Developing Numerical Fluency

Discipline: Professional Resources

Copyright: 2018

Grade(s): K - 5

Imprint: Heinemann

Author(s): Patsy Kanter, Steven Leinwand

Developing Numerical Fluency: Making Numbers, Facts, and Computation Meaningful

Numerical fluency is about understanding

Numerical fluency is about understanding, not memorization. It comes over time as students engage in active thinking and doing, not endless worksheets and timed tests.

Classroom instruction and materials, however, often don’t feel aligned with these realities.

In Developing Numerical Fluency, Patsy Kanter and Steven Leinwand take a fresh look at a commonly-asked question: “How do I teach number facts so my students know them fluently?” They apply their decades of experience teaching mathematics to rethinking effective fluency instruction.

Classroom-tested ideas you can use right away

Each chapter introduces ideas, techniques, and strategies that contribute to meaningful fluency for all students. You’ll find:

  • pivotal understandings that illuminate what contributes to real numerical fluency
  • six instructional processes that support lasting fluency development
  • classroom structures and activities for building fluency in addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division
  • suggestions for creating a school-wide culture of numerical fluency.

Patsy and Steve remind us that, “Students do not develop numerical fluency by memorizing and regurgitating rules.” But many of us learned mathematics in exactly this way, making shifting our instruction challenging. Developing Numerical Fluency provides just the right support, offering big ideas for rethinking instruction paired with classroom-tested activities you can use right away.