mathmarm
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Posts posted by mathmarm
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3 minutes ago, EKS said:
If they had had these books when my kids were doing elementary math, I would have used them in a heartbeat, either instead of or in addition to the CWP books.
If they actually were available 15 years ago...I'm sorry I missed them!
I think they're by far the superior supplement to a basal math program.
I don't know why they went out of print (or so I heard some years back), but I'm glad that I purchased a set for my homeschool some years back.Just a note to anyone listening, The Visible Thinking in Mathematics books on the Singapore Math website are not the same thing at all and are, in comparison, terrible.
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18 hours ago, MomN said:
I use Singapore math with my ds. We are currently in 4B, and I want to add a supplementary book or two as we are finding the decimals pretty easy (we currently use the textbook and workbook and add in mental math and math facts). I bought a lot of books used and now I have CWP 3, IP 3A and 3B, and the Process Skills books 3 & 4 (I want to use the word problem books a year behind). I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed at how much material there is and don't really know which book to use. I don't consider my ds gifted, but he isn't behind either. My goal is for him to use SIngapore through 6B and be ready for Foerster Algebra. I am wondering what supplemental books would be best to ensure a smooth transition to algebra. I like the idea of using these books a year behind to help review the skills he learned from last year. So, the goal is not necessary to provide him with extra challenge - he hates that. I just want him to be ready for algebra in a couple of years. We tried the CWP 3 book - the first set of problems are easy for him but the challenging set frustrated him even as I explained the bars models. What would you suggest? Would you start at the beginning of the book and go through it or select topics to focus on? Thank you!
I'm not as familiar with the Intensive Practice books, so no comment in that regards. However, we love the Process Skills books and I'm going to gush on them.
My advice is to begin reading Process Skills 3 book with your son and simultaneously learn and practice the bar-modeling skills together. Make sure that this is a part of math that you guys do together and regularly--ideally every day, because while he's learning the skill, he needs that daily practice.
Because problem solving is such an integral part of accessing mathematical thinking, I highly recommend that you start the Process Skills books now, not later. The challenging problems in Process Skills are marked with an * so you can skip them each section since he doesn't need challenge to thrive.
I highly recommend adding Process Skills 3 to your daily routine, Process Skills 3 is an ideal level/book to start because it takes the time to introduce the bar models and gives you ample practice with them. Work through PS 3 Units 1-5 in order and then move on.
Alternatively, if you want to blend PS 3 and PS 4 to make the problem solving practice "skills based" then you can cover related sections from each book simultaneously then I recommend:
PS 3 Unit 1 Addition and Subtraction I
PS 3 Unit 2 Addition and Subtraction II (Two-Step Word Problems)
PS 4 Unit 1 Addition and Subtraction Review (some of these are 2-step word problems)
PS 4 Unit 5 Addition and Subtraction Fractions (some of these are 2-step word problems)
PS 4 Unit 8 Addition and Subtraction Decimals (some of these are 2-step word problems)
PS 3 Unit 3 Multiplication
PS 3 Unit 4 Division
PS 4 Unit 3 - Multiplication and Division
*PS 3 Unit 5 - Four Operations (at the 3rd grade, these are labeled challenge problems and are subdivided by the skill needed)
*PS 4 Unit 4 - Four Operations (at the 4th grade, these are NOT labeled challenge problems and are also subdivided by the skill needed)
Personally, we weave the Four Operations sections from each book together because they're subdivided by type of problem. So the kids worked all of the Difference-Multiple model problems in PS 3 and PS 4, then all of the Make-a-Whole models problems in PS 3 and PS 4, etc. Look at the Table of Contents for these 2 books and you'll see what I mean.PS 3 Units 6-15 which focuses on solving problems with the "Heuristic Method" of problem solving is pretty pick-and-chooseable, in my opinion. Some sections are more useful than others, we liked the Restate The Problem I and Restate The Problem II sections for the fun introduction to variables. But after Unit 5, you can leave PS 3 and focus on PS 4 and maybe CWP 3
PS 4 Unit 6 -Fractions of a Set
PS 4 Unit 7 -Mixed Problems
PS 4 Unit 9 -Multiplication and Division Decimals
PS 4 Unit 10 Area and Perimeter**
**The table of contents makes it easy to go and pick up the skill that you might need to solve these problems.
PS 4 Unit 2 Factors and Multiples is skippable in my opinion. That topic is probably better covered in your math program and doesn't add anything new to the topic.I strongly recommend working through the Process Skills book first and regularly. We don't use them a year behind, but blend them by skill/topic and work through them systematically to get optimal growth from our students.
