Number Talking UPDATES!



Hey Kinder Friends,

I can't believe that school starts tomorrow. I am just a little nervous I guess. I have had a little bit of a rough start with a few things not working properly and I am sure that adds to my feeling. But no matter what, we start tomorrow and I am ready to get going. Is everything perfect? Probably not but it is close and that is close enough for me. Let's just..do it!

I have been thinking about the beginning of the year Number Talks in my classroom and deciding how I will start or kick this off this year. In my district we have had a mandated "master schedule" approach to our daily schedule. I have spent some time trying to figure out what that would look like in my classroom. I was thinking about all the different components of mathematics instruction I already have in place and I wondered where Number Talks would fit in for me this year. I used to have a perfect "stand alone" time for Number Talks but now I have a big math block all in one. I was really struggling to find the place in the schedule that would work for me and my students. I really wanted the entire math block to have flow and movement that felt natural and left enough time for us to process what we were doing and why we were doing it.

Knowing that I had to incorporate Number Corner, a focus lesson, independent practice, paired practice, small groups, intervention, progress monitoring, goal setting, mini conferences, evaluation, reflection and Number Talks into my block, I decided that Number Talks was going to have to do double duty for me this year! So my Number Talks will be at the end of my math block. I sure didn't want to have back to back whole group sessions of math because of the obvious... This way I can use it as a way to provide time to reflect on what and how we did when we were working independently, in pairs or small groups and end the time with Number Talking. This will help hold me accountable for allowing time for reflection because I know that it is right before my favorite part...Number Talking. And I like how we end the entire math block with something that has been a class favorite of mine and my students!

I have updated the Number Talking file in my store that now includes an editable set of slides for hand signals that provide the structure of the Number Talking in the classroom.

You can now create slides and make it what you want to fit your needs or you can use the ones provided. I am looking forward to having this option as I start my own Number Talking sessions in my class the first week of school! The first week our goals are just getting to the area and sitting in a good spot. On day one, I read Christopher Counting and talk about how I have loved to count since I was five. The rest of the week we focus on the first signal and how to sit in our good spots. I am taking it slow and simple.

If you already have this resource please download again to get the new editable signal slides and if you need more information just click on the images above!