How can we engage students in developing numeracy skills through daily

routines?

This document will outline some strategies to incorporate number sense routines in any
math class. It outlines some strategies that may be appropriate in developing number sense
in older students who have gaps in their understanding.

What is number sense?

In her book, ​Number Sense Routines​, Shumway describes number sense as complex,
but necessary for students to be able to problem solve, reason, and discuss mathematical
ideas. She describes a student with good number sense as one that is able to visualize
numbers and quantities, see and understand numbers and quantities in the world around
them, make comparisons between numbers, demonstrate flexible thinking about numbers
and problem solving, and apply efficient strategies to solving problems (Shumway, 2011, pp.
8-11). She also goes on to say that in order for students to develop number sense, they need
to know and believe that there are multiple ways of approaching problems, so that they can
engage in trying to find them. In addition, students need multiple opportunities to
encounter number sense ideas and strategies, which is why daily routines and practice
should be implemented in lessons.
In other words, students must be taught to understand and visualize numbers and
quantity before they can grasp more complex mathematical ideas - memorizing facts and
algorithms is not enough to create mathematical thinkers.

Why should we implement daily routines?

Daily routines provide an opportunity for students to engage with an idea on
multiple occasions, and should actively involve students. Number sense routines should
“provide daily number sense experiences, include discussions about numbers and their
relationships, respond to students current understandings, build on students existing
number sense, encourage students to play with numbers and enrich their mathematical
thinking, [and] help students make connections to big ideas in mathematics” (Shumway,
2011, pp. 17). It is also suggested that the routines do not have to be connected to the main
topics, as the goal of these routines is to make connections over time, so that students can
begin to apply their growing understanding to problem solving (Shumway, 2011, pp. 18).

Visual Routines
Many visual routines are meant to help students with subitizing - seeing small
amounts without having to count individual items. This helps students to become more
efficient in mathematics. In the same way that it is more efficient to read entire words than
to sound out letters every time you read, it is better to see larger quantities and combine
them than to count by ones. Visual routines should help students deepen their
understanding of quantity, and help students understand the relationships between
numbers (Shumway, 2011, pp. 36).
Visual routines should also help students to build number sense through imagery
and spatial reasoning. They can help students understand numbers, as well as operations in
a way that can seem less abstract and can carry forward into more complex understandings.
Geri Lorway, who focuses on teaching students to think in order to understand, has
developed an arsenal of mathematical imagery that can help students better understand
number and mathematical ideas (Lorway). The big idea behind visual routines, are that they
become aids to help students perform mental math.
● Strategy: “Quick images” (Shumway) or “Dot Collections” (Lorway)
This strategy involves showing students a collection of dots that can be
arranged in either purposeful or random arrangements. One of the main purposes of
this activity is to help students with subitizing, by flashing the images quickly so that
students are less likely to count individual dots. When using purposeful
arrangements or different colours, the images can help students to see particular
numbers based on how they are arranged or grouped (usually in 2, 3, 4 or 5).
Changing or randomizing the arrangements, or asking students to see beyond the
colour (for example, in the image below asking students if they can see something
other than 5 and 2) will require students to have a bit more flexible thinking.

Another way this strategy is used is to focus on the additive composition of

numbers. This is where students develop an understanding and visual connection to
addition facts, by looking at how a number can be created from smaller numbers. For
example, in the first image, a student may say “I saw 3 and 3 so that makes 6 in
total”, while another student may have seen 4 and 2, and another may see 5 and 1.
This process shows how students are both subitizing, and developing a better
understanding of the relationships between numbers. This will also help student to
develop an understanding of equality, when they can easily see, for example, that 5 +
2 = 3 + 4 when people see the second image in different ways.
This strategy can be useful, even at a middle school level, to help students who
are missing this particular skill set. It encourages students to develop more efficient
strategies of understanding numbers through subitizing, which can be helpful to
 those that still count on their fingers or need to count and recount numbers in order
to trust its value. This can also be used to strengthen and solidify addition facts
without forcing memorization.
Geri Lorway takes these ideas further by connecting to inverses. This allows
students to think about the relationship between addition and subtraction. In the
“what’s covered?” activities, students are asked to find the amount of dots that have
been covered when given the total by using their understandings of additive
composition and inverses. For more information on how Geri Lorway uses these
ideas, see the Dot Collections section of her website.

