Adding it Up: Helping Children Learn Mathematics
Using number sense routines will assist you in building a mathematical community where students feel safe and are willing to take risks. These daily experiences allow teachers to focus on the core/curricular competencies in a way that is connected to the content. Number routines are responsive to the students' understanding and build deep understanding about numbers and the relationships among them. During number routines children are constructing their own knowledge of mathematics. They are sharing the strategies that make the most sense to them and in doing so, they are learning from their peers.
Children have real understanding only of that which they invent themselves, and each time that we try to teach them
​ too quickly, we keep them from reinventing it themselves. ~ Piaget