Number Talks
Presented by:
Kim Mott, Instructional Coach Beechgrove
Andrea Krumpelman, Instructional Coach Summit View Elementary
Entrance Ticket

How has your instruction in math
changed this year as a result of the
common core standards?
“How to Get Students Talking! Generating
Math Talk That Supports Math Learning”
Article:
“Number Talks Build Numerical Reasoning”
by: Sherry Parrish
www.nctm.org
Why Talk About Math
“ Our classrooms are filled with students
and adults who think of mathematics as
rules and procedures to memorize
without understanding the numerical
relationships that provide the foundation
for these rules.”
What are Number Talks?
Classroom conversations and discussions around
purposefully crafted computation problems are at
the very core of number talks.
Number Talks incorporate:
Accuracy: The ability to produce an accurate
answer.
Efficiency: The ability to choose an appropriate,
expedient strategy for a specific computation
problem.
Flexibility: The ability to use number relationships
with ease in computation.
Number Talks in Action
Before we watch the third grade number talk for 70-34, think
about how you would mentally solve this problem.
As you are viewing the video clip, consider the following:
1.
2.
3.
4.
How are students using number relationships to solve the
problem?
How would you describe the classroom community and
environment?
Which strategies demonstrate accuracy, efficiency, and
flexibility?
How are the students’ strategies similar or different from
your strategy?
The Key Components of Number
Talks
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Classroom environment and community
Classroom discussions
The teacher’s role
The role of mental math
Purposeful computation problems
Classroom Environment and
Community
Safe, risk-free environment
 Students comfortable and offer responses
for discussion
 Classroom exhibits a culture of
acceptance based on the common goal of
learning and understanding
 Community of learners based on mutual
respect

Classroom Discussions
Develop system for students to respond
to questions, while allowing for think
time.
 What did we see in the video clip?

The Teacher’s Role
“Since the heart of number talks is classroom
conversations, it is appropriate for the
teacher to move into the role of facilitator.”
 Teachers must change their thinking from
concentrating on the final correct answer,
to listening and learning about students’
natural thinking through asking open
ended questions.
 “What answer did you get?” “How did
you get your answer?”

The Role of Mental Math
Students need to approach problems
without paper and pencil, and are
encouraged to rely on what they know
and understand about numbers and how
they are related.
 Mental computation helps students
strengthen their understanding of place
value.

Purposeful Computation Problems
Careful planning BEFORE the number talk
is necessary to design “just right”
problems for students.
 This planning is important because we
want to have a purposeful number talk
with a common focus/specific skill in
mind.

Establishing Procedures and Setting
Expectations: The Four Essentials
The number talk is designed to be only five to
fifteen minutes of focused discussion.
1. Select a designated location that allows you
to maintain close proximity to your
students for informal observations and
interactions.
2. Provide appropriate wait time for the
majority of the students to access the
problem.
3. Accept, reject, and consider all answers.
4. Encourage student communication
throughout the number talk.
Holding Students Accountable for
their Learning
Ask students to use finger signals to
indicate the most efficient strategy.
2. Keep records of problems posed in the
corresponding student strategies.
3. Hold small-group number talks every day.
4. Create and post class strategy charts.
(living document)
5. Require students to solve an exit problem
using the discussed strategies. (use an index
card)
6. Give a weekly computation assessment.
1.
Four Goals for K-2 Number Talks
1.
Developing number sense
“Number sense is an awareness and
understanding about what numbers are, their
relationships, their magnitude, the relative effect
of operating on numbers, including the use of
mental mathematics and estimation.”
2.
3.
4.
Developing fluency with small numbers
Subitizing (immediately recognizing a
collection of objects as a single unit)
Making tens
Classroom Link: Ten-Frames and Dot Cards
Classroom Clip: Kindergarten
Consider the following while viewing the clip:
1.
How does the teacher build student fluency with small
numbers?
2.
What questions does the teacher pose to build
understanding?
3.
How are the tools and models used to support the goals
of K-2 number talks?
4.
What strategies are the students using to build meaning of
the numbers?
5.
What examples of subitizing, conserving number, and oneto-one correspondence do you notice?
6.
What opportunities are created for the students to begin
building an understanding of ten?
7.
How does the teacher support student communication
during the number talk?
Classroom Link: Ten-Frames: 8+6
Classroom Clip 2nd grade
Consider the following while viewing:
1. How does the teacher build student fluency with
small numbers using ten-frames?
2. What questions does the teacher use to build
understanding about decomposing and composing?
3. How are the double ten-frames used to support
the goals of K-2 number talks?
4. What strategies are the students using to build
meaning of the numbers?
5. What opportunities are created for the students to
understand and use 10 as a unit?
6. How do the students demonstrate composing and
decomposing numbers?
Five Goals for Number Talks 3-5
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Number sense
Place value
Fluency
Properties
Connecting mathematical ideas
Classroom Link: Subtraction: 1000-674
Classroom Clip 5th Grade
As you watch the video, consider the following:
1. What evidence in the video supports student
understanding of place value?
2. How do the students’ strategies exhibit number
sense?
3. How does fluency with smaller numbers
connect to the students’ strategies?
4. Which strategies were most accessible to you?
More challenging to follow?
5. How are accuracy, flexibility, and efficiency
interwoven in the students’ strategies?
Bringing It All Together:
Number Talks from the Schoolwide Perspective
“We have just taken a journey of number talks from
kindergarten through the fifth grade by viewing video clips
and group discussions. While teacher personalities and
environments may change as students transition from
grade level to grade level, essential number talk content
and characteristics remain consistent from year to year.
This consistency in teaching mathematically big ideas,
instruction rooted in asking rather than telling, developing
a safe learning community, and an unwavering quest for
making sense are essential in building mathematically
powerful students. The consistency from grade level to
grade level does not occur by coincidence; it is purposefully
orchestrated by the school learning community.”
Looking at Mathematics through a
Common Core Lens
Our goal as educators is to help students to become
confident and competent in mathematics. We strive
to create a classroom environment that encourages
students to think critically about math in a variety of
situations. As students explain their thinking to
others, they self-correct and clarify their ideas leading
to a deeper understanding of underlying mathematical
concepts. Accuracy and the development of efficient
problem-solving strategies are essential to student’s
learning. The ability to solve problems many different
ways and to understand the connections between
mathematical ideas is equally important. As children
learn to question, reconsider and justify solutions
they become more confident in their own abilities as
mathematicians.
Exit Slip: Taking a Look at your Own
Practice
What changes might you make in your math
instruction based on the information you
learned in today’s session on Number Talks?
Things to think about:
- Learning community in your classroom
- Your role as the teacher
- Questioning techniques
- Use of models and tools to support student
thinking
- Addressing student mistakes