Number Talks 

Overview 

“Number talks” or “math talks” are a teaching strategy that can be used from PreK-8 grade. Students are presented with a math problem that they must solve mentally. Students should use hand signals to communicate their thinking process. In a number talk, students will sit in a circle or at their desks and work independently to solve the problem they are given.

When they have a strategy to solve the problem, they should put their pointer finger in front of their chest. When they have a solution, they should hold a thumbs up in front of their chest. Raising hands may cause anxiety for students who do not solve the problem as quickly as others. (While important, focus on the strategy of the number talk, not the classroom management component here)

The teacher then facilitates a class discussion, first by asking for answers and writing them on the board, not saying if they are correct. After all answers are displayed, students can share how they arrived at their answers. The teacher should then write down their strategies as students described, so the whole class can see how their peers are thinking. 

When planning a number talk, decide on the following: 

• What kind of problem will be presented? 

Number talks are especially useful in lower grades because they can help students develop a strong number sense. In grades K and 1, teachers can present students with a picture of a partially empty carton of eggs, a box of doughnuts, or any object arranged randomly or in an array that has a quantity that can be counted. Ask students how they counted the number of items. It is important that students are not counting 1 by 1, but are able to quickly group items into sets of 2 or 5. 

In later elementary and middle school, teachers can present the problem 25×12 and ask students to solve it mentally. Some may do (25×10)+(25×2), some may do 25x3x4, and some may reason with their knowledge of currency using quarters! The idea is that students are able to see how their peers arrived at their answers and understand that there is rarely one right way to approach a math problem. 

• What point in my lesson will I run a number talk? 

Number talks make an excellent warm-up or “do now” activity. They can be used to review older content from a previous year or unit. They can help create class discussions when there is an extra 5 or 10 minutes before a scheduled activity. Older students can gain a lot of practice explaining their mathematical reasoning with problems that may challenge a student in K-2. Howie Hua, a math instructor at Fresno State University, facilitates these debates online on his TikTok and Twitter accounts with his “Mental Math Monday” series!