the red dots, you need to count or at least see that it is 3 and 2 more.

Cardinality means that you count the objects and you understand that the last number you say is the total number of objects. 

For this one, you might see the two red cubes and then count on: 2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10. There are 10 cubes.

For this slide, you might count on more than once or you might see 3 and then count on the 7 more to also get 10.

More and less is comparing numbers. At first, we don't worry about using the greater than/less than symbols. Later these can start to be used. 

Measurement and graphing are nice connections to this number sense skill as well. And of course, subtraction: How many MORE red cubes are there than orange cubes. 

The way this one is shown makes it harder to compare. Students having their own blocks to manipulate helps them solve this problem. 

Having hands-on materials to explore is vital to successful mathematics instruction. Having the students build what they see helps them to really see what is happening and thus solve problems.

This is an example that could be used for teaching doubles and near doubles. 

5 + 5 + 1 = 11

5 + 6 = 11

Here is another.

6 + 6 + 2 = 14

6 + 8 = 14

Here is one that represents base 10 blocks. What do you see?

10 + 10 + 10 + 10 + 10 + 10 + 10 + 6 = 76

which is essentially: 

(10 X 7) + 6 = 76

Having these blocks to visualize gives students ideas on how to devise a strategy to solve, even in algebra class!

Part-Part-Total helps students understand the relationships between the numbers in an equation. This is sometimes called part-part-whole but I like total better.

4-2-=2

This helps students with addition, subtraction, fact families, and even fractions and division. 

4 + 3 = 7

The benchmark numbers in our base 10 number system are numbers that end in 5 or 0 such as 5, 10, 25, 50, 75, 100, 1,000, 1,000,000.

Students who have good number sense can estimate how far away a number is from a benchmark number which helps them solve problems quickly.

76 + 19 is about 75 + 20 which is easier for our brains to deal with than the 6 and the 9 in the first problem. This example demonstrates why we should NOT be teaching carrying and borrowing until AT LEAST 3rd Grade. Solving problems horizontally lends itself to students using number sense to solve instead of traditional algorithms. This helps students build those problem-solving skills instead of procedural skills. Here's another blog post if you are interested in learning more about this.

Why is Common Core homework so hard for parents to help with?

A number path for K/1 and number lines for 2nd Grade and up is a great way to show these distances.

These triads help students understand this also. They tell which number the middle number is closer to. Using number lines that skip count are particularly helpful for this.

ALL of these Number Sense topics are important to teach during Number Talks. My Number Talks for K/1 resource will walk you through implementing this routine easily and successfully with teacher language, tips, and visual aids. OVER 1200 slides to spark math conversations in your classroom and get your students talking about how they are solving problems. Makes building Number Sense and practicing Mental Math a snap! This resource is digital and can be projected on your interactive whiteboard or used with Google Slides and Google Classroom. Click below to see it in my store.

Another great math resource that I mentioned above is Math Interventions Activities for Kindergarten, 1st Grade, and 2nd Grade. This HUGE resource contains hands-on materials and activities to help students with number sense, computation, and place value. Perfect for tier 2 and tier 3 Math RtI or MTSS Math Interventions. Also great for math centers, small group learning, and math partner activities. Click below to see this resource in my store.

I hope this makes you feel more confident in your Math Talks journey! As always, reach out as I LOVE discussing education with other educators. 

mrsbates99@headfirstgrade.com