Number Sense Resources

Students will gain a greater number sense through mastering concepts such as evens and odds, decimals and whole numbers, and even exploring negative numbers. One great classroom activity idea is having students line up and count off numbers, helping them anticipate numbers that lie ahead. If you need help teaching number sense, some more simple, yet exciting class-wide activities are listed below.

Learning to count is just the introduction to numbers. When learning to count to 10, students will learn the sequential order of number as well as the fact that numbers represent a quantity of objects or abstracts. Number sense, though, goes beyond this understanding, representing a true understanding of numbers.
Number sense refers to a students ability to work with numbers with fluidity and flexibility.A student with number sense understands the numbers and how they relate to each other. They are able to perform mental math and can use these numbers in real world scenarios. The five components of number sense are:

• Number meaning - what does the number represent
• Number relationships - how does each number relate to another
• Number magnitude - how big the number is
• Operations involving numbers
• Referents for numbers and quantities

When students develop their number sense, they will be better able to understand the meaning behind the numbers. They not only will accurately arrive at solutions to math problems, they will also understand the answer better. Conversely, if an answer is incorrect, they are more likely to be able to identify it as incorrect.
One way to help your students develop their number sense is to teach them multiple ways to approach the same type of problem. Learning only one way of doing solving a problem leads to a mechanical process that the student can execute without truly understanding. Using the worksheets provided by Education.com to approach problems from different angles may broaden the way the students understand how the numbers in the problem are interacting.