Basic Math Review

[Pam L in Mid Tenn]

My panic from earlier this week is over. We are where we are. I'll review and move forward. 6th grade boy .. behind in math.. remember?

 

What to use for review? I think with a solid review for the next two months of school and over the summer that he'll be able to begin MUS Zeta this fall.

 

I plan on review fractions with Key to Fractions. But, I need a good solid curriculum to use for some review and remediation with adding, subtracting, multipying and dividing. I've been printing off worksheets from the MUS website, but that has become very boring.

 

Years ago I used MCP for a couple of years with my girls. Would that be a good choice for review? Does MCP have a placement test?

 

Any other ideas??

 

Thanks!

[Spy Car]

My panic from earlier this week is over. We are where we are. I'll review and move forward. 6th grade boy .. behind in math.. remember?

 

What to use for review? I think with a solid review for the next two months of school and over the summer that he'll be able to begin MUS Zeta this fall.

 

I plan on review fractions with Key to Fractions. But, I need a good solid curriculum to use for some review and remediation with adding, subtracting, multipying and dividing. I've been printing off worksheets from the MUS website, but that has become very boring.

 

Years ago I used MCP for a couple of years with my girls. Would that be a good choice for review? Does MCP have a placement test?

 

Any other ideas??

 

Thanks!

 

A new idea as of THIS MORNING :D.

 

In another thread Crimson Wife mentioned that Dr Liping Ma (famous here for her book on teaching elementary mathematics) has released a math series. It turns out to be an "intervention" program aimed at 4th, 5th, and 6th graders who have fallen behind grade level.

 

An hour ago I'd never heard of this program so......

 

Dr Ma is, however, a person I admire greatly and it is a brand-new option for people in your situation, so I throw it out there.

 

http://www.eduplace.com/intervention/knowingmath/

 

Bill

Edited April 8, 2010 by Spy Car

[EKS]

I'm thinking that this won't help you because you already use MUS, but when my son needed a review of basic arithmetic we did MUS Beta-Zeta over the course of 6 months.

[Pam L in Mid Tenn]

The Knowing Mathmathics looks very interesting?

Any reviews yet?

Thanks for the idea!

[wy_kid_wrangler04]

OK This isnt a curriculum, but it will bring fun to helping with math. Go to the cool math website. My dc LOVE it! Like I said before it is not a curriculum, but will help bring some fun (not boredom) to practice.

[dancer67]

Bill

 

Thanks so much for posting this. I just ordered the grade 5 book. I have been searching for a remedial math program, and this is perfect.

 

Will update when it arrives.

[Pam L in Mid Tenn]

The Cool Math website looks... well, cool!:D

Thanks!

[Spy Car]

Bill

 

Thanks so much for posting this. I just ordered the grade 5 book. I have been searching for a remedial math program, and this is perfect.

 

Will update when it arrives.

 

I'm sure there will be wide interest in hearing your impressions of Dr Ma's materials.

 

I hope they prove the thing.

 

Bill

[i.love.lucy]

Bill

 

Thanks so much for posting this. I just ordered the grade 5 book. I have been searching for a remedial math program, and this is perfect.

 

Will update when it arrives.

Dancer, Where did you order it? I looked through the whole product and think this might be something that will work for my dd. I don't think she's fully 2 grade levels behind, but never learned some of these concepts quite this way and I'd like for her to. But I can't see how much it costs or where to order it.:confused: It's probably right in front of me and I don't see it!;)

[Spy Car]

Dancer, Where did you order it? I looked through the whole product and think this might be something that will work for my dd. I don't think she's fully 2 grade levels behind, but never learned some of these concepts quite this way and I'd like for her to. But I can't see how much it costs or where to order it.:confused: It's probably right in front of me and I don't see it!;)

 

Here is link that will get you to an ordering page.

 

There are several components. I tried to reach a representative at Houghton Mifflin to discuss the various elements, and their applicability to a home education use, but it was an exercise in frustration.

 

http://www.hmhschool.com/store/ProductCatalogController?cmd=Browse&subcmd=LoadDetail&division=S01&level1Code=8&level2Code=P0061&frontOrBack=F&sortEntriesBy=SEQ_NAME&sortProductsBy=SEQ_TITLE

 

Bill

Edited April 9, 2010 by Spy Car

[wy_kid_wrangler04]

The Cool Math website looks... well, cool!:D

Thanks!

