Build Numerical Fluency and Algebra Readiness
Numeracy Development Talks
Professional Learning and Instructional Resources
Numeracy Development Talks jumpstart group problem-solving sessions with a brief video that introduces essential representations and strategies and then challenges students to build representations and solve problems as a group. This allows teachers to focus on facilitating mathematical discussions and highlighting essential representations, strategies, and concepts.
In addition, these talks structure a professional learning experience for teachers that:
Hardwires professional learning to impact classroom instruction
Lowers hurdles to successful classroom implementation
Focuses on multigrade mathematical progressions of representations, strategies, and concepts
Grades 3-5
Numeracy Development Talks
Build conceptual and procedural fluency with representations and calculations involving:
Whole Numbers
Fractions
Decimals
Video - Overview of NDT Resources
Grades 6-8
Numeracy Development & Algebra Readiness Talks
Review Essential Concepts from Grades 3-5
Preview Foundational Representations and Strategies for Grades 6-8
Integers
Rational Numbers
Proportional Relationships
Try this with your students …
EMC Screening Assessment
Year 1 — Numeracy Development Talks focus on number line measurement strategies to help students build fluency with whole numbers, fractions, and decimals in grades 3-5 and integers, rational numbers, and proportional relationships in grades 6-8.
Try these two number line problems with your students to better understand students’ misconceptions with this essential representation.
Click on the image to download the PDF.
Note: To better understand students’ misconceptions about number lines, ask students to label the tick marks with numbers in Problem 1 and to label points and tick marks with the given fractions in Problem 2.
After collecting and reviewing student work, you can use these problems to discuss number line measurement strategies for whole numbers and fractions.
Click to download PDF
“Common approaches to teaching number lines leave many students with significant misconceptions about how they work.
NDT – Videos launch group problem-solving sessions and meaningful math discussions involving representations that are essential to success in grades 3-8 mathematics.”
— Peter Sickler, EMC Founder
Learn more about number line measurement strategies …
PL Video - Basic Number Line Measurement Strategies
Did some (or many) of your students mislabel the tick marks in Problem 1 or ignore basic fraction concepts in Problem 2?
If they did, watch these videos to learn more about the basic measurement strategy for number lines and explore how you can introduce these whole number and fraction measurement strategies to students.
Grades 3-5 Numeracy Development Talks
Related topics are fully explored in the following talks:
Numeracy Development Talk 3.1 A1
Measure Distance from Zero on Number LinesNumeracy Development Talk 3.5 A1
Measure to Plot and Label Fractions on Number Lines
In addition, check out our Let’s Do Some Math blog post on Assess Basic Number Line Understanding.
PL Video - Review and Preview Fractions on Number Lines
Grades 6-8 Numeracy Development Talks
Related topics are fully explored in the following talks:
Numeracy Development Talk 6.1 A1
Measure to Represent Integers on Number LinesNumeracy Development Talk 6.2 A1
Measure to Label and Locate Positive and Negative Fractions
In addition, check out our Let’s Do Some Math blog post on Measure Fractions on Number Lines.
“The math that we teach today is the foundation for what students learn next week, next month, and the following school year.
Helping students develop multi-grade math fluency requires that math teachers at a school share an understanding of how math representations, concepts, and strategies build from one grade level to the next.”
— Peter Sickler, EMC Founder
Build numbers, calculations, and essential procedures …
Number Line Measurement Tool
The NLMT is an online interactive version of the magnetic manipulative kit for whiteboards. This tool allows users to build number line representations of and calculations with:
whole numbers
fractions
decimals
integers
rational numbers
Watch the video, Intro to Using the Number Line Measurement Tool, to learn the basic features of this groundbreaking tool.
NLMT in Action!
Students and teachers can use the NLMT to:
represent numbers
investigate base-10 patterns
make sense of important procedures
understand calculations with whole numbers, fractions, decimals, integers, and rational numbers.