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Supplement for Math in Focus


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I agree with Heigh Ho, play lots of mathy games, incorporate fun math into everyday life, etc.  Inspire a love of learning and excitement about the subject as well as giving a stronger foundation in basics through practical application and play-based learning.  Kids are hardwired to learn well through that type of learning, especially at this age.

 

You might also look at purchasing the teacher's manual for 1st grade MiF (get it used) from Amazon or Abe Books.  It will have suggestions for activities you can do with manipulatives, show you the scope and sequence for each concept at the 1st grade level as well as the grade above and below,  and will include pictures from the student text pages so you can see how everything ties together.  It might help you to understand the program and how to implement supplemental activities at home as well as help you to help her during the school year.

 

You can take some of the problems from the TM and work with your child gently, using manipulatives to explain the concepts then have her do one or two each day on a dry erase board with lots of colored dry erase markers, too.  Make it a fun, bonding time.  She can even create really basic math word problems for you and you scribe them for her on the dry erase board for you to solve.  My kids love that.

 

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=math%20in%20focus%20grade%201&sprefix=math+in+focus+grade+1%2Caps&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Amath%20in%20focus%20grade%201

 

Good luck and best wishes!

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My kids' school also uses MIF.  I buy the extra practice workbooks.  Some of them even have an answer key - which came in handy when the lessons didn't make any sense to me.  LOL.  They sell them on Amazon.com and you might be able to find some on eBay as well.

 

In addition I'm using some workbooks that are pure drill.  I bought Kumon for multiplication and my kid really liked it.  Then I found 2+2 does not equal 5 and its sequels.  Those build up systematically.  We also have some more random drill workbooks from FlashKids, which are nice for a friendly review of information covered in the past. 

 

MIF really doesn't spend any time getting kids familiar with the math facts, which can slow them down later.  I wish I'd started supplementing with the 2+2=/=5 when they were in 1st grade.

 

Oh, and I agree with using manipulatives at this age to explain concepts, and to help solve problems as long as they need this.  I bought cuisenaire rods and a base ten set.  I also used a simple abacus for some purposes

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Thank you for the replies! DD will be starting K next year. We do games from Peggy Kaye's Games for Math and Games for Learning and we play a lot of board games. Your other suggestions are great. For the parents whose children use MIF, other than the smaller emphasis on math facts, what else do you like or dislike about the curriculum?

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Thank you for the replies! DD will be starting K next year. We do games from Peggy Kaye's Games for Math and Games for Learning and we play a lot of board games. Your other suggestions are great. For the parents whose children use MIF, other than the smaller emphasis on math facts, what else do you like or dislike about the curriculum?

Well, this really wouldn't apply to you exactly since your child is much younger than mine but one thing I love is that I can pull out the TM and see the plan across multiple levels quite clearly laid out.  Since my kids were both behind in math when we pulled them out of brick and mortar, I had to go back in several areas.  I can take a lesson at the 4th grade level (where my son should be), introduce the basic concept at the 2nd grade level, move him up through the 3rd grade material dealing with the same thing then finish with the 4th grade material extremely easily since it is all there, pages, chapters, etc.  And it doesn't take very long at all.  Easy to locate, easy to move him up through the material so he achieves mastery.  

 

I also really like that it works so hard to help kids see the WHY of math and the concepts behind what they are doing.  And I know that people say there may not be enough practice of the math facts, but if you get the Extra Practice book, the enhancement book (LOVE the Enhancement problems) and the reteach workbook there are tons of math problems to practice with but the kids get to see different ways to approach the material.  Works really well for DS.  Sort of well for DD with modification.  

 

Or you can just create your own math problems, based on the examples in the text book.  There are also lots of free math worksheet generators on line so you could print out math fact practice problems that support whatever you are currently doing in MiF or would like to review.  

 

I will say that for DD13, who needed a lot more help in math than DS10, she does better with a top down approach.  MiF shows all the steps without necessarily clearly laying out the WHY of those steps right from the beginning.  I have to give her the big picture first, which I honestly was never taught in school, so that left me having to rethink how I think about math.

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Thank you, OneStep. I think I will go ahead and get the teacher's manual and continue with the games and activities. I like the idea of creating a broader scope of understanding by looking ahead and also tailoring what we do at home to the lesson plan. I don't see the extra practice or enhancement books for K- perhaps they are just for the upper levels? Many thanks to all the replies!

