Number Bonds... or as Jonah Says, "Fun Factory!"

Conversations with Jonah

Number Bonds... or as Jonah Says, "Fun Factory!"

As many of you know, I have a five-year-old grandson named Jonah. He is five going on fifty—curious, thoughtful, and full of energy. Kindergarten starts on Wednesday, August 5, and I can hardly believe how quickly this summer has passed.

As the first day of school gets closer, I have been thinking about simple ways to help him get ready. I firmly believe we can make teachers' jobs just a little easier by helping our children develop a love for reading and giving them opportunities to play with mathematics before they ever walk into the classroom.

As a mathematics education researcher, I spend a lot of time studying how children develop number sense. Of course, that means I have a built-in research partner—Jonah. I also have an eight-year-old grandson, Maverick, but he is usually with his father on the weekends. Jonah, however, and I have our weekend math adventures together.

Today's Adventure: Fun Factory

Today's adventure was all about number bonds.

Well...at least that's what I called them.

Jonah quickly corrected me.

"It's Fun Factory, Gigi!"

If you have ever watched Numberblocks, then you know exactly what he means. Since Numberblocks calls it Fun Factory, that is what we called it too.

For our activity, I kept it simple. I bought a bag of colorful pom-poms from Walmart and used a small whiteboard. On the board, I drew three circles—one large circle on top and two circles underneath.

The top circle represented the whole number, and the two bottom circles represented the parts.

We started with the number five.

I placed five pom-poms in front of Jonah and asked, "Can you separate them into two groups?"

Without hesitation, he made one group of four and another group of one.

I wrote:

5 = 4 + 1

Next, we worked with the number two. Jonah separated the pom-poms into one and one.

2 = 1 + 1

Then we returned to the number five.

This time Jonah made two groups—two pom-poms in one circle and three in the other.

"Five equals two plus three," he proudly announced.

Before I could even respond, he switched the groups.

"Five equals three plus two."

I loved that he naturally recognized that changing the order did not change the total.

Then I decided to challenge him.

"What if I put all five pom-poms on one side of the Fun Factory? What would go on the other side?"

Without missing a beat, Jonah smiled and said,

"Zero."

So together we wrote:

5 = 5 + 0

and

5 = 0 + 5

That was one of my favorite moments because it reminded me of another conversation we had about the meaning of zero. He continues to surprise me with how naturally he reasons about numbers.

Once we finished finding all the ways to make five, Jonah didn't need any more directions.

He simply said,

"I want to do ten!"

He began creating combinations on his own:

10 = 1 + 9

10 = 2 + 8

...and he kept going.

At that point, I wasn't teaching anymore.

I was simply watching him think.

Why Does This Matter?

Activities like this may look like play, but they are building important mathematical ideas.

In kindergarten, Alabama's mathematics standards expect children to decompose numbers less than or equal to 10 into pairs of smaller numbers using concrete objects or drawings and record those decompositions with pictures or equations. For example:

5 = 2 + 3

5 = 4 + 1

The goal is much bigger than memorizing facts.

I want Jonah to understand that numbers are made up of smaller numbers. When children recognize that numbers can be broken apart and put back together in different ways, they begin developing flexibility with numbers. That flexibility becomes the foundation for addition, subtraction, multiplication, and mental math.

Just as important, I want him to understand the meaning of the equal sign.

Too often, children think the equal sign simply means, "Here's the answer."

Instead, the equal sign means both sides have the same value.

Five is the same amount as four plus one.

Five is the same amount as two plus three.

Five is the same amount as five plus zero.

Those are powerful mathematical ideas for a five-year-old.

Watching Jonah explore, question, and make sense of numbers reminds me why I love mathematics education. Sometimes the best lessons don't happen in a classroom.

Sometimes they happen around a small whiteboard, a handful of colorful pom-poms, and a little boy who insists that number bonds are called Fun Factory.

And honestly...I think Fun Factory is a much better name anyway.

Give some suggestions.