• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Shop
    • Alphabet
    • Centers
    • Math
    • Reading
    • Sight Words
  • Blog
  • Monthly Activity Bundles
  • Free Resources
  • About
  • Contact

Miss Kindergarten

Kindergarten Teacher Blog

  • Alphabet
    • Letter Formation
    • Phonics
    • Writing
  • Centers
    • Literacy Centers
    • Math Centers
    • Morning Work
  • Holidays
    • Crafts
    • Fall
    • Winter
    • Spring
    • Summer
  • Math
    • Addition & Subtraction
    • Calendar
    • Number Sense
  • Reading
    • CVC Words
    • CVCe Words
    • Fluency Practice
    • Guided Reading
    • Sight Words
  • Teacher Tips
    • Back to School
    • Bulletin Boards
    • Classroom Management
    • Classroom Organization
    • Classroom Setup
Home
  • Shop
  • Blog
    • Alphabet
    • Centers
    • Holidays
    • Math
    • Reading
    • Teacher Tips
  • Monthly Bundles
  • Free Resources
  • Contact

Teaching Number Sense in your Homeschool

August 17, 2020 misskindergarten Leave a Comment

There are so many families new to homeschooling!  Welcome!  My goal is to support, encourage, and offer ideas and suggestions to ease your transition into homeschooling.  Previously, I shared some ideas for your preschoolers and kindergarteners to introduce the alphabet. Today I am going to share all about number sense and how to get started with numbers!

teaching number sense in your homeschool

What is number sense? Why is it important?

Number sense means understanding numbers, quantities, and how they compare and relate to other numbers. Building a strong foundation will prevent math struggles later in life. Number sense means your kids will be able to quickly identify numbers, quantities, more or less, and before and after.

The best way to introduce numbers is to keep things fun and engaging for children.  Hands-on working with manipulatives, real-life scenarios, mental math, and problem-solving are just a few ways to work with numbers.

How Can You Teach Number Sense?

When something is presented in a FUN and casual manner, learning is natural, organic, and more comfortable. 

  • Start with counting.  Kids count long before they learn about numbers.  Grab a pile of items (cheerios, fruit snacks, cars, socks, pencils – anything!) and count with your child.  Ask if they can give you 5 objects.  Make two different sized groups and ask which group has more items.  Make two different groups of snacks and ask which one they would want.  Take it one step further and ask why they want a particular group of items.
  • Introduce number identification.  Get a set of magnetic numbers for your fridge or print out numbers on a piece of paper.  As you are shopping, point out numbers and their names.  Identify the numbers on a scoreboard at the sporting event.  Talk about the numbers at the gas station.  Take a walk and look at the numbers on the houses and mailboxes.  Go on a scavenger hunt and look for a specific number.  The next day, try a different number.
  • Progress to number formation, which specifies how to write numbers.  Here is a FREE set of number formation posters for you to use in your homeschool. 
Free number formation posters
  • Explore the meaning and value of numbers: one means one item, two means there are two objects, etc. 
  • Take it one step further with number practice printables.  This set of printables includes:
  1. An Interactive Number Journal (various ways to show numbers 0-20)
  2. A variety of Number Practice Printables (writing number and the number word and use ten frames)
  3. Number Sorting Practice (sort and identify numbers 1-20)
  4. Several Number Tracing Cards (drive toy cars on the path to practice letter formation)
  5. Fine Motor Practice (fine motor practice with bingo dabbers, Q-tips, etc.)
  6. Spin and Write Number Practice (writing numbers)

Using Boom Cards

BOOM cards are another fun way to explore number sense at home.  This learning platform is digital – almost like an app. Basically, it’s like having digital task cards that are self-checking and interactive. Kids drag or click on answers with instant feedback.

number sense with boom cards

Number Sense Counting to 10 – practice one-to-one correspondence and counting to ten with these fun cards. On each card, they will say the number, then move the correct amount of gumballs into the gumball machine.

Keeping it Fun

Here are some additional ideas to explore number sense around the house:

  • Fly Swatter Game – print out numbers in large print and hang them all over.  Give your child a fly swatter, assign a number, and let them swat away!
  • Number Squirt – combine fine motor skills (squirting) with number identification outdoors.  Write some numbers in random order on the driveway or sidewalk.  Give your child a squirt gun or spray bottle.  Assign a number and send your child outside to make the number disappear.
  • Roll & Move – roll the dice and move that many times.  For example, if you roll an 11, do 11 jumping jacks.
  • Deck of Cards – using the numbers only, pull out a number, and ask what goes before and what goes after that number.  You can also give a set of cards and have the kids put them in numerical order.  Another idea is to provide the kids with a series of cards with one missing in the middle somewhere.  Ask them which number is missing.
  • Number Line – make a number line or linking chain (like a countdown chain) with numbers on it to display in your house. Better yet, create a countdown to a fun event, vacation, holiday, or birthday coming up.

Grab some books at the library and search on YouTube for some fun number videos. One of my kids’ favorite books has always been Chicka Chicka 123!  Make the numbers with your body, play-doh, or in sand.

More Advanced Ideas

Here are some additional ideas to save for deeper understanding and mastery (or for those gifted kids!). 