If you skip all of the Challenge Problems in PS 3 and PS 4, then you can go back and work them over the next lull in math or over the summer.
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I would absolutely teach her the correct formation of each family of letters and then remind her as she writes.
I have taught and continue to teach pen-handling and handwriting to my 3.5+ children.
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On 11/17/2021 at 11:58 PM, rose said:
So basically what I'm looking for is a giant list of elementary school science topics to cover.
Core Knowledge has their Science scope viewable on their 2-page At A Glance Document.
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To those of you who are familiar with specific elementary science programs--when (and how) is rate taught in the elementary science scope and sequence?
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4 hours ago, Clarita said:
I thought this was a reading program?
No, Reasoning and Writing is a language program--at this level, it's a combination of Logic and Language (Reasoning and Writing) which lays the foundation for skillful writing (and reading).
At the C-F levels, it's a combination of Logic and Composition. -
Rainbow Resource has the whole Maps, Globes and Graphs series. If this is similar to Maps, Charts and Graphs, then I'd just order what you need.
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6 hours ago, Corraleno said:
I don't understand why the mother and boyfriend were "interviewed and released" instead of being arrested for child endangerment?
6 hours ago, Corraleno said:Harris County Sheriff's Office confirmed that the mother and her boyfriend were released:
3 minutes ago, Carrie12345 said:I also don’t see how building a case necessitates freedom.
Perhaps the mom was not the custodial parent? That's the only thing that kinda makes sense to me about this situation is that the mom was not the custodial parent. So, perhaps the father or grandparents had custody of the children? Maybe?
Obviously I don't know.
Frankly I regret clicking on this link, this is awful and it makes my stomach turn and my heart ache just thinking about these poor children.
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I'm a checker.
I check on everyone 3 times every night: First, once they're asleep, again when I get up at night to use the bathroom and finally when I wake up in the morning before they're awake. I will probably be checking on them until they're moved out.When Hubby falls asleep in a different part of the house, I check on him too.
Kids under 5 and sick people get checked on more regularly.
I check on any and every one who is in the house (within reason) including guests.
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We lean very heavily on geography in the K-2 years. We do grammar exercises on the geography sentences, and once their sentence skills are developing, we do give them paragraphs to edit that are taken from Geography.
With a word processor, it's not overly taxing.
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Just now, Nart said:
Thank you, this is helpful. I don’t think there is anymore graphing by hand though. All work is submitted online as are tests. You graph on an online system.
Hopefully, your student is still doing their work with pencil and paper, but putting in his final results on the computer.
If not, then I strongly urge you to start him on the practice next class period.
It's very good for short term retention and long term mastery in math to write down and manipulate equations with pen and paper.
I won't harp about it, but please make sure that he's systematically writing down and solving problems and graphing problems by hand and not just drag-and-dropping points onto a coordinate plane on the screen.
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24 minutes ago, Nart said:
Yes. The only prerequisite for trig is intermediate algebra at this community college. The hardest thing was getting him into intermediate algebra and proving he had taken algebra. That involved multiple emails.
He is in 9th grade so he has to keep taking math classes through senior year.
Then my instinctive response (no extra research or anything) is to do College Algebra --> Trig, because Trig goes down easier if you are really fluent with Algebraic manipulations and can focus on the trig without getting tangled in algebraic missteps. Proving trig identities just requires flexibility and ease with algebraic manipulation and substitutions.
Also, graphing by hand should be firmly in place by the time that you get to trig, in my opinion. In college algebra, you graph a lot of different functions and transform them. College Algebra typically teaches a good deal of graphing and transforming graphs--a skill that's also done in Trig, but trig notation looks a bit scarier.
Taking college algebra first will allow your student a little more time to bone up his algebra and to apply his foundation in more extensive ways.
Trig is new content and concepts that rely on fluent algebra to follow along.
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Are you sure that the college will allow him to go from Intermediate Algebra to Trigonometry?
Most of the colleges that I've worked at or have knowledge of put "College Algebra" as the math course that everything else depends on. Once you've passed College Algebra you can choose which math course you're going to take next.
For non-STEM majors, colleges allow Intermediate Algebra -> Liberal Arts Math or Statistics.
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1 hour ago, UHP said:
I think you're mistaken. E.g. the nytimes this august opened an article (this one) with "Hurricane Ida, which struck the Louisiana coast on Sunday with winds of 150 miles an hour..."
