Math Pathways

Ahh...Number Sense... a phrase I have written about before... when young children see how numbers have a purpose in their everyday life and they can think flexibly about numbers, they begin to develop Number Sense.  

Number sense refers to a child's ability to use and understand numbers by:

*knowing their value

*knowing how to use numbers to make judgements

*knowing how to use numbers flexibly when adding or subtracting

*having strategies for counting, measuring and estimating

*being able to explain their thinking for solving problems and comparing numbers

In the pictures that follow you will see how children are building those numbers sense ways of thinking and developing strategies for solving numerical problems.  

Strengthening counting skills as a basis for early addition practice.

Representing numbers in various ways, comparing amounts and the importance of forming numbers correctly.

Teen numbers and place value...understanding how the digit "one" means "one ten and some more" in a teen number and numerical patterns on a hundreds chart.

Addition is a way of putting two amounts together...represented by numbers...growing when more items are added.

Learning to use tools for solving addition and subtraction is critical to being able to explain why, for example, 2+3=5.  We learn to tell the "story" of an addition problem in a way that tells how two amounts are put together to create a new total amount of objects.

Measuring to explain terms such as "longer/shorter" and "taller/shorter" and applying those to solving problems posed such as being tall enough to ride an amusement park ride.  How does one prove that with numerical thinking?