 

 

Your welcome! My dc LOVE that website!

[dancer67]

I did not order the components, only the student workbook. The TM and the rest is really geared for a classroom. At least that is the way it looked to me. And it was expensive.

 

Trying to talk to any public school publisher is like banging your head against the wall:banghead:

[Spy Car]

 

Trying to talk to any public school publisher is like banging your head against the wall:banghead:

 

Tis so :001_huh:

 

Bill

[EppieJ]

 

But, I need a good solid curriculum to use for some review and remediation with adding, subtracting, multipying and dividing.

 

Any other ideas??

 

Thanks!

 

 

It's not terribly cheap, but I have another suggestion. The Kumon Math & Reading program (not the workbooks, the actual program). They begin with an assessment and place your child in a level that is fairly easy in order to build speed, accuracy and confidence. The program is designed so that the child moves forward at his own pace, setting goals, and doing repetitions as needed. Concepts build on each other so it becomes a steady, logical progression. There are also awards that can be earned.

 

It is designed to be a long term program, however, not just a "summer" thing. It does work, tho! I used to work in a center - learned tons myself- and now ds attends. He's currently 4th grade, doing Singapore 3B and in Kumon has begun adding fractions. I'm happy!

 

It's to be used as a supplement to your math program, not a full program itself. It might be worth checking to see if there's a program near you. I've found it to be worth the $.

[pamd]

How did you get to order it, I am making some mistake I am sure. I can't get to it to look at or order.

[savmom]

If you go here and click "sneak peeks' you can see inside the teacher manual.

 

If you want to buy the teacher guide cheaply (or the student book without the hassle of a public school company), there are several available on Amazon for each level. Simply copy & paste the ISBN of the book you are interested in (i.e. 9780618248551 for the 6th grade teacher's manual, 978-0618248520 for the 6th grade student book).

 

Cindy

[Spy Car]

If you go here and click "sneak peeks' you can see inside the teacher manual.

 

If you want to buy the teacher guide cheaply (or the student book without the hassle of a public school company), there are several available on Amazon for each level. Simply copy & paste the ISBN of the book you are interested in (i.e. 9780618248551 for the 6th grade teacher's manual, 978-0618248520 for the 6th grade student book).

 

Cindy

 

I miss the "rep" system. Yours is really useful advice!!! :thumbup1:

 

Bill

[i.love.lucy]

I did not order the components, only the student workbook. The TM and the rest is really geared for a classroom. At least that is the way it looked to me. And it was expensive.

 

Trying to talk to any public school publisher is like banging your head against the wall:banghead:

PLEASE do report back when you get it what your thoughts are!!! I am very curious if you find you need the TM.

 

ETA: Also meant to say thanks Bill for the link, I didn't see the options at the bottom were linkies. Need to move the ol' mouse around a bit more I guess!

[Pam L in Mid Tenn]

The TM is available on Amazon for around $25. The student book is not available on Amazon.

 

I want the TM. It will give me a new approach to teaching the concepts he is missing. Without the TM, I'm afraid it would be just like any other workbook. I need a different way to teach, different words to say. It looks like the TM is scripted, so I can pick and choose and tweak as needed.

 

Thanks for those ISBNs.

[Crimson Wife]

The TM is available on Amazon for around $25. The student book is not available on Amazon.

 

I want the TM. It will give me a new approach to teaching the concepts he is missing. Without the TM, I'm afraid it would be just like any other workbook. I need a different way to teach, different words to say. It looks like the TM is scripted, so I can pick and choose and tweak as needed.

 

The part that intrigues me about the program is the math conversations that the teacher is supposed to have with the students. It's designed for small-group sessions so I would imagine that it's easier to adapt for HS than a regular classroom TM.

[Spy Car]

I've wasted hours of my life trying to reach someone who knows something about "Knowing Mathematics" at Houghton Mifflin. This person says call this person. Who says call someone else.

 

Why are you calling here?

 

They said I had to speak with the "homeschool" division.

 

We don't have a HOMESCHOOL DIVISION. God I hate it when they say that.

 

Well that's what I was told. I've called 5 numbers already.

 

Here's another number

 

Hello....hello I'm having a hard time hearing you. Are you on an internet based phone?

 

You are in India?

 

Any chance you've heard of Liping Ma?

 

My zip code?

