In 2008, the authors worked with a range of schools to trial ideas that assisted young Indigenous students to engage with mathematics as they enter the school environment. This article highlights some key pedagogical strategies that assisted classroom teachers to improve Indigenous students' understanding of mathematics, particularly in the area of numbers. The paper is organised under three main sections, namely, communicating mathematics, representing mathematics, and early numbers. Each section begins with a brief summary of the research that underpinned the project, followed by examples of learning activities used in the projects, and finally a discussion of students' responses. (Contains 7 figures.)