Category: Number Sense FAQ
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Marbles in the Sink Disposal
When I changed the water for my flower vase, a marble escaped and fell into the sink disposal without my knowledge. Later, when I ran the disposal, it made the most loud, frightening, cocophonic, diusconcordant noise that turned everybody’s heads. Sounded like I was trying to grind the disposal itself. Carefully, I unplugged the unit,…
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Is Math really a “Language”?
In one of my early jobs after MBA, I worked in the Marketing department of a large corporation. Once a week, a group of us met to discuss how the prior week’s sales promotion performed and how to tweak them for the future. We talked about sales lift, break even, 15% or 20% discount? Do…
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The Most effective way to develop Number Sense in young children – Socratic Dialogue
From working one-on-one with thousands of young students the last 15 years, my team has found that the most effective way to develop number sense is using Socratic Dialogue in an intentional, methodical progression. Instead of one-way instructor->student lecture, the Socratic method of teaching is a style that uses conversation-prompting questions that makes the learning…
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What’s wrong with most number sense practices for K-2 age group?
The K-2 age group is rife with opportunities for laying the groundwork for number sense development. Unfortunately, that opportunity is often wasted due to these poor practices:
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Is my child wired for math?
Does my child have the gene for math? Is my child quick at math? Does my child get math? Is my child a natural with math? These are all irrelevant questions, even damaging, in my opinion. 3 reasons why: Number Sense does start early. It’s not because of genes, or wiring, or talent. For sure,…
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You read to your kids. But you don’t math with them. 5 reasons why.
*** Draft *** If you ask any reading specialist at school what is the one thing new parents can do to develop a strong reader? They will have the same one answer: Read to them daily. Starting when? Starting as early as you can, even before they can recognize letters. Yet you don’t math with…
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What is Number Sense?
Number sense is simply common sense around problem solving involving numbers. You know, kind of like common sense in the kitchen? Some got it more than others. We are cautious of young children in the kitchen because they have not built much common sense in the kitchen. They microwave a cup of water in the…