Number Talks

I read the book Number Talks and have started to implement the concepts into our daily math lessons. We try to start every day with a number talk. I will put an addition sentence on the board and the students will give me a thumbs up when they know the answer and when they know how they found the answer. 

The purpose of number talk is to get the students to talk about their strategies and discuss different possibilities to solve problems. 

If I write 49+23 on the board I will write a few possible answers on the smart board (answers the students give). Then we will vote which answer majority of the class came up with. I will then ask the students to explain their addition strategies. 

49+23

1) First I added the tens; so I added 40+20 and that gave me 60. Then I took 1 away from the 3 and gave it to the 9 to make it 10. Then I added 60+10 and that equals 70. I know that I have 2 left over so I added 70+2 which equals 72. 

2) First I borrowed 1 from the 23 to make 49 into 50. Then I added 50+22=72.

These are just a few ways that the students can explain their thinking. This will help them with understanding numbers and will give them a greater confidence when they explain their thinking in written form.   

As a family create a few number problems and take turns sharing different strategies. It really is a fun way to discuss math concepts.

ENJOY

:-)