Making Number Sense Make Sense: A Math Podcast for Early Elementary Teachers

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You may have read the Building Thinking Classrooms in Mathematics book and are pumped to start, but are not sure where. This episode is for you I talk about my experience and what you need to think through before starting. This methodology will transform your math classroom and your students as problem solvers. Watch them go from hesitant and afraid to make mistakes to jumping in head first, and doing math in a way that makes sense to them that is more valuable than any algorithm you could teach!

In this podcast, I talk about spaces, materials, tasks, and more!

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Helpful Links

Building Thinking Classrooms Tasks Starter Pack

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Kindergarten Task Bundle

1st Grade Task Bundle

2nd Grade Task Bundle

See my other posts about BTC or watch the videos in the Building Thinking Classrooms playlist!

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Would you like to try some of these activities for free?Do you have rekenreks sitting around your classroom and are wondering what to do with them? I remember getting given some with ESSRS funds and was like, what am I going to do with this? I dove in and did some research so you don't have to and let me tell you, my students love using them!This episode is for you! I talk all about what number racks or rekenreks are, how to use them, and what they are great for! I also give you some ideas of how to use them in your room to practice:

• Subitizing

• Making matching sets

• One-to-one correspondence

• Anchor to 5 and 10

• Number recognition

• Number Writing

Don’t forget to Grab the Free Bonus!

• Spin, Count, and Cover Rekenreks

• Rekenrek Decomposing Numbers Recording Sheets

• Pick and Record or Spin and Record with numeral or number rack spinners and cards

I encourage you to try some of the free activities and consider investing in the activity bundle or mega bundle! Some teachers like you said, “Thank you so much for creating this resource! I loved how easy it was to implement into my classroom and my students really enjoyed it. ”“I have used this with my kindergarten students and they really enjoyed it. I found it to be engaging and educational. I would recommend it to other teachers to use in their classrooms as well. It’s a good resource to have and will help benefit your students’ kindergarten learning experience.”If you try the freebie, send me a DM and let me know how you like it!Blog Post All About RekenreksYT Video: All About RekenreksWant to see some rekenrek centers in action? Watch this video!FREE Rekenrek ActivitiesRekenrek Activity BundleRekenrek Activity Mega Bundle (with clip art so you can create to fit your needs!)

After a year of using the Building Thinking Classrooms framework, how did it work in Kindergarten? In this podcast, I talk about my results with these math problems for kindergarten, some things I am curious about, and what I would change if I were to start over!

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Timestamps

1:00 Results

6:30 Curiosities, Things I noticed

10:10 Things I would change for next time!

12:32 Try a Task!

14:03 Sharing with Colleagues

Helpful Links

Get the Building Thinking Classrooms Book!

Need some Tasks? Get started with this starter pack or read about them in this BTC task blog post!

Kindergarten Task Bundle

1st Grade Task Bundle

2nd Grade Task Bundle

Watch this podcast on Youtube!

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Check out the Blog for more ideas!

In this week's episode, I talk all about a quick assessment and data-tracking resource to support you and your students in creating counting and number sense goals and seeing their growth. This data-tracking resource is for you available in English and Spanish! Math conferencing and goal setting is a powerful tool giving your students focus and creates positive momentum with achievable, bite-sized goals!This kindergarten counting data tracker is unlike other assessments that give you no direction or information you can’t fully use. This visual goal-setting resource will let you know exactly which skills your students have mastered and give them and you a target to work towards! Your students can color in mastered content as they go to see how much growth they are making as mathematicians.Blog Post: YouTube VideoVisual Goal Setting Sheet and Progress Tracker

Learn more about subitizing, and get your kids excited about math! Subitizing is a useful skill for young mathematicians to learn and will help them develop number sense! In this episode, you'll learn the definition of subitizing and activities and games to reinforce the concept. With subitizing, you can teach your students how to easily recognize number patterns, and groups of objects they can use as they grow as mathematicians.

Timestamps:

:33 Subitizing is like a turtle covered in flowers 🐢🌺

1:55 Subitizing Definition

2:48 Perceptual VS Conceptual Subitizing

3:38 Why is subitizing important?

4:40 35 +12=?

7: 25 Subitizing in your math block

8:35 Quick Images

9:50 Quick Images Freebie!

10:53 Recap

11:45 Weekly lol break!

