Kindergarten Number Talks

This year there is a focus on math in our school board so I decided to take the Primary Math Additional Qualification course. We have been talking about Number Sense in the early years and have had a chance to watch a few videos on communicating our mathematical thinking through something called "Number Talks".

For my inquiry assignment I decided to work with my colleagues and plan to implement these "Number Talks" into our Full-Day Kindergarten program for both English and French days. Today we met to begin planning. I wanted to share our plans in hopes that it might spark an interest among other Kindergarten teachers to check out this great resource and begin their own Number Talks!

Organizing our Number Talks:

Afternoon Table Top Activities (12:40-1:00pm)

o   Provide math games with materials to be presented during Number Talks

§  Ex. Dice, dominos, dot cards, Math books in the library

Afternoon Community Time  (1:00pm-1:15pm)

o   Number Talks – We will start by presenting dot cards and following the progression of cards from the book “Number Talks” by Sherry Parrish.

o   English Talk first, followed by repeating the same talk in French the next day.

Our Number Talk process:

1)    Present the question.

a)    Show a dot card briefly. *Not long enough for them to count the dots. Ask: How many dots do you see?

2)    Invite students to answer and ask: Does anybody else see them a different way?

3)    Students will use hand signals:

a)    Thumbs up means "I have an answer".

b)    Sign language for “the same” means they agree with another student’s answer.

4)    Students must use full sentences.

a)    Ex. "I see…"

b)    Ex. French “Je vois… + English explanation"

5)    Prompt students to explain their thinking and repeat their answers aloud.

a)    How do you see them?

b)    Show me how you found ___.

c)    Tell me what you see. (Ex. I see 4 dots on the bottom and 1 dot on top).

 

Next, our team watched the Number Talks Kindergarten videos and documented the teachers’ questions and prompts. We created a list of language we wish to use during Number Talks with dot cards, 10 frames, Rekenreks, and counting books.

As we begin this inquiry into Number Talks and reflect on their effect on students' mathematical development and ability to communicate their mathematical thinking, I will continue to post our findings in my blog. We will start our Number Talks next week using dot cards and look forward to this new adventure in our classroom!