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What I dislike about MIF other than the lack of facts practice:

 

- The verbal format early on often amounts to "trick questions."

- The way they teach "regrouping" (which we used to call borrowing and carrying) is very confusing, inefficient, and at times nonsensical.  Very frustrating and makes the child feel stupid.  :/

- The teaching of what are supposedly "intuitive" strategies before the kid is mature enough to figure them out.  Again, inefficient and frustrating.

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What I dislike about MIF other than the lack of facts practice:

 

- The verbal format early on often amounts to "trick questions."

- The way they teach "regrouping" (which we used to call borrowing and carrying) is very confusing, inefficient, and at times nonsensical.  Very frustrating and makes the child feel stupid.  :/

- The teaching of what are supposedly "intuitive" strategies before the kid is mature enough to figure them out.  Again, inefficient and frustrating.

I fully understand what you are saying, SKL.  Honestly, I found myself feeling this way, too, at first, because this system is SO different from the way I was taught.  But once I got a used TM (which others insisted I didn't need, but actually I found that I really did) it cleared things up so much for me and I understood the reason behind why they were doing what they were doing and were able to use the manipulatives and verbage to explain the concepts before tackling the textbook lessons.  It helped to clear up a lot of my confusion and really helped me with the lessons.  

 

But I admit this system would not fit every child or even every parent.  And I would not use it as a supplement to another program being used in a brick and mortar without a lot of care and thought going into that because I really think it could confuse a child terribly without careful planning and presentation.

 

On the flip side of that coin, if I had a child in brick and mortar school using this system and I only saw worksheets, and I didn't have any support material at home to help me understand it, I would have hated it.  It just is SO INCREDIBLY DIFFERENT than how I learned math.  And I would worry whether a teacher had been trained in this system and truly understood how to use it.  I could see a lot of critical instruction being glossed over or skipped and key steps subsequently being missed by the students.  It could leave them really floundering.

 

OP, since your child IS using this system at school, I would highly recommend getting a used TM, going through lessons yourself and maybe getting some of the support workbooks, etc. to work through concepts with your child.  If you understand the system, you can better help your child to understand.  There really are some great things in MiF, IMHO.

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It sounds as though teacher presentation is very crucial to this curriculum. I have ordered a used teacher's manual (just A so far as B seems to be 3x more expensive!). SKL and OneStep, thank you for your candid thoughts. I love math myself; I only hope I like this "new math" as well!

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It sounds as though teacher presentation is very crucial to this curriculum. I have ordered a used teacher's manual (just A so far as B seems to be 3x more expensive!). SKL and OneStep, thank you for your candid thoughts. I love math myself; I only hope I like this "new math" as well!

Good luck and best wishes!  I hope it all works out well. :)

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I took a look at 2+2=\= 5. I am a little wary of learning too many "tricks" at this age for fear they do not have solid grounding beneath them. Is this fear unnecessary? I am using number bonds or number families to teach relationships. Is this book similar?

 

If your child is just going into KG, I probably would skip or postpone this book.  I'd buy it if she is not quickly remembering at least the simpler facts in 1st grade, or all the basic facts in 2nd grade.

 

The "tricks" are not really shortcuts as much as noticing patterns that most of us notice anyway.  It's good, easy but useful practice for my average-ability student.  The goal is for her to be able to do more complex problems without the basic facts slowing her down.  For example, she can do 439-252, but she has to count out 9-2 and 13-5.  She needs those simple facts to be automatic so she has time to finish the complex tasks.  Does that help?

 

Singapore was new to my kids' school and teacher in 1st grade, so that might be part of why it didn't work well for us.  However, I have heard those complaints from others too.  No program is perfect, and I think it helps to be warned going in.  :)

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It sounds as though teacher presentation is very crucial to this curriculum. I have ordered a used teacher's manual (just A so far as B seems to be 3x more expensive!). SKL and OneStep, thank you for your candid thoughts. I love math myself; I only hope I like this "new math" as well!

By the way, FWIW so far I have not needed B for the TM but am looking at getting the one for 5th grade.  I don't know what is on the B side for any level we have used.  :)  "A" has been enough to get us where we need to be so far.  And yes, the main reason is the rather alarming increase in price.   :lol:

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