To build number sense, students need frequent exposure or review of concepts you have previously introduced. There are many ways to build number sense on an on-going, informal basis – especially when you can squeeze in 10-15 minutes daily:
- During morning meeting time
- During a Number Talks session
- At the beginning of your math lesson
- At the end of your math lesson
- End of day closure time
I have included several of my power point slides on this topic as a PDF file (daily-practice-to-build-number-sense-pdf).
“Choose 3 Ways” is one of the activities I recommend. You present a problem to your students. Then they each try to come up with 3 different ways to solve the problem, using varying strategies. Two templates are attached: choose-3-ways-addition-subtraction and choose-3-ways-multiplication-division. On the PDF, I also gave reference to a short video on www.teachingchannel.org which models this strategy. Sharing the strategies and letting children take the lead is also part of this activity.
Enjoy! Have a great week!
Clip art courtesy of MS Office.
I do many of the things you mentioned in my daily math meeting. However, I really loved the cut out you put on your hundreds chart to identify 10 less, 10 more, 1 more, and 1 less. I plan to make that with my students who struggle in that area to help them! Great idea!
Thank you! I also like having students count by 10 from any number to show counting by 10s is not just 10, 30, 30 … But also 13, 23, 33. And this knowledge helps when using an open number line for adding and subtracting.