Learning Math Together

That's a lot of strips. I looks like more than 5 to me.
Can I count them to find out how many there are?

I'd like the children in my class to feel that we are learning together. I don't want to spend time asking them questions that sound like I am assessing them. 

Questions like: 
How many? 
Show me one more? 
Can you hold up 3 fingers? 

The question "Can you hold up 3 fingers for me?" is one that makes me cringe. Why would a child want to do that? Would they want to do that to please the teacher (for me). It's not showing that we are learning together. 

There are questions we can ask which are more collaborative.

Instead of: Can you count the apples? I prefer to ask something like: Do we have enough apples for everyone? (in a group of 5 or 6).
I think there are 5 triangles. Am I right? Let's find out.
I think you've got more than me?

Let's see if we can make the train tracks go all the way to the door. I wonder if we'll have enough track to do that?

Let's show how many different ways we can show the number 6 using our fingers.

Let's write the number 6, six times.

Let's play a game with the dice. How many rolls does it take before you get a number 6?

Sometimes I model the type of talk that I want to hear the children doing: Your shoes are the same, but a different color.

I'd like the children to feel that the classroom is a place where we all learn together, finding answers together.