 

Do you have a supervisor?

 

We're having technical difficulties Sir someone will get back to you.

 

Oy vey!

 

Bill (who has been promised a phone call from someone who knows someone who knows something about this program :lol:)

[Pam L in Mid Tenn]

LOL

Bill: Thanks so much for trying to research this for us all!!

[Spy Car]

LOL

Bill: Thanks so much for trying to research this for us all!!

 

I'm sorry, Bill is not available to respond right now. If you'd like a response please press 1 followed by the # sign.

 

Otherwise, please stand-by for the next available......

[Spy Car]

So this morning I got a call from a very nice sales rep from Houghton Mifflin.

 

She is going to send samples of the 4th Grade Knowing Mathematics materials, so I'll get back to you on my impressions after they arrive.

 

Bill

[stripe]

I just got a copy of the Liping Ma "Knowing Mathematics" student workbook for year 4 (the first one). I don't have (nor have I seen) the teacher's material.

 

Some impressions:

 

* Thin paperback (111 pages) with newsprint pages

* Definitely a workbook format, not a text

* Each topic is a 2-page spread, with some dialog between a "teacher" and some contingent of the 4 students featured in the book, followed by some problems

* It does strike me that this is a remedial / review program rather than a first-crack-through presentation of material. The arithmetic, for example, focuses on clarifying things (including saying that "twenty" is a nickname for two tens, which is its real name) and showing strategies for dealing with arithmetic. One is immediately launched from one digit to two digit to three digit arithmetic -- not the normal speed sequence used for younger students.

 

Abbreviated TOC :

Unit 1: Addition and Subtraction

Unit 2: Multiplication and Division

Unit 3: Place Value

Unit 4: Ready for Algebra

Unit 5: Geometry

Unit 6: Statistics

[Spy Car]

The series is defiantly intended to be remedial. They are attempting to (13 weeks, I believe) bring a child who hasn't had a solid foundation in math (and particularly not a good foundation in what for lack of a better word we might call Asian math) up to speed.

 

The lessons move briskly in the workbook. I don't have the teachers materials either, but I understand there are dialogues and activities to reinforce the workbooks materials.

 

I might quibble with some of the style choices, such as the two dogs who are off in their own bubbles offering parenthetical commentary on the students work, but the material covered is quite sound IMO.

 

It's a tall order to try to bring a child who is behind in math up to grade level quickly, I would think. And especially challenging to do this in a way that really builds understanding, rather than just resorting exclusively to the memorization of math facts/learn the algorithm without understanding approach.

 

I'm not personally aware of a math program that tries to fill this niche (which doesn't mean there aren't any) and it is certainly fills an important need in both the school and home education markets. And does quite a good job of it from my limited review. I can see where a parent/teacher might feel a need to add more practice, as the topics do move quickly ( but that is not a fatal flaw).

 

I would like to see what is in the teacher texts. I feel like I could teach from these workbooks (having worked with similar math programs) but that if it was all new to me I'd probably benefit greatly from having more resources to teach with.

 

In all this seems like a very good program for remediating a math education, and that it could be a great bridge program for a parent who wanted to switch from a traditional math program to something like Singapore Math without going back to square one.

 

I would tend to think a child who was reasonably good at traditional math (but perhaps wasn't loving it) might take to the pace better than a child who was really struggling. In the latter case, I do think there would likely be a need to add additional practice.

 

Bill

[thowell]

So I am wondering..... my sdd11 needs to back up and gain a much better foundation. What about using the topic specific MM and backing up to say third grade and going through them all to 5th grade (which is where she should be). Can't I do this for each topics ex. addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, place value?

[stripe]

The reason I noted that it strikes me as better for remedial was because in some previous thread (which I tried to find but failed to), someone wondered if it would be a good choice for a younger child's main text. I would have to say, I don't think so. Too short, focused on specific trouble spots, and very fast moving. I did find the explanations clear and so forth, but NOT for a very young child who may never have heard any of this. There really seem to be a lot of strategies in this book.

[Spy Car]

The reason I noted that it strikes me as better for remedial was because in some previous thread (which I tried to find but failed to), someone wondered if it would be a good choice for a younger child's main text. I would have to say, I don't think so. Too short, focused on specific trouble spots, and very fast moving. I did find the explanations clear and so forth, but NOT for a very young child who may never have heard any of this. There really seem to be a lot of strategies in this book.

