Number Sense: Teaching Mathematical Thinking

Just like comprehension is the entire point of learning to read, number sense is the entire point of learning math. I don't know about you, but I don't have the time to walk through the grocery store using a calculator app to determine if each sale is truly a good deal. But because I have (some) number sense, I can estimate quickly as I walk through the aisles.

I don't think anyone talked about number sense when I was a kid. Math then was really focused on memorization. I remember I once failed a multiplication test  - despite being the first kid done and despite checking over my work - because I had forgotten one step in the formula I had memorized. Had anyone emphasized number sense in any of my math lessons, I probably would have realized that 470 isn't a large enough answer for 37x48. 

It wasn't until I was learning to teach math that I begin to develop number sense. I was TWENTY-FOUR when I made the connection between skip counting and multiplication. Yet I was able to do pretty well on the math portion of the SAT. Isn't that sad?

I used to joke that I had teach younger kids because I couldn't understand fourth grade math well enough to teach it. Except that I wasn't really joking. And I've heard so many people, mostly women, talk about how bad they are at math. But you know what? I think it's just that we have lousy number sense. I was lucky enough to develop mine when I learned how to teach a math curriculum that focused on number sense.

So what can parents do at home - even parents who feel like they are "bad at math" - to help their kids develop number sense?

• Stop pushing your toddler to count to 20 or 100 or whatever. Rote counting doesn't have much bearing on future math ability.
• Do encourage your little one to count objects. One to one correspondence (touching 1 car and saying 1, touching the next car and saying 2 and so on) is far more important. Kids under 6 should have one to one correspondence equal to their age; a 4 year old should be able to count 4 objects accurately. 
• Sorting objects - blocks, cars, stuffed animals, rocks, whatever - is helpful, as long as you discuss how kids sorted them. Color? Size? Shape? Encourage your kids to explain their thinking.
• Use math vocabulary and make sure kids understand what the words mean: before, after, between, more, less, difference, even, odd. For older kids, include: fraction, factor, sum, percent, addend, area, perimeter, length, volume. There's a great list for older kids here. 
• Show kids how you use math every day. Talk about balancing the checkbook, calculating coupons and sales, figuring out the tip, measuring for recipes and so on. Share how you figure things out, even if it's not the "official" way you learned in school. 
• Play games that involve math skills, like Yahtzee, dominoes, Sorry, Connect Four, Chutes and Ladders, Uno and even poker. 
• Incorporate a few math problems or stories into your bedtime rituals. Show kids that math is just as important as reading. If coming up with your own problems intimidates you, check out these helpful books:

Amazon Affiliate links. If click on one of these and order, I will earn (a teeny bit of) money. 

Come by next Tuesday for descriptions of easy math games you can play at home. And let me know how you feel about math and number sense in the comments!