Free Quick Image Resource!

Blog Post

YT Video:

3 Ways to Use Quick Images in your classroom

One-to-one correspondence isn't as easy as it sounds! There is so much involved in learning to count that we don't even think about as adults! In this episode, I go over what one-to-one correspondence is, strategies to help your students with their one-to-one correspondence, and some ideas of one-to-one correspondence activities you can add to your math centers to help!

Timestamps

:20 Math Story Tidbits

1:19 Teaching foundational skills isn't as easy as it seems

2:05 Counting is hard

3:16 Definition of one-to-one correspondence4:10 Strategies to help with one-to-one correspondence

4:26 Strategy1

5:23 Strategy 2

6:25 Strategy 3

6:50 Practice Makes Progress

7:25 Play is Key!

8:20 Math Center Ideas

Helpful Links

Blog Post

Strategies Video

Activities Video

Pop It Task Cards

Empty the Board

IG: numbersensemakesense

Ep 4: 5 Amazon Must Haves for the Classroom

Teacher appreciation is right around the corner, and I don’t know about you but I have had parents ask me if I have an Amazon wishlist. I don’t think you should have to spend your own money on your classroom but if someone else wants to buy you something…

Do you have a few dollars to spend with some PTA money? I've gathered a list of 5 Amazon finds that are versatile, fun, and inexpensive for the math classroom. This episode provides you with five amazing finds that are sure to bring some fun and creativity to your math lessons. From math manipulatives to 10 frame dice and number dice, these fun educational tools will bring a whole new level of excitement to your elementary math classroom.

Not only will these math finds help to excite and engage your students, but they will also help them to better understand key math concepts in an engaging way!

Timestamps

:18 Disclamer

1:15 Find #1

1:45 Secret tip to save some 💸

2:10 Find #2

2:52 Find #3

3:36 Find #4

4:11 Find #5

5:33 Recap

6:04 Some 🤣 the 🧵of the week: I’d happily go to staff meetings if….

Helpful Links

Numeral Dice

10 Frame Dice

Spinners

Dry Erase Sleeves

Double-Sided Tape

Check out the Blog Post or YT Video!

Centers using some of these items!Roll and Write 10 Frames

Spin and Build

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Tips, Tricks, Stories from the Classroom plus a Rekenrek Freebie with tons of games and comes in English and Spanish!

Have you been wanting to do math center time in your classroom but are unsure where to start and how to make it run like clockwork? This episode is for you! I go over the 5 Steps to Success I have been using for 10 YEARS that have kept math workshop my students favorite part of the day!

Timestamps

:58 List of the Steps

1:24 Don’t do math during math workshop

3:00 Set Clear Expectations

5:20 Practice

6:54 Visual Station Chart

8:45 Revisit and Reteach as needed

Helpful Links

Blog Post:

YT Video

Math Center Editable Chart

IG: numbersensemakesense

Try a task for free! ✨ Building Thinking Classrooms FREE Task

Have you heard of the Book “Building Thinking Classrooms in Mathematics” by PeterIn this episode, I go over why I was looking for an effective way to teach problem-solving that would work for kindergarten, how I started using the Building Thinking Classrooms in my Kindergarten class, my results, and my next steps! If you are hesitant to try it out in an early elementary classroom this podcast is for you!

Timestamps

1:34 What is a Thinking Classroom in this Context

4:33 Set Up, 3 Things you NEED to get started

5:46 Vertical Non Permenant Surfaces

6:22 Random Groups

8:00 Be deliberately less helpful

8:56 Starting Tasks/Non-Curricular Tasks

11:48 My First Official Math Task

13:00 Finding Tasks

14:14 Thin Slicing, Early Finishers

14:50 My Next Steps, Consolidating Learning

15:46 Big Goal

Helpful Links

Try a task for free! ✨ Building Thinking Classrooms FREE Task

Building Thinking Classrooms Tasks Blog: https://bit.ly/41d4E1c

Building Thinking Classroom Tasks Starter Kit: https://bit.ly/40iCWyQ

Kindergarten Task Bundle

1st Grade Task Bundle

2nd Grade Task Bundle

Classroom Screen: https://classroomscreen.com/

Building Thinking Classrooms K-2 Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/902047717151517/

Building Thinking Classrooms Book: https://amzn.to/40eC2Dc

IG Handle: numbersensemakesense