According to the interview I linked, miles an hour was standard and widely used before the 1950s. However, journalism standards still use "an hour" rather than "per hour"
@VminusEplusFis2 As for "per hour" vs "an hour" it sounds like there was a shift in usage and acceptability of saying "per hour". Originally Americans thought that "per hour" was wrong, because "per" is from Latin/French and is part of set phrases. (ie "per diem"). It was counted as incorrect to take just "per", it seems like.
So, if you were born, raised and educated prior to the 1950s, you probably learned that "per hour" was incorrect and only used "an hour".
Feymann, who was born in 1918, grew up hearing, using and being taught "an hour" and it doesn't even sound like "per hour" had yet entered the scene. He was over 30 years old before "per hour" was introduced as acceptable so odds are he was set in his way and continued.
Zig Englemann, who was born in 1931, grew up hearing, using and being taught "an hour" and was 20+ years old by the time "per hour" became acceptable. Odds are that he was set in his way and continued.
During the 1950s, once "per hour" became an option, it was just that a new option. I think that "an hour" was still widely used and definitely acceptable and so both just continued to be used in the scientific as well as non-scientific manner throughout society.
If Some Group Some Where decided that a set phrase--such as "Logging On" should be done away with, and only "Logging In" should be allowed, then they'd put it in a book somewhere, but its not going to stop "Logging On" from being used and understood. It doesn't make saying "logging on" wrong.
Language is dynamic and alive. It changes, it grows, and it's flexible.
Until the 1950s, it doesn't seem like educated people were saying "per" anything if they weren't speaking set Latin phrases or expressions, but that's changed.
ETA: And in the 1950s, once "per hour" became accepted, its' not like you could update every book, speech or text that'd been written using the "an hour" term with the push of a few buttons to make that change. "an hour" would've continued to be used widely for a long time afterward, because the educated adults who were alive in the 1950s, were all just that--adults who'd already been educated. They continued to use the language that they'd been brought up and trained to use.
Imagine how silly you'd be to rush up to scientists and science professors around the country and begin scolding them for not immediately switching their speech to incorporate Syllable 2.0 instead of still using Syllable 1.0?
I think that Some Group allowing "per hour" to be used meant was that it changed the conversation teachers and students had from "per hour" is wrong, to "per hour" is also acceptable.
As cars dashboards read MPH and speed limit signs read MPH, I think that's why it took over and entered many peoples mind as the default and "correct" way. But that's just one instance used repeatedly.
I certainly grew up using both.
However, my colleagues--the ones who teach physics and chemistry--certainly use both, among others, in speech and lecture.
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18 minutes ago, 8filltheheart said:
@mathmarm I agree 100% that teaching in context is appropriate. It is also what happens in a normal, healthy environment. The example you used is an example of a mistake that little kids could easily make. It doesn't mean that in a couple of yrs they will still be making the same mistake in a normal, healthy environment (and I am not referring to SES status at all. I am simply referring to normal, healthy human interaction). That same scenario would not read as at all plausible with an older child bc most readers would immediately dismiss the idea that older kids would make that mistake.
Woops! Point taken. I incorrectly moved your comment re the "environment" to "SES" connection in your statements--my apologies.
However, adults mishear and misunderstand widely too. Mondegreens and other occur outside of songs and poems and the occur at every age as well. Little Kids are not the only ones who easily misunderstand. Teens and adults easily misunderstand as well.
However, good instruction has to take into account mistakes that students can make or misconceptions that students may have or may develop while learning a later skill.
The Teacher Guide for Reasoning and Writing B says:
QuoteAll the skills taught in Reasoning and Writing B are important. These skills (a) are assumed by later work in reading, writing and content areas; (b) are typically not taught in any form; (c) can be taught uniformly to children who qualify for entering Level B.
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Just now, EKS said:
For this particular purpose, it is a language program that's masquerading as a science program.
Wait, what? Are you sure?
Please explain how so? I will admit that I haven't used RaW-A and B, so I don't want to speak with too much authority.
I'd like to first understand why you think so Reasoning and Writing B is masquerading as a science program?
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1 minute ago, EKS said:
The difference is that when you use"an hour" you're generally speaking. Or writing dialogue. It's not appropriate when you're actually writing about science.
When I see mistakes like that, it makes me wonder where else the author is going astray. To me it shows that the author doesn't actually know what they're talking about when it comes to distance, rate, and time, and that they haven't been exposed to enough scientific writing to know that it is more appropriately written as "per hour" in this context.
This excerpt is taken, as you already knew from your very first response, from a language program.
It's focused on helping children to speak and understand spoken language and make statements that convey what they're trying to say.This is not a science program. This is not a math program. It's a language program for children between 1st and 3rd grade.
