Daily Numbers: A Math Skill Reinforcement Activity

Teaching Theme of the Week

by Gary Hopkins, Editor-in-Chief, Education World®

Use this daily lesson to reinforce skills taught throughout the school year. Then, when students must take state achievement tests, they have had frequent practice in all skills.

Subjects: Mathematics

Grades: K-2, 3-5, 6-8, 9-12

Objectives
Students will:

• experience math success on a daily basis,
• receive daily reinforcement in a wide variety of math skills, and
• achieve higher scores on statewide tests.

Keywords
algebra, computation, daily, math, measurement, money, practice, reinforcement, telling time, whiteboard

Materials Needed

• individual student whiteboards -- see Whiteboards Stimulate Student Learning for instructions.
• Daily Numbers activities -- each should include ten math problems -- prepared by the teacher

Procedure
Daily Numbers is a great "bell-ringer" activity. As soon as students arrive in class, have them get out their whiteboards and do the ten math exercises on that day's Daily Numbers chart. Each student has in his or her desk a pad of scrap paper to perform math operations on. They write only the answers to the problems on their whiteboards.

Daily Numbers is the name given to this classroom bell-ringer activity because it's the name of a state lottery game. The owner of a local store provided one teacher with a Daily Numbers sign to hang above the chart on which the Daily Numbers math exercise is posted. Using the lottery game theme adds interest to the activity!

The ten problems that are part of each day's Daily Numbers exercise always include a variety of skills. Previously taught skills are continuously reinforced. For example, a third-grade teacher might post each day at least one addition problem that involves carrying (renaming) and one subtraction problem that involves borrowing. At least twice a week, students might be asked to do a problem that relates to other skills taught during the year. Examples:

• Determine the cash value of a series of drawn coins.
• Write in digital format (XX:XX) the time shown on a drawn clock face.
• Draw a line of a precise measure, such as 2 1/2 inches long or 12 centimeters long.

In short, all skills are regularly reinforced and no skill is allowed to die.

This approach pays great dividends when state testing time comes around. All math processes students face on the test are fresh in their minds -- thanks to Daily Numbers!

As students complete the Daily Numbers activity -- it can usually be done in ten minutes -- they can get started on their daily work. When all students have completed the Daily Numbers activity, review it one problem at a time. Call on a student to solve each problem. When the student has finished, ask all those who have the same answer to raise their boards.

Assessment
Assess students' math skills by monitoring their responses on the Daily Numbers activity. Once a week or once every two weeks, have students do their Daily Numbers work on paper for a grade. Every student should solve at least eight of the ten problems.

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