Number Sense - Games and Activities You Can Do 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 to figure 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 addition strategies, place value, and estimation. We talk about what is happening, and why. We ask, a lot, does your answer make sense? And, did anyone else come up with a different way of solving the problem?

Parents often ask me how they can support their child at home. While taking the Singapore books home occasionally (on vacation weeks, or if your child is having trouble with a particular section of the book, say) - we like them to stay mostly at school. School can be really exhausting and children need down time and to have time to play. 

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! 

And of course cooking, counting money, and other day-to-day “real life” opportunities are the perfect way to have math on the front burner. Children who have had lots of these home experiences (helping parents plan meals, figuring out measurements and fractions, counting and sorting coins, adding up their allowance and estimating how much more is needed before a favorite game can be purchased) tend to have a lot more number sense before they even see their first math text book.