About six years ago, my administrator told us at a staff meeting that we would be required to use Number Talks daily in our classrooms.

Cue the eye rolls and whispering among teachers, including myself. 

Another program that many of us knew nothing about is to be implemented. 

And…. we would be observed twice a year on our number talks lesson. 

Wonderful! 

How would Number Talks in kindergarten even work?

After Number Talks professional development and lesson implementation, I soon saw the value. 

My students are talking about numbers and thinking out loud.  

They are sharing strategies and modeling reasoning. 

Students are learning from students. What could be better? Quickly, I became a Number Talks in kindergarten groupie. 

What is a Number Talk? 

A Number Talk is a short conversation between teachers and students about how to solve a problem. The focus isn’t on the correct answer but on the mental math strategies students use. 

This is a great way to encourage “meta-cognitive strategies.” (thinking about one’s own thinking)  

How to start in kindergarten?

Begin at the beginning. In kindergarten, subjects must be broken down in the simplest forms. If not, chaos will ensue. 

This is exactly the goal of Number Talks in kindergarten. Number sense is developed by breaking down a number into a simple form.

Students need to understand what a number like “5” actually means.

There are many different ways to “do”  Number Talks in kindergarten. Some books will tell you exactly what to say and what not to say. 

I believe in “doing” what works for the students and the teachers.  

The best way to start is with dot cards. They can be easily made with book rings note cards and bingo daubers.

I like using these cards best because I can use different colors. This helps encourage the spontaneous grouping of numbers by students. 

Start with cards with one-five. 

I do two or three cards a day. 

Example of a Number Talks in kindergarten with dot cards:

• Kids are seated in a half circle.
• Show the students a number card.
• Ask the students, “How many do you see? Put your thumb over your heart when you know. Raise your hand if you would like to share.”
• “Oh, you see five. Give me a thumbs up if you agree. Give me a thumbs down if you disagree.”
• “Who would like to share how they figured it out?”
• “Does anyone have a different way they figured out the answer.?”

Extensions:

Fold the dot cards to teach one and two more. One half shows an array of dots for the number five and the other has one more dot on the other side.

First, ask how much is one more than five, and let the students talk about how they figured that out. Then, open the card and let them count to check. 

 Two more than five can also be done in the same manner. 

Partner Sharing

Often times, students will just agree with someone that shares. During the number talks in kindergarten, I tell my students to turn to a shoulder partner and share their answers and their thinking. 

Insecure students are more likely to share in a one on one grouping. Also, this enables the teacher to walk around informally and hear the math talk. 

Number talks in kindergarten are more than just dot cards. 

Five and six-year-olds can get bored with only dot cards being used. Sometimes, teachers assume that Number Talks have to be done separate from the math lesson for the day. Number Talks can be incorporated into any math lesson. It is just basically posing a problem and having students share their reasoning to figure it out. 

I like to mix it up a little bit.  

Unifix cubes and other manipulatives help to build necessary number sense and teach math vocabulary.

Example:

Teach number relationships: Start with a tower of two cubes that are the same color and add one cube that is another color.

Vocabulary such as one more than two is three and one less than three is two. The visual gives students a great opportunity to discuss the groupings and relationships between colors of cubes. 

Using two towers of cubes with each showing different amounts allows for visual comparisons between the two different towers.

Students can see that the blue tower has one more than the yellow tower when you match up each cube side by side. 

This is a great representation to show less than and greater than. 

The Abacus or Rekenreks can also be a great tool with Number Talks in kindergarten. 

Teen Number Talks in Kindergarten

I love to use ten frames and unifix cubes when I teach about teen numbers

Posing a problem like, “How would we show the number twelve using our ten frames and cubes?” gives kids the chance to strategize and come up with a plan. 

Students can turn to their partner and share. Afterwards, students can explain their thinking to the class. 

Other questions that can be asked to develop relationships between numbers and math vocabulary are:

Can you show me a number that is one greater than 12?

How can you figure the number out without counting each one?  

Vocabulary that can be used is: ten frame, greater than, less than, fewer and more. 

Number talks in kindergarten are valuable.

I started out thinking that Numbers Talks would be just another strategy to learn that really wouldn’t benefit my students. 

Wrong!!! Very wrong!

Number Talks in kindergarten teaches kids to talk about math and learn new strategies from their peers. It can easily be incorporated into daily lessons.

Number Talks doesn’t have to be something that is completely separate from math activities. Talking about math is natural. It should be included in every lesson. 

 All teachers need to think of is a good math question that students can take a little time to figure out. That time teaches students to take control of their learning and successes.