 

:iagree:

 

With every point.

 

I've run a good bit of the early portions by my kindergartener, but he has had this sort of exposure with more age appropriate materials. As much as I like the book, it's not what I'd use for a younger child. The material, as you point out, just moves too fast. It is intended to be a remedial program.

 

Bill

[Spy Car]

So I am wondering..... my sdd11 needs to back up and gain a much better foundation. What about using the topic specific MM and backing up to say third grade and going through them all to 5th grade (which is where she should be). Can't I do this for each topics ex. addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, place value?

 

My "guess" (having very limited exposure to MM via on-line samples) is that you'd get more depth doing what you are suggesting, rather than using Knowing Mathematics. That it would also represent a greater investment in time. The only downside to KM, that I see, is a child who is going to be successfully remediated with it would have to be one who is reasonably fast on the uptake and one who just wasn't taught with very good means the first time around, rather than one who really struggles conceptually and needs a more patient pace.

 

Bill

[thowell]

My "guess" (having very limited exposure to MM via on-line samples) is that you'd get more depth doing what you are suggesting, rather than using Knowing Mathematics. That it would also represent a greater investment in time. The only downside to KM, that I see, is a child who is going to be successfully remediated with it would have to be one who is reasonably fast on the uptake and one who just wasn't taught with very good means the first time around, rather than one who really struggles conceptually and needs a more patient pace.

 

Bill

 

 

Thank you this is what I have been thinking. She is struggling really hard. I looked at a few remedial programs but I just don't think they will work. I feel I really just need to start from the beginning with her. PS has passed her each year and she would have been in 5th grade this coming year even though her FCAT test score show her at a 2nd grade math level. Go figure!

[Crimson Wife]

So this morning I got a call from a very nice sales rep from Houghton Mifflin.

 

She is going to send samples of the 4th Grade Knowing Mathematics materials, so I'll get back to you on my impressions after they arrive.

 

Bill

 

Out of curiosity- did you get this yet?

[Spy Car]

Out of curiosity- did you get this yet?

 

I did. They sent it to me (free). The "cheap" student book, not the teachers materials.

 

I need to study it more, but my initial impression is that it gets children up to speed quickly with math. But too quickly for a remedial student? Maybe.

 

It might be better suited for a child who was moving from a traditional program (and doing reasonably well) rather than one who was really struggling, as it seems to me somewhat accelerated in the pace and amount of review. Which makes sense, in some respect, as it is intended (if memory serves) to be a 13 week "crash-course" to get a child back on grade level.

 

I (obviously) don't know the value of the teachers materials for a parent who needs the "education" to help teach this sort of course.

 

Bill

[burleygirl]

Bill,

 

Have you heard of Systematic Math? www.systemath.com

 

If so, what do you think of it?

[Crimson Wife]

I did. They sent it to me (free). The "cheap" student book, not the teachers materials.

 

I (obviously) don't know the value of the teachers materials for a parent who needs the "education" to help teach this sort of course.

 

Bill

 

Thanks for the response! I wish that you had gotten a chance to look over the teachers' materials because that's what really interests me about this program.

 

I hit a "bump" last week with Singapore in the section on comparing fractions with unlike denominators in 3B. Even with the HIG, I struggled to explain how to do it in a way that made sense to my DD. I shelved it & moved on to a different unit but I'm going to have to pick it up again soon. I'm somewhat tempted to buy Right Start E because the explanations Dr. Cotter gave in the earlier levels of RS were so easier for both of us to understand than what's in Singapore.

[Spy Car]

Thanks for the response! I wish that you had gotten a chance to look over the teachers' materials because that's what really interests me about this program.

 

Me too, truth told. Like any remedial program remediating the teacher/parent is likely to be as (or more) important than the child. My gut feeling is Ma will do this, but I'd like to see it first-hand.

 

I hit a "bump" last week with Singapore in the section on comparing fractions with unlike denominators in 3B. Even with the HIG, I struggled to explain how to do it in a way that made sense to my DD. I shelved it & moved on to a different unit but I'm going to have to pick it up again soon. I'm somewhat tempted to buy Right Start E because the explanations Dr. Cotter gave in the earlier levels of RS were so easier for both of us to understand than what's in Singapore.

 

The Fourth Grade materials (surprisingly) have nothing on fractions.

 

Bill