Welcome back to Book Study Wednesdays! We shifted from Fridays because, let's face it, no one wanted to do much after work on a Friday! So each week for the next
eight Wednesdays, there will be a blog post discussing Jessica Shumway's
"Number Sense Routines: Building Numerical Literacy Every Day in Grades
K-3".
I would LOVE to include discussion questions from readers so we can gather perspectives from all around the globe. If you'd like to submit a question, please email them to me at momentum79@yahoo.com.
Next up: Chapter 1
When you think about it, all children have a sense of numbers. If I gave one child 10 M&Ms and another child 2 M&Ms, you can bet the child with two candies would have some very strong feelings about it! Number sense is demonstrated very early on and Shumway puts it like this on page 11:
"Before children even come to school, their intuitive sense of number begins to develop. They are able to recognize amounts of one, two, and three without counting (Sarama and Clements, 2009). They develop a sense of more and less. Early on, young children come into contact with a variety of situations that involved quantities and to problem solve."
Then they get to school and we beat it out of them with a textbook. Sit here quietly, write this, test on Friday. Boom.
Shumway goes on to discuss how children need multiple chances to see situations differently and to discover that there are MANY different ways to reach a solution and I couldn't agree with her more! Students needs to discuss ideas, even at a young age, even for 10 seconds, but they need to work out their thoughts. It is one of those things we need to TEACH children how to do because for many of them, it is hard to wait for someone else to finish talking!
Number sense routines can help teacher in six major ways (see figure 1.3 on page 10):
- language
- big ideas
- skills
- tools
- models
- strategies
As you work through routines with your class, the students start to see the strategies others are using to work through mathematical situations. They also begin to incorporate the vocabulary that a teacher models within these routines. These routines are so simple yet pack an academic punch. Who knew number sense incorporated so much!
I can't wait to read on so I can try some of them! In fact, I'll be modeling some of the routines and posting videos. I know sometimes it helps me to watch someone else do it first. So those will come in later weeks!
So let's get started with the discussion!
Discussion Questions
(for Hernando County Employees, please answer in the Comments and respond to at least one other person to receive in-service credit. Everyone else, it's free game!)
What was your definition of number sense prior to reading chapter 1? How has it changed (if at all)?
What number sense routines are you currently using and what concepts are you targeting by using those particular routines?
What, if anything, surprised or intrigued you as you read through chapter 1?