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11 minutes ago, 8filltheheart said:
For kids in language deprived environments, maybe. But in a healthy environment? No, I don't see a big deal.
It's not necessarily a matter of a "language deprived" environment vs a "normal language" environment.
It's just a common misconception and misunderstanding that kids across the socio-economic spectrum can make so the program is trying to preempt that by including this relationship in their language program.
For example, I think any academically minded parent would say that my kids are in a language rich environment. I certainly think so, but my kids still have some of the developmentally appropriate language gaffes for their ages.
Even in the most elite of private schools students experience the same cross-curricular struggles with language that poor kids have. Because their just kids. There are certain misconceptions and misunderstandings that kids have in their native language irrespective of what language they and their community speak.
As an illustration, I'm reminded of Beverly Cleary's Ramona books.
There is an instance when Ramona thinks they're singing about the Dawnzer Lee Light when they sing the national anthem. (Dawns Early Light)
Or when the family schedule requires Ramona to stay home alone one morning, she's told to leave for school at a quarter to 8.
She knows a quarter is 25 cents so she leaves at 8:25. Once she's walking she notices that she's the only one outside on the way to school and is confused, she is confused and unable to explain why she arrived late for school when her teacher asks.Ramona, like many children, make sense of language based on what they know. The adults in Ramona's world take for granted that because she's fluent in English, she's flawlessly following whatever they're saying. The adults in the real world did that to me and my generation when I was young too. I have caught myself doing the same thing with my own kdis from time to time.
Ramona wasn't from a language deprived home--her parents read the paper, read to her and with her, her sister reads with her and to her, her family has dinner together most nights and discuss things. But like many children, Ramona draws conclusions using her (limited) world knowledge.
She surmises for herself that the Dawnzer is some sort of lamp or light. She's mishearing/misunderstanding. She knows what "dawn" is. She knows what "early" is, but because she misunderstood the words she didn't recognize them. She used good thinking skills, but she still drew the wrong conclusion.
I think that clearly teaching children to understand various grammatical constructs in context is something that's appropriate for the majority of kids.
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@UHP I think it's very interesting to see a language program tackling a crucial language concept early on. I really like that RaW focuses on developing this relationship and this understanding. It's something that I've seen my own kids mix up a lot.
Often it's not discovered that people don't actually understand certain grammar constructions or bits of language until they misunderstand something important in context -- ie people saying something ridiculous to a judge or Police Officer and then being confused about it, and often in math class when it's time to learn math for something that they (supposedly) understand in English already.
Many young children struggle with word problems--not because of math, but because of language.
They struggle to interpret relationships so when they read that Tom has 9 more than Joe, they take that as Tom has 9.Likewise, "Sarah has 3 fewer than Jane" they jump right to Sarah has 3. Or Jane has 3.
Subtraction problems are a beast because "....more than..." or "...less than..." doesn't connect in their head naturally as a relationship between 2 different people or things.
Taking the time to help children linguistically understand the relationships is key.
Typically, you see this addressed in math because it holds kids back and they can't ignore or get around it in math class, but it's not a math problem--it's a language problem. Other subjects are taught in such a way that you can ignore the problem for much longer. -
I think that "per hour" vs "an hour" is a regional thing. You can say both. "Slow down! You're going 62 miles an hour when the speed limit is 45!" <--a comment I made just a few days ago.
Here is an interesting discussion to explore the language bit. Merriam Webster lists them both as correct.
As always, the curriculum is not the master.
As teachers, we have to often tweak or adjust something for our needs. It should be easy enough to change a 1-syllable 2-letter word, for a 1-syllable, 3-letter word for your particular needs.11 hours ago, daijobu said:To my mind, "miles an hour" is not accurate. One should write "miles per hour" which is consistent with the idea of a ratio or a fraction.
1 hour ago, EKS said:YES! I almost said I wouldn't use a resource that uses this term to teach anything to do with distance, rate, or time, but then decided to limit the criticism to just one area.
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10 hours ago, 8filltheheart said:
@EKS Count me as I one who doesn't care if a 7 yr old cannot do math equations with miles/hr. Most 2nd graders are barely learning multiplication, forget about understanding division with units.
This is not a math program. This is a language program that is teaching children to understand the concepts and the language used to convey the concept. The goal of the lessons are not math, but language. Teaching children to understand, use and express rates correctly as a form of language.
This is a useful skill to have as by the end of 2nd, and definitely from 3rd grade on, kids are expected be able to "read to learn", but this is a bit of language that many, many, many kids are missing, so they misunderstand or mentally skip info as they read or converse or just listen to conversation.
