Number Sense and Fluency with Daily Digits
In February, the Spring 2026 Tile Farm Teacher Fellowship shifted its focus to number sense and fluency through Daily Digits, Tile Farm’s short, adaptive routine designed to build mathematical confidence and flexible thinking.
Teacher Fellows were invited to first experience Daily Digits themselves, then try it with their students, and finally explore the creative side of number sense through pixel art in Tile Farm Studio.
Across these experiences, several themes emerged.
Week 1: Play & Reflect
Before bringing Daily Digits to their classrooms, teachers played the routine themselves and reflected on their experience.
Many teachers highlighted the importance of fluency as a foundation for learning new concepts. As one teacher shared:
“I teach 4th and 5th grade and the students that have mathematical fluency more readily accept and absorb new concepts while the students that don’t have fluency are more quickly frustrated and shut down.”
Teachers also noted that Daily Digits felt different from traditional fluency practice. Rather than focusing on speed or rote memorization, it encouraged flexible thinking and multiple strategies.
“I thought it was fun and interactive and would help students that don’t like the rote kill and drill of facts. It would really help visual learners. I was learning math facts fluency but also different ways of adding to get the same answer and multiplication.”
Several teachers also described the experience as joyful and engaging, noting that the puzzles naturally encouraged problem solving and persistence.
“It felt joyful and I think organically creates problem solving opportunities.”
Week 2: Take It to Class
In week two, Teacher Fellows tried Daily Digits with their students and observed how they responded.
Across classrooms, teachers reported high engagement and a noticeable shift in how students approached mathematical challenges. One teacher summarized the experience this way:
“I think there is something incredibly refreshing about seeing 5th graders—who are usually starting to feel the pressure of ‘being right’—actually embrace the struggle of math without the typical anxiety.”
Teachers also observed strong persistence and a healthy classroom culture around problem solving.
“Students handled mistakes with resilience, staying focused on the process rather than getting frustrated.”
“There was a complete absence of urgency to be ‘first.’ Students were content to work at their own pace, valuing engagement over completion time.”
Another teacher described the overall classroom atmosphere as one of calm confidence:
“The atmosphere was one of observable contentment. Students viewed the work as a challenge to solve rather than a stressful task.”
Perhaps most encouragingly, teachers reported that every student was able to work through the experience successfully.
“Every student reached the finish line on their own timeline, showing a deep comfort with the platform.”
Week 3: Extra Credit
For the third week, Teacher Fellows diverged from the Daily Digits theme and were invited to explore pixel art creation in Tile Farm Studio, designing their own images and reflecting on the mathematical ideas involved.
While playful on the surface, pixel art naturally connects to important mathematical ideas including arrays, multiplication, composition and decomposition, fractions, and coordinate grid structure. Teachers experienced firsthand how creative building in Studio can reinforce number sense while also fostering creativity and ownership. Below are two of our favorite creations teachers submitted.
Final Reflection
Across the month, teachers experienced fluency from multiple perspectives: as learners themselves, as observers of their students, and as creators exploring mathematical ideas through design.
One of the most powerful patterns that emerged was the way fluency work can support confidence and persistence, not just computation. Rather than rushing to finish or worrying about being correct immediately, students were able to engage thoughtfully with problems and work through challenges at their own pace.As we continue the fellowship, we’re excited to keep exploring experiences that support both strong mathematical thinking and joyful engagement with mathematics.