Number Talks and Building Fluency
The primary goal of Number Talks is computational fluency.
Children develop computational fluency while thinking and reasoning
like mathematicians. Children are asked to make connections and look
for relationships and thus are engaged in "doing mathematics." When
they share their strategies with others, they learn to clarify and express
their thinking, thereby developing mathematical language. This in turn
serves them well when they are asked to express their mathematical
processes in writing.
In order for children to become computationally fluent, they need to
know particular mathematical concepts that go beyond what is required
to memorize basic facts or procedures. Students need to understand
that:
• Numbers are composed of smaller numbers.
• Numbers can be taken apart and combined with other numbers to make new numbers.
• What we know about one number can help us figure out other numbers.
• What we know about parts of smaller numbers can help us with parts of larger numbers.
• Numbers are organized into groups of tens and ones (and hundreds, tens and ones and so forth.)
• What we know about numbers to 10 helps us with numbers to 100 and beyond
Quick Images and Ten’s frames are great tools for building fluency.
This is a great journal prompt to promote meta-cognition (thinking about your thinking). Math
journaling and writing with in the K-2 grades builds a strong foundation for students to become
critical thinkers and problem solvers.
How about this for teaching combinations to 5! You can adjust to the number to fit
your number
that your students need to work on. By working with students and teaching them
to compose
and decompose, teachers are giving students a better understanding of mastering
and
understanding of computational fluency.
I really like all of the visuals and manipulatives for better understanding of math. I was a very good memorizer, but since that is how we learned much of the earlier math, I struggled a little later on. I think that if I was taught the ways you have been suggesting that I would have had a much easier time in the higer level, more conceptual courses.
ReplyDeleteManipulatives help students understand math. I have used algebra tiles to help students in basic math. They can use the tiles to represent variables. These can be used to solve equations. The students seem to have a difficult time transferring their knowledge back to paper and pencil. But if used consistently the students will understand the concepts. Thanks for the information.
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