● Strategy: “ten-frames” (ideas from both Shumway and Lorway)

This strategy can be used in a similar way to the dot collections, however the
quantities are arranged in a 2-by-5 array in order to help students visualize and trust
ten. This strategy can help build students’ understanding of the additive composition
of ten, which becomes foundational in their understanding of larger numbers in a
base ten number system. This strategy is typically used for understanding numbers
up to twenty and their relationship to ten. It also supports visual understandings of
numbers and can require students to move the numbers in their heads.

Once again, Geri Lorway has taken this idea to a new level, where students are
asked to determine a missing quantity. This strategy can also be found on her site
under Dot Collections.
Ten-frames are typically used following dot collections, as they ask students
to apply their ability to subitize and understand smaller quantities to learn about the
structure of ten.
● Strategy: 100 - frames → imagery for two and three digit numbers (Lorway)
This strategy builds upon the ten-frames as students begin to expand their
knowledge of place value. These images allow students to still think about numbers
in terms of their relationship to ten, due to the arrangement of the frame into a
ten-by-ten array. The first step in using this imagery for two-digit numbers is simply
to ask students what quantity they are seeing, whether that be the coloured portion
or the white portion of the image, after quickly showing the image. Once students are
able to identify the quantities, the next step is to build in the understanding of how
the numbers relate to 100 by discussing the additive composition of 100 and relating
it to inverses (students should be encouraged to connect to the compositions of 10).

This strategy can also be used for three-digit numbers by using multiple
100-frames. When discussing three-digit numbers, students will be applying their
understandings of ten to the relationships of numbers to 1000. In these models, it is
useful to break it down in terms of tens and hundreds (for example, asking how
many to the next ten or to the next hundred, before asking how many to one
thousand). For more ideas from Geri Lorway on two and three digit numbers, look at
the section of her website, Two Digit Number Packs.

● Strategy: Decimals (Lorway)

Imagery and number lines can be a useful tool in helping students understand
decimals. By using a style of imagery similar to that of two and three digit numbers,
students are able to see how dividing a whole into tenths, hundredths and
thousandths creates smaller and smaller pieces. It builds from the imagery of 2 and 3
digit numbers, which gives students a consistent visual aid. The structure of the
visuals can also be carried forward into multiplicative thinking, since it is structured
 in arrays. It can also be useful to show the imagery when trying to help students see
how a number like 0.47 is smaller than 0.5 even though it has more digits, or with
rounding by asking questions such as “is the next tenth almost full or almost empty?”
to represent what to do.

The imagery can also help students connect better to ideas of place value and
how to use number lines. The imagery should be used to support students’
understanding of number lines and comparing decimals by connecting to place
value. The section titled Decimal Cards provides more information on how Mrs.
Lorway uses visuals to connect to decimals.

Counting Routines
Counting routines are designed to help students develop efficient strategies for
counting and to develop an understanding of place value. Counting routines should help
students “understand counting sequences, solidify fluency with counting sequences through
recognizing and using counting patterns … practice estimation, and use additive and
multiplicative ideas” (Shumway, 2011, pp. 56). Developing efficient counting routines will
also help students to develop strategies for mental math.
● Strategy: “Count around the circle” (Shumway)
This is a routine that requires the entire class to participate in counting by a
particular sequence. Each student must give the next number in the sequence when
it is their turn. This strategy requires all students to listen to others while following
along, and to give other students time to think when it is their turn.
This strategy can be used for simple skip counting, starting from zero, which
can support students’ additive multiplicative thinking, and provide them with a
strategy for figuring out facts. The strategy is quite flexible, and can be used for
whole numbers, integers, decimals and fractions, and it can be used to count
forwards or backwards. This counting routine can also be used to support
 understanding of place value, by starting from different numbers and counting by
tens, hundreds, tenths, etc.

Some students may also need visual support when counting, such as using a
number line, or listing numbers on the board as students count. When using the
number line as a visual support, some students may need to decompose numbers in
order to better understand how to get to the next number in the sequence. An
example can be seen below.

● Strategy: Multiple representations (Lorway)

The purpose of this strategy is to help students build flexible thinking skills
about numbers. It involves presenting students will numbers written in different
forms (i.e. expanded form, in words, in multiplicative notation) and connecting to
place value. This strategy allows students to think about numbers differently and
build some mental math skills when putting the numbers together. It also asks
students to think about place value differently, by asking questions such as “how
many tens are in the number?” rather than “what number is in the tens position?”.
Shumway, J. F. (2011). ​Number sense routines: Building numerical literacy every day in
grades K-3.​ Portland, Me.: Stenhouse.

Lorway, G. (n.d.). Thinking 101. Retrieved from https://thinking101canada.wordpress.com/