Do you ever have one of those moments as a parent where you look at your kid and you’re like:

How did you KNOW that?! Go, YOU!

I’ve been having a lot of those moments lately since Becks started kindergarten and I’m able to witness his growth as a 5-year-old daily.  What they say is true: kids are complete sponges!  He comes home spouting off bits of knowledge after every day of kindergarten and I just stand back like Kevin Henkes’ Lilly and proclaim, Wow.  Just wow.  

One thing has really stuck out – Number Talks.  My school implemented Number Talks last year as a mandatory part of curriculum in grades K-5 and the growth we’ve seen in our kids is incredible.  My own kid has been doing Number Talks for 22 days and he talks about them all. the. time.  In fact, he clipped up this week because (in his words),  During Number Talks, I said two more than three is five.  Well, I’ll be, son.  It is!  I about drove the car off the road.  Not because I think he’s a genius, but because of the strong foundation in numeracy his kindergarten teacher is able to provide him through daily Number Talks.  

In short, Number Talks provide students daily opportunities to practice problem solving strategies through mental math computation.  It can be as simple as showing kindergarteners an arrangement of dots on a card and asking them what they see, to having intermediate students perform 548+270 in their heads.  SO STINKIN’ COOL.  Click the book below to check it out!

Since we’re in the season of apples, the above activity would be an excellent way to incorporate a hands-on opportunity for students to talk about numbers.  Apples are large, easy to see, cheap, and come in multiple colors making them *perfect* math manipulatives!  Thankfully, they don’t roll either!

To make our “five frame,” I simply laid out square napkins, but you could use whatever.  For the first time in eons, I put a FREEBIE on TpT, so you can check it out HERE or by clicking the pic below.