Saturday, September 24, 2016

Number Sense - Games You Can Play at Home


Number sense is probably the most vague of all the mathematical terms. Even teachers who have taught 
mathematics for years have a hard time defining it - but we sure know when we see it! Students do not have 
number sense when they are confused about place value (what numbers actually mean) and may not line up the 
ones place when working an addition problem, for example. Seeing patterns and recognizing the relationship between
addition and subtraction as well as multiplication and division also falls under "number sense". You need this sense 
tfigure out what operation is needed to perform a computation problem.

We will spend a good deal of time at the beginning of this year to explore number sense in my math class, starting 
with estimation, addition strategies, and place value.

Parents often ask me how they can support their child at home. While taking workbooks home and working for a 
brief time (10 minutes, perhaps, once a week) is fine, I do want to say that school is exhausting and children really
need a time to play and have fun. Please follow your child's lead in this, and make sure they have plenty of down 
time.

There are also lots of fun games you can play that are wonderful for practice with numbers and operations. If your 
child would enjoy playing these types of games with you, all you need is a deck of cards or perhaps a set of dice. 
We play games at school during math, and I will be sharing these with you during the year. To start off, you can 
click HERE to see some really fun card games that will have your child wanting to practice math!

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