“Number sense isn’t a lesson. It’s the foundation everything else stands on.”
Embedded Files
Be Curious: Number Sense, Wigglers, and Why 10 Three Actually Makes Sense
February 14, 2026
If you’ve ever watched a student confidently solve 31 + 17 using the traditional algorithm… and then stare at you blankly when you ask what 48 actually means, this episode is for you.
In this conversation on The EBP Exchange, I sat down with New Hampshire math specialist Amanda Jgententfl to talk about number sense, subitizing, and why “just follow the program” might not be enough. Amanda brings over 17 years of experience as a teacher, instructional coach, and MTSS coordinator, and she has the kind of math brain that makes you want to take notes immediately.
We unpacked what number sense really is, beyond rote counting and memorized procedures. It’s not just being able to count to 1000. It’s understanding magnitude. Relationships. Mental math. Estimation. It’s knowing that 23 is closer to 20 than 30 and being able to explain why. It’s recognizing three on a dice without counting the dots one by one. It’s understanding that a group of ten can become one unit of ten, and that ten threes once upon a time became thirteen. (Yes, we went there. Etymology of teen numbers. You’re welcome.)
Don’t just ask, ‘Is it right?’ Ask, ‘How do you know?'
Amanda shared a powerful reminder that number sense isn’t a standalone lesson. It’s not “Today we do subitizing.” It’s woven into everything. Just like phonemic awareness sits underneath reading, number sense sits underneath all of math. When it’s fragile, everything built on top of it starts to wobble. And when it’s strong? Students engage. They reason. They persevere. They stop seeing math as a race and start seeing themselves as capable doers of mathematics.
We also talked about high-leverage practices that actually move the needle. Simple things. Turn and talk. Classroom discussion. Vertical non-permanent surfaces. (Yes, getting kids up and writing on boards together is research-backed magic.) Amanda broke down John Hattie’s effect sizes in a way that makes you rethink ability grouping and lean harder into collaboration.
Spoiler alert: engagement and discussion matter more than we sometimes admit.
And then there was the dopamine. Games release it. Repetition inside a game feels different than repetition on a worksheet. For our wigglers, dreamers, and students who need 10 to 30 more at-bats, games aren’t fluff. They’re fuel. From Prime Climb to Tiny Polka Dot to NumTanga, Amanda reminded us that joyful practice is still rigorous practice.
The screener tells us who. Curiosity tells us why.
We dug into assessment, too. Screeners tell us the who. Interview-based tasks tell us the why. Watching a student circle four tens and then draw another ten because they need five? That’s data. That’s instructional gold. That’s how we know what to teach next.
But if I had to boil the entire episode down to one takeaway, it would be this:
Be curious.
Curious as a teacher when a student’s thinking surprises you. Curious as a leader about whether systems are building reasoning or just compliance. Curious as a parent about how your child understands numbers, not just whether they got the answer right.
Curiosity is the throughline. It’s the mindset shift from “Did they get it?” to “How are they making sense of it?”
This episode is warm, nerdy, practical, and full of moments that will make you pause mid-lesson and think, Okay… what does that number actually mean?
And honestly? If we can get kids asking that question, we’re doing something right.
Strong number sense today prevents math anxiety tomorrow.
Page updated
Report abuse