  • Practice counting and subitizing (looking at something and figuring out how many objects there are without counting) with this FREE monsters for Halloween download.   Grab some googly eyes, glue on, and hang to decorate. 
  • Explore the number word, ten frame, addition sentence, subtraction sentence, tally marks, and place value in one FREE resource – math flower craft project.  These math flowers make a cute spring decoration while offering more ways to explore number value.
  • Math games are always a hit to reinforce learning and keep it fun.  This ocean-themed packet includes addition, greater/less than, making tens, base ten, subtraction practice, and more.  This would be an excellent extension for those advanced learners in your house.
  • Comparing Numbers with More and Less BOOM Cards – practice comparing two numbers within ten. First, they will count the birds in each cage and type how many there are in each box. Then, they will select the birdcage that shows more.  This is a more advanced deck.

FREEBIES and Links

Here are the FREEBIES mentioned above:

  • number formation posters
  • monsters for Halloween
  • math flowers craft project

Resources mentioned above

  • number practice printables bundle
  • number Sense Counting to 10 (BOOM cards)
  • math games
  • comparing Numbers with More and Less (BOOM cards)

Don’t let your math anxiety get in the way of instilling number sense with your kids!  Try these ideas and let me know how it goes!

Back to School, Teacher Tips, Number Sense

Free Download

Sight Word Practice

Reading sight words in context improves reading fluency! Use with these teacher-tested and student-approved activities. Sign up to join my email list below, and this sight word practice will be sent straight to your inbox!

You May Also Enjoy These

september kindergarten morning workSeptember Kindergarten Morning WorkBack to School Activities for KindergartenLaminating Classroom Materials with Mead

Primary Sidebar

Welcome

Hello, I’m Hadar!

Welcome to Miss Kindergarten, my kindergarten blog. I’m so happy you’re here! If you are looking for hands-on, engaging kindergarten activities, you came to the right place! I’m here to save you time by sharing engaging kindergarten teacher resources, and hopefully spark some ideas for your own kindergarten lesson plans!

About Me

Sign Up

Join thousands of educators and get teaching tips, success stories, freebies, new product updates, and sales alerts delivered straight to your inbox!

From My Shop

Sight Word Fluency Practice

February Activity Bundle

Addition and Subtraction Task Cards

boom cards mega bundle

BOOM CARDS BUNDLE

Shop All Resources

Follow @misskindergarten on Instagram for more great ideas!

misskindergarten

View

Feb 27

Open
Sarah from @snippetsbysarah is a wealth of knowled Sarah from @snippetsbysarah is a wealth of knowledge when it comes to phonics and reading strategies! I love this strategy she shares to use with beginning readers who are struggling to blend cvc words in text. Encourage them to blend the first two sounds together first, then add the final sound. Make sure to follow her for more reading strategies and ideas! #saturdayteachershare

misskindergarten

View

Feb 27

Open
Here’s another fun way to work on reading fluenc Here’s another fun way to work on reading fluency! We love to use this one as a warm-up during reading groups. Everyone takes a turn rolling the die and reading the sentence as quickly as they can! 🎲

misskindergarten

View

Feb 25

Open
📚Fun fluency practice! Did you know beginning r 📚Fun fluency practice! Did you know beginning readers are much more successful with reading sight words when they see them in context? I shared a blog post all about how we work on our building reading fluency using these sight word sentences!

➡️Start by grouping the sentences by word family and as your students become more proficient, you can mix the word families together! Follow the link in my profile to see how we work on reading fluency during guided reading groups.

misskindergarten

View

Feb 24

Open
Have you seen these tap lights at the dollar tree? Have you seen these tap lights at the dollar tree? @teaching_linds colored them and had her students tap each sound as they sounded out the CVC words! This would also be an awesome tool to use with picture cards instead of word cards and have your little ones work on their phonemic awareness too! #teachersfollowteachers #iteachk #readandreveal

misskindergarten

View

Feb 23

Open
I am so, so excited about these!! 🎉🎉 My frie I am so, so excited about these!! 🎉🎉 My friend Laurin from @theprimarybrain and I have been brainstorming ways to help teach kindergartners and first graders guided reading while also distance learning. I LOVE what we came up with!
🥳We wanted to let you try these out with your students and see if it’s something you can use, so you can download this deck for FREE! 🎉🎉🎉
With these Boom Cards your students can:
✅Practice reading -at family words & sight words
✅Read a short story (with guided audio support!)
✅Read the story in its entirety for fluency!
You can grab the -at family guided reading practice in my shop or in my TpT store {linked in my profile!}

misskindergarten

View

Feb 21

Open
Virtual reading fluency practice? Yes, please! You Virtual reading fluency practice? Yes, please! Your students can practice reading short vowel word family words with these Boom Cards. They can practice reading each word in isolation, then reading the words in the story. Follow the link in my profile to check them out 😍

misskindergarten

View

Feb 20

Open
These rolling carts are so awesome! I love how @mr These rolling carts are so awesome! I love how @mrshenryinfirst used it to create a play-doh station! She filled it with all hands-on learning. The plastic shoeboxes fit perfectly side by side and magnet hooks on the front for task cards 😍😍😍 #teachersharesaturday

misskindergarten

View

Feb 20

Open
Write and reveal...almost as thrilling as read and Write and reveal...almost as thrilling as read and reveal 😍😍 This is a great way to work on encoding and have your students practice sounding out and writing words. Then they flip the flap to check their work! ✅✅✅
Follow on Instagram

Copyright © 2021 Miss Kindergarten  •  All rights reserved  •  Privacy Policy  •  Site Design by Emily White Designs