I think that it is a pretty good sign that our Number Talks are working when my firsties just start to EXPLAIN how they see a number before I can even ask the question. They touch their little noses (our sign that they are ready) and are so eager to talk about how they see the dot cards, tens frames, or rekenreks. I touched on skill this last year but after reading Number Talks and being more intentional about the cards I show, I see a BIG difference. I love having the conversation about how they see a dot card in different ways. We even have a bulletin board right behind my table where I display the different ways that they see the same exact dot image. This led to an idea... I stated in one of my previous math posts about our routine of each student working with "their" number. They are doing lots of different activities to help them see the different number bonds for a given number. They are moving at their own pace and do not move on to the next number until they know the different parts of the number they are on. You can check out that post HERE:) I wanted to give them the freedom to visualize these numbers in their own way. I quickly went home and created something like this and tried it out on some of my firsties. They really seemed to enjoy it, the activity tied to our daily discussions, and best of all...they were working on "their" number. But, of course, I was not satisfied with just these sheets. I needed more. I made sheets for the numbers 3-10 that look like this (These are four different sheets). I need differentiated materials for my groups because everyone is working at different levels. This gives me some different options because some students can handle three problems and some can handle more. Some kids need the whole number filled in right now and some do not. But still...I wanted more because we are also working on to help them see the connection between addition and subtraction. What do you think? I hope that it will be helpful to my firsties and your students!! If you want to try it out...I put a sample up for FREE. It is for the number five. Otherwise, the full pack includes numbers 3-10! Are there any routines you are using to help with fact fluency?