Differentiated Math Fact Practice

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4th Grade Resources

Number of the Day: A Great Way to Build Number Sense

One of my absolute favorite times of the day is when I do number talks with my students.  In my classroom, we call this Number of the Day, and it is a daily math routine that my students love too.  Number of the Day is an excellent way to build strong number sense skills and gives my students opportunities to work with numbers in a variety of ways.

Number of the Day is a great way to help students build solid number sense skills.

Number of the Day in my Classroom

  • Every. Single. Day.  We do Number of the Day. It is part of our routine and the students come to expect it and even anticipate it.  If we have a schedule change for an assembly or other out of the ordinary activity they are quick to ask about Number of the Day.  

Number of the Day is our time as a class to dive deep into what a number is, how it can be represented, what we can do with it and more.  But it is so much more than just learning about one number.  We are learning and practicing key thinking skills that can be applied to all numbers and to math. 

students working on breaking down the number 45 as part of number of the day
 
What started out as a whole class oral activity with a whiteboard and a few manipulatives has turned into year-long printable and digital resources that I have to put together for kindergarten, first grade, second grade, and third grade.  Yep - I love Number of the Day and its effectiveness so much that I wanted an easy way to share it with you.

Now, we still do Number of the Day together talking through each activity, but my students can either follow along with their own Number of the Day page or they later reinforce their learning with a Number of the Day center activity.  

two boys working on a number of the day worksheet during math centers


Every Number of the Day page covers the same number sense skills and concepts, but the activities vary and the rigor obviously looks different based on the grade level and complexity of the number. 

I could write more, but I've decided it would be better to just show you.

Number of the Day in Action

Each day students will work with numbers in a variety of ways.  There will be number identification and oral practice saying the number the correct way.  There will be opportunities to represent the number in many different ways.  These include standard form, word form, expanded form, place value, ten frames, tally marks and by marking or creating groups.  There are also opportunities to work with numbers in basic operations when that is grade-level appropriate.  

a variety of number of the day worksheets to show variety of activities

When all of these activities are repeated with different numbers, we help our students learn to think about numbers in many different ways.  This helps them as they learn to problem-solve and complete more complex math.

Let's take a look at what Number of the Day activities look like.   I have pulled all of the following examples from Month 1, Week 3 of the school year so that you see can the variation and building that happens by grade level.  

sample pages of kindergarten and first grade number of the day activities

sample of second and third grade number of the day pages

Number Identification

On each page, I have marked all of the number identification areas in red.   These areas show all the different places in which students must be able to identify the number in order to complete the activity.  You can see that it progresses from repeated number identification and writing in kindergarten to identifying the number in order to compare it in second and third grade. I love how one simple page can reinforce a skill multiple times. 

Number Representation

On each page, I have marked all of the number representation activities in blue.  It's the variety in these representations that really help kids grasp what a number means.  Learning to see the number as its place value, in a set, with tally marks, equations and words are all part of learning different ways to represent numbers.  It is when a number is explored in multiple ways that students gain an understanding of what the number is, and that each representation ultimately means the same thing.

Working With Numbers

I have marked in green the different places where students are working with the numbers.  These activities help students understand more about how numbers relate to each other and eventually how they relate to real life.  Students must take that understanding of the number as the basis for working with the number as they apply different mathematical processes to it.  

Do you see the progression?  Isn't it exciting?  First, you identify the symbol we call a number and learn its name.  Then you find out what that symbol (AKA number) stands for and practice showing it in many different ways.  Finally, you practice using it to relate with other numbers.  It's an amazing process, and one that can have profound impacts on our students and their future math abilities.

I really love how every page covers every skill and sometimes those thinking skills even overlap.  As you can see, some days one skill might be more focused on than others.  But on other days another skill gets the focus.  It's all part of the progression that leads to mastery.

Try it Out for Free!

How would you like to see and try out three weeks of Number of the Day for free?  You can!  Try the first and second grade freebie by clicking the yellow picture or try the third grade freebie by clicking on the blue and green picture.  Just find the correct grade level and give it a try!

three weeks of number of the day worksheets for free for first grade and second grade


three weeks of number of the day for third grade for free

Ready to Use Number of the Day in Your Classroom?

Grab a full year of Number of the Day and start using it in your classroom today.  It's never too late to add this amazing math routine to your daily schedule.  As an added bonus, the first grade, second grade and third options include both a printable and digital version!  The digital version is great to use whole group on a Smartboard or by projecting.  It is also a great math center using technology or a wonderful daily math activity through remote or distance learning.

full year bundle of kindergarten number of the day activities

full year bundle of first grade number of the day activities

full year bundle of second grade number of the day activities

full year bundle of third grade number of the day activities

Save it for Later

Pin this to your favorite classroom Pinterest board so that you can come back later.

Number of the Day activities are an excellent way for students to build strong number sense skills.  These printable worksheets and digital activities will provide skills based number sense for the entire school year.Number of the Day activities are an excellent way for students to build strong number sense skills.  These printable worksheets and digital activities will provide skills based number sense for the entire school year.


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