Teacher Talk Tuesday

Although I am a huge reading nerd and can talk about reading all day and all night, I do have a special place in my heart for mathematics too (the beauty of being an elementary school teacher is that I get to be a bit nerdy about all the subjects!).

Math is a very interesting thing to teach young kids because their backgrounds vary so much. Of course parents know to read to their kids but how much time do you spend building your child's number sense?

Before I continue I must make a very important point by saying that number sense does not refer to a child's ability to quickly recite answers to various math facts. Number sense, in a way, is like common sense only with math!

Number sense refers to the ability to...

~conserve numbers

(ex. If you ask your child to count from 6 to 10, do they begin with 1 or 6? If they begin with 6 and continue with 7..8..9..10, they understand that numbers build upon one another.)

~recognize terms like higher, lower, more than, less than, the same as, before, after in regards to numbers

(You would be shocked to find out the number of students who, when asked, "tell me the number that comes just before 12," are unable to answer correctly.)

~recognize relationships between numbers

(Ex. When given a number grid with #'s 1-100 organized in rows of 10, a child should recognize the patterns presented. If you try this, you'll see what I mean)

So, what can you do at home?

I encourage you to add the examples given above into your home activities. You can create a table within a word document with 10 rows and 10 columns. Print this off and work with your youngster on writing the numbers 1-100. I know this may sound a bit like slave driving, but I'm telling you it is a very powerful tool. Work through it slowly, begin with just the first row for one night and add a row each night. When the grid is finished, your child will be able to answer questions like, "what number comes before 34?", because they'll have their chart to help.

Sound like too much work? Go to Google images and type in Hundreds Chart to print a finished (and neat) copy.

*Fun thing to do with printed copies: color in number patterns (2's, 5's, and 10's). Use these to ask your child to count by 2's starting with 26, or count back by 5's starting with 75.

PS- For all you toddler/preschool families out there, follow the google images instructions and print a hundreds chart to place in your playroom or child's room. The exposure alone will encourage higher level thinking.