Monday, June 22, 2015

Number Talks

I'm taking a long, hard look at math this summer by doing my own personal PD. I've already worked my way through several books and bought myself a cheap notepad to keep track of take-aways for when I'm back in the teaching groove. It's one thing to read great professional books and another thing to put new ideas into practice. I'm hoping my notepad helps me do just that.



Number Talks by Sherry Parrish has been my favorite math read so far this summer. It's so good that I've already pushed it off onto one of the 5th grade teachers at my school, and there's a line of others behind her who want to read it as well.

A number talk is a 5 to 15 minute daily opportunity for students to use and describe mental math strategies. First several answers are accepted and recorded. Then students are asked to defend their work by describing how they computed the problem. The teacher records their thinking in a way that mirrors the child's process but most likely expands their understanding of how math can look. This process is repeated a number of times with other strategies, so all students get to hear and see several perspectives. 

The goal is to increase the students' abilities to compute with accuracy, flexibility, and fluency. Number talks excite me, especially when I think of what would happen if every classroom in a school embraced this practice. These daily conversations across the grade levels would be priceless.

I would highly recommend this book for all classrooms K-5. An added bonus is that it comes with a DVD, which I found to be very helpful. It wasn't the cheapest book, but I saved some money by finding a used copy. It's money well spent though!



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14 comments:

  1. Tammy, I've had my eye on this book and been reading lots of blog posts about Number Talks. I really want to implement it this year in my classroom too! I need to get my hands on that book! ;-)

    Crystal
    Teaching Little Miracles

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  2. Tammy, This is excellent! I have a number talks book as well that hits higher grades if anyone is interested, let me know.

    Ramey

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    1. Thanks Ramey. I'll keep that in mind. I'm looking forward to seeing how many teachers I can convince to give number talks a shot.

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  3. I love Number Talks! What a great routine to get kids thinking about how they can solve problems. I thought the DVD was very helpful as well!

    Nichole
    The Craft of Teaching

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    1. Nichole, I'm so looking forward to establishing this routine in my room. Thanks for the confirmation.

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  4. I have this book! I'm going to pull it out and re-read. Thanks for the reminder.

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    1. Barb, you're very welcome. I'll probably need a refresher before school starts too.

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  5. This book sounds like it will blend right in with your number talks that you are already doing in your classroom!
    Lori
    Conversations in Literacy

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    1. Lori, that's what I though too. It will be the perfect extension of where I've been trying to go.

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  6. I have had that book in my saved cart on Amazon forever! I may have to break down and get it! We do something similar with number dots in Kinder-I think it's a very effective tool to help develop those basic concepts.

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    1. Miss Trayers, you should definitely grab it. They suggest using dots and frames for k, so you're already doing part of it.

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  7. I look forward to reading more as you use this throughout the year! We had to start with K material and then move into first. It worked for us last year and we will see how it goes this year. I can't wait!

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    1. Em, that's good information to know. I'm sure I'll be asking you more questions as the year progresses!

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