Back to School: Math Talks

Here at Craft Teach Repeat I have been sharing ideas I plan to use at the beginning of the school year in September while I teach Grade 2. In my school, we use a scope and sequence for teaching the different units in math that pairs with the Ontario 2020 Mathematics Curriculum. I notice that when I follow the scope and sequence my students can sometimes use it and lose it when it comes to their number sense. I want to correct that by using Math Talks/Number Talks daily as part of my math routines. This will allow me to incorporate Number Sense even when we are learning spatial sense or data management. 

What are Math Talks/Number Talks? They are short questions that are presented whole class and students are given time to figure out the answers (usually mentally but sometimes they can use whiteboards/math journals to help them). Students then use hand signals to show when they are thinking,when they have strategy, and when they have multiple strategies. To find out more about the hand signals, check out Primary Bliss Teaching's blog post. 

Once students have shown you that they have the answer and a strategy you can call on a student to share their answer and the strategy they used. Students then show an agree sign if they agree and a disagree sign if they disagree. Math Talks really help my students to share their thinking. How can we get our students to open up and share their ideas with the class? Here is a poster I made with Math Talk Sentence Starters to help students share their ideas.

Where can you start on your Math Talk/Number Talk journey? Lucky for you, I made a First 20 Days of Math Talks to help get you started! This product includes 20 different Math Talks to help you get started and is best used for Grades 1 or Grades 2. This is one less thing you need to worry about in the busy Back to School season. 

Have you used Math Talks in your classroom? If so, leave a comment below letting me how know how they work in your class.

Thanks,

Tara