Clearly understanding the concepts of Time, Rate and Distance as a function of language will help kids communicate clearly, follow (or participate in) discussion, catch greater meaning from conversations around them. It also allows them to correctly interpret what they're reading about the speeds at which animals run or plants grow, the weather forecasts, discussion about travel plans, read and interpret articles that tell about how something was built or how someone accomplished something difficult over time, or understand adults discussion about travel plans, compare the heights of buildings around the world or understand the rate at which societies were built/advanced, help kids correctly interpret illustrations in books or comics or even plan the correct order to cook a big meal in.
A lot of children's nonfiction just assumes that children understand the language that's being used to share the ideas and facts that it's teaching. This is not so in my experience.
It's a concept that I know a great deal of kids get mixed up. However, it often goes undetected for years--until they get to a math lesson that just assumes that they understand the concept of rates, time and distance as a function of language.
So, instead of learning how to express something mathematically, and using that as a bridge to a new mathematical concept,
kids are confused by the language component of it, the mathematical expression is sense-less and the mathematical concept is obscured because they have 6+ years of misunderstanding/mentally ignoring the concept in English.
Instead of building from clarity in English to clarity in math, too often we're building from confusion in English to confusion in math too.
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The advantage of the Process Skills, over CWP is that it teaches the Bar Modeling strategy and Process Skills gives you several exercises to learn how to use the technique, rather than giving you challenging problems that rely on you already knowing the strategy.
I recommend starting with Level 3.
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Mastering the Bar-Modeling strategy, along with developing a rock-solid number-sense is a great preparation for Algebra.
You don't need to do anything but learn the strategy and then work every word problem explicitly and systematically. I don't use the Primary Math/Dimensions series, but apply the strategy to a ton of Word Problems--we love Process Skills to Problem Solving and Kumon Word Problems are a distant 2nd to PStPS.If the child just wants to plug and chug with numbers, then take out the numbers and make him study the relationships for a few weeks.
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3 hours ago, KSera said:
But why? In all these kinds of things, I don’t understand the purpose in going through all these programs in order to teach very young children impressive academic tricks and skills. What is the purpose of that for a very young child? That’s an honest and not rhetorical question, because I don’t know what the benefit would be.
I can not speak to every one who chooses to pursue academics for their youngster. For our own family, it was not a choice that we made lightly or without thoughtful research and reflection. There is absolutely nothing wrong with deciding to follow a traditional trajectory for your children, and there is nothing wrong with deciding to follow a less expected or less understood trajectory.
The most important thing is that children are loved and educated in nurturing environment.
However, to your question: you and I are not co-parenting children. I'm not going to enumerate the reasons that my homeschool is designed the way it is. The only one who needs to agree with my parenting vision or share in the educational values and goals that I have for my children is their father, and fortunately he does.
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What are your LA plans from K-12
in General Education Discussion Board
Posted
I don't know that we have a plan for K - 12, but we have a plan that definitely meets our needs for the elementary stage. So far this path ends around 4th grade.
PreK-1 Learning to Read and Penmanship
Phonics and Morphics:
Phonics taught from any program with an extensive scope and sequence. We extend the "learning to read" phase by making reading lessons using lists of multi-syllable words from the internet up to 8 syllable words.
We also use WordBuild (the 2-level series) to work with morphographs and expand vocabulary.
As they progress phonetically, we add in leveled books and library books. They read a ton of books and magazines.
Penmanship:
Kumon pre-writing books, (mazes, tracing, coloring books)
teach letter formation by "letter families"
Home made handwriting practice and drills in Manuscript and Cursive
Copywork
1st - 3rd Spelling and Composition
Spelling:
We continue with handwriting drills but they become more based on spelling patterns. Spelling by Sound and Structure. We love the whole series. Once the handwriting foundation is solid, we teach 2-6 sans student workbooks at an accelerated pace to edit out the religious stuff. Copywork.
Vocabulary and Etymology:
We use Spelling by Sound and Structure 7 and 8 for vocabulary and etymology.
Reading widely - the children read aloud and silently every day.
Elementary Composition:
Reasoning and Writing C - E/F. So far, we really love the series. It works so well for our home school. We enhance it some by teaching sentence patterns and folding in some explicit lessons on word choice, but the amount of tweaking we do is minimal.
Writing Across the Curriculum - they write about the things we're learning about or that they hope to learn about.
This path is definitely working for us to develop the language and literacy skills that we want. This only gets us to about 4th grade, but they're definitely literate when they are done with this.