Upper elementary teachers have a big job: to help students deepen their mathematical understanding and become more efficient mathematicians. Number Sense Routines: Developing Mathematical Understanding Every Day in Grades 3-5 is about tapping into every child’s innate sense of number and providing daily, connected experiences that are responsive to children’s learning needs.
Through familiar five-, ten-, or fifteen-minute warm-up routines, author Jessica Shumway offers both beginner and veteran teachers easy and effective ways to build and solidify students’ number sense foundations. No matter how familiar the routine, Jessica infuses each with new joy, depth, and life. She reveals the careful thinking and planning that goes into each routine and provides detailed vignettes and dialogues of how they unfold in real classrooms. She gives teachers a clear view into her nuanced facilitation. Each routine becomes an exciting opportunity to understand where students are in their understanding and to help students articulate and extend their mathematical thinking.
Not only will these routines help develop students’ mathematical understanding as they move towards using standard algorithms, but teachers will learn to better recognize the big ideas that emerge in discussions, how to encourage important strategies based in number sense, and how to facilitate discussions on key mathematical concepts.
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Author Bio
Jessica Shumway has worked as a second-, third-, and fourth-grade classroom teacher and as a mathematics coach for teachers of Pre-K through fifth grade in Texas and Virginia. She is currently an assistant professor of mathematics education at Utah State University. During Jessica’s undergraduate years at George Washington University, she volunteered at an elementary school and a high school in Washington, DC. She tutored students in math and English and found that she really looked forward to her time in the schools and with the students. "The more I was in the schools and the more I inquired about teaching, I realized that I wanted to be a part of such an important profession." Jessica says that she became a teacher because teaching is a meaningful and challenging profession. "It is true hands-on, active work in which there is never a dull moment. As a teacher, you really get to know and understand a group of young people. You get to watch them grow and reach their goals."