What & Why?

What is a Number Sense Routine?

"A Number Sense Routine is an engaging, accessible, purposeful routine at the beginning of math class that promotes a community of positive mathematics thinking and discussion. A Number Sense Routine is students' first impression of mathematics for the day." Jennifer Lempp, author of Math Workshop, 2017

The Number Sense Routines included in this module have been found to be effective in increasing student engagement, encouraging student discourse, and creating a sense of community.

This module addresses the four Number Sense Routines:

Which One Doesn't Belong
Number Talks
Number of the Day
SPLAT!

A Teacher's Perspective

TASK: Listen as Special Education teacher, Rebecca Filiatreau shares her experience implementing the number sense routine, Which One Doesn't Belong (WODB) in her RtI classroom.

Why Number Sense Routines?

Number Sense Routines serve as "warm-ups" - quick five to ten minute number sense experiences at the beginning of math class. These routines give students an opportunity to strengthen their number sense or procedural fluency. A "warm-up" that is intended to strengthen number sense or procedural fluency asks students to do mental arithmetic or reason numerically or algebraically. This in turn gives students an opportunity to make deeper connections and become more flexible in their thinking about numbers.

In addition to the mathematical purposes, Number Sense Routines serve the purpose of strengthening students’ skills in listening and speaking about mathematics. A student who thinks and talks about the math at the beginning of class, is actively engaged right away and more likely to share their thinking throughout the rest of the lesson.

Implementation of Number Sense Routines

Four Procedures and Expectations Essential to Number Sense Routines

For elementary students, select a designated location that allows you to maintain close proximity to your students for informal observations and interactions.
Provide appropriate wait time for the majority of the students to access the problem.
Accept, respect, and consider all answers.
Encourage student communication throughout the number sense routine.

Teacher moves are important!

Individual Think Time: provides opportunity for all students to have an answer to share w/ their partner
Partner Share Time: provides opportunity for all voices to be heard, even if you don’t have time to call on everyone. This also provides students practice saying what they might share w/ the whole class.
Paraphrasing Student Responses: provides an opportunity for teacher to insert math vocabulary
Not showing judgement or favoritism: sends a message that there is not one right answer; all answers are encouraged and respected for student thinking; sets environment for students to be willing to take risks.

I'm thinking

(can be fist against chest
or open hand with
palm against chest)

I have an answer

I agree

(move hand back and forth)

Hand Signals

At the beginning of the year, consider establishing a small, discreet hand signal students can display to indicate they have an answer they can support with reasoning. This signal could be a thumbs up, or students could show the number of fingers that indicate the number of responses they have for the problem. This is a quick way to see if students have had enough time to think about the problem and keep them from being distracted or rushed by classmates’ raised hands. Pictures of other hand signals commonly used during number sense routines are shown on the left.

"I would highly encourage you to work on number sense persistently. It's so important to build this firm foundation in math at all levels. It's never too late to begin a number sense routine and it will always be worth your time. I challenge you to give it a try. Find a routine you love and the students will love it as well!"
--Cathy Flora, 5th Grade Math Teacher, Potter Gray Elementary

"Students who struggle in math often lack number sense. Number sense is the foundational building block for all strands of mathematics."

-- Jessica Shumway, Number Sense Routines, 2011

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