Episode 211 - Building Number Sense Without Adding to Your Plate
You know that building number sense is crucial—but finding time for one more thing feels impossible. In this episode, discover how investing time in foundational number sense concepts actually saves you time in the long run. Learn two practical strategies for fitting this essential work into your already-packed day without adding anything extra: the 1% Better Approach and the Replace, Don't Add Strategy. You'll walk away with clear examples of which activities to stop doing and what to start doing instead, so your students develop flexible thinking about numbers and you spend less time reteaching. If you're ready to make math instruction more intentional without overwhelming yourself, this episode is for you. Students with strong number sense learn faster, make connections more easily, and actually enjoy math. That means less frustration for you, less reteaching, and more time for what really matters. Your small tweaks today compound into big results all year long. Get any resources/links mentioned in this episode at BuildMathMinds.com/211
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Episode 210 - Why Good Activities Aren't Enough - The Missing Piece That Makes Number Sense Work
Are you doing all the "right" math activities—Number Talks, Number Strings, Quick Images—but still not seeing the progress you expected? In this episode, you'll discover why having great activities isn't enough, and what actually builds real number sense with your students. You'll learn the critical difference between facilitating activities to collect answers versus facilitating them to develop deep mathematical understanding. Through concrete examples, you'll see how the same activity can produce completely different results depending on how you guide the discussion, what questions you ask, and which student thinking you choose to highlight. This episode reveals four common facilitation mistakes teachers make and gives you the tools to avoid them. Most importantly, you'll understand why this missing piece—knowing what to listen for and how to make number sense concepts visible—is the key to finally seeing your students think more flexibly and develop lasting mathematical reasoning. Get any links mentioned in this episode at BuildMathMinds.com/210
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Episode 209 - The Power of Integration - Why Teaching Number Sense Concepts Together Accelerates Learning
Are you overwhelmed thinking about trying to add in number sense activities into your already jam-packed day? In this game-changing episode, learn how to transform your math instruction by integrating number sense concepts into ONE quick activity. The 'unspoken rule' of teaching math has been to keep each math skill in separate boxes that we teach in isolation. Teaching in this way is one of the causes of feeling overwhelmed when teaching math. In this episode, you'll see how to integrate math concepts into one activity using an example of Number Strings. A single 10-minute activity can simultaneously develop multiple foundational number sense concepts - from subitizing to part-part-whole thinking. Whether you teach early or upper elementary, this episode provides practical strategies to help your students develop more flexible, sophisticated mathematical thinking. Walk away with a clear approach to making your math lessons more intentional, engaging, and effective. Get any links mentioned in the episode at BuildMathMinds.com/209
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Episode 208 - The Number Relationships That Transform Math Understanding
In this second episode of the math fluency series, we explore the four essential number relationships that help students move beyond counting and develop true mathematical thinking. Learn about spatial relationships, one/two more or less, benchmarks of 5 and 10, and part-part-whole thinking—and discover how these relationships evolve from PreK through fifth grade. We'll look at why students get stuck using inefficient strategies and how building these foundational relationships transforms them into flexible problem-solvers who can see multiple pathways to solutions. Plus, get practical questions you can start asking tomorrow to assess and develop these critical relationships in your students. Free number sense assessment resources available at BuildMathMinds.com/208.
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Episode 207 - The Math Foundations - What Elementary Students Need Before You Ever Have Them Operate with Numbers
In this episode, I'm kicking off a series on building math fluency by diving into what I wish I had known when I first started teaching—the critical foundations students need BEFORE we ever ask them to add, subtract, multiply, or divide. Many students can DO the math, but they don't truly UNDERSTAND it. And the problem isn't that they need more practice—they're missing something much more fundamental. I'm sharing the four early numeracy concepts from the research of Douglas Clements and Julie Sarama: subitizing (instantly recognizing quantities without counting), verbal counting (understanding number patterns and structure), object counting (purposefully counting items), and cardinality (understanding that the final count represents the total quantity). You might be thinking these sound like kindergarten concepts, but stay with me! These foundations develop in sophistication all the way through 5th grade and beyond, including fraction subitizing and understanding complex number relationships. I've got free Savvy Subitizing Cards (PreK-2nd) and Fraction Subitizing Cards (3rd-5th) linked up at https://buildmathminds.com/207 to help you with one of the 4 early numeracy concepts. Next episode, we'll dig into the four number relationships that move students from counting to mathematical thinking!
The Build Math Minds podcast is for my fellow Recovering Traditionalists out there. If you don't know whether or not you are a Recovering Traditionalist, here's how I define us. We are math educators who used to teach math the traditional way. Flip lesson by lesson in the textbook, directly teaching step-by-step how to solve math problems. But now, we are working to change that to a style of teaching math that is fun and meets our students where they are at, not just teaching what comes next in the textbook. We want to encourage our students to be thinkers, problem solvers, and lovers of mathematics..we are wanting to build our students math minds and not just create calculators. If that is you, then this podcast is for you.
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