Right Start Math Curriculum Question

[reesecoli]

Hey there! I am brand new here. My friend recommended that I direct my questions about the Right Start Math Curriculum here. I am planning to purchase Level A. I have some of the manipulatives already and would love to make a few of them as well.

 

1. My dad is going to make the colored tiles out of wood for us. He is only able to make 160 tiles with the wood he has on hand - instead of 200 tiles. Will this be a problem?

 

2. I have the Melissa and Doug abacus - can I use that? I remember coming across a blog post once about modifying the Melissa and Doug abacus to suit your needs. I think it was in order to make it more like the Montessori abacus. Could I use the Montessori abacus? I can't find the blog post now of course, anyone know where it is?

 

3. Is Right Start Math a good foundation for Singapore Math? I like Right Start because it has alot of hands on stuff and covers a variety of areas. Ultimately I would like to switch to Singapore Math. When would be a good time to do that? first grade?

[Snowfall]

We haven't needed 200 tiles yet, but I don't know if there will come a time we will. At any rate, you wouldn't need them right away or anything, so he could certainly make more later.

 

Any abacus you use would absolutely have to have only 2 different colors on each wire. The first 5 should all be the same color and the second 5 should all be a different color. Then on the 5th wire, the colors should reverse. So on the RS abacus, the first 5 beads on the first 5 wires are navy blue. The second 5 are yellow. Then from the sixth to tenth wire, the first 5 beads are yellow and the second are navy blue. What colors you choose doesn't really matter, but they absolutely HAVE to follow that 5 and 5 pattern. It's essential to the whole thing. :D

 

We haven't used Singapore and are only on level B, so I can't speak about that from experience, but I've seen several people say they use RS for the first few levels, then switch to Singapore, so presumably it prepares a child very well for Singapore.

[reesecoli]

thanks snowfall! that was super helpful! I think I can modify the melissa and doug abacus without too much trouble!

[sbgrace]

I agree with everything Snowfall said re: the tiles and the abacus colors and formation need to be like RightStart. The abacus is the most important piece of the curriculum in my opinion so make sure you've got that good. Their abacus is pretty cheap isn't it? I'm thinking it might not be worth the trouble to modify given the time and paint (I assume) you'd need? I'm not sure how you'd get them uniform the same two colors as I remember the beads being varying bright colors? Maybe you could!

 

I've gathered that people sometimes switch to Singapore after Levels A and B and sometimes C (or half through that) as well. I'll probably stay with it but I've toyed with switching to Math Mammoth after C. I really can't see doing just A personally. To get the real value of RightStart I think I'd want at least through B.

Edited July 4, 2010 by sbgrace

[Devotional Soul]

Just in case you want to buy a new abacus, they're cheaper ($10+shipping) at Rainbow Resource. You can also get the lessons and worksheets there.

[FairProspects]

There are a couple of lessons (learning about hundreds) that do use all 200 tiles. Personally, I found that my son did need to build to 200 to understand the concepts, but you might not find it necessary. Just wanted to let you know that there is a reason all 200 are included so you can make a decision about what you need!

[Crimson Wife]

Is Right Start Math a good foundation for Singapore Math? I like Right Start because it has alot of hands on stuff and covers a variety of areas. Ultimately I would like to switch to Singapore Math. When would be a good time to do that? first grade?

 

Yes, RS is an excellent foundation for either Singapore or Math Mammoth as all 3 programs are based on the Asian way of teaching math. When to switch and which level to start with in Singapore will depend on your child's needs. Definitely give the placement tests rather than just going by the grade level.

 

I switched my oldest after completing C and she placed into Singapore 3A. My younger kids I'm planning to go through at least the end of B and then evaluate whether to continue on in RS or switch to Singapore.

 

I would encourage you to add in the Singapore Challenging Word Problems series by at least the beginning of C as RS is weak on word problems. I'm planning on starting CWP 1 when my younger kids are in RS B.

[reesecoli]

thanks devotional soul for the tip!

thanks for the heads up about the tiles!

thanks crimson wife for the great info - that was super helpful!

[unity]

Although I do have the RS abacus, I also modified our Melissa and Doug abacus so it would be a little more RS-ish. It was very easy, although not a perfect result. I just unscrewed all the screws, took apart the ends, took off all the beads, and then put them back in a different pattern that had 5/5 on each wire. It wasn't a terrific result since the two-color format really is very meaningful on the RS abacus, but I thought it made the Melissa and Doug abacus a slightly better toy for my baby and a possible "spare" occasionally for my RS A kid.

[reesecoli]

Brilliant unity! Thank you! I am gonna do that - maybe I will purchase some new colored beads at Michael's to put on it instead....and save the old beads for fine-motor-development/jewelry-making fun.....I know this is silly but I just can't stand to buy another abacus when I already have a perfectly good one at home.....the RS abacus colors are yellow and blue right?

[Snowfall]

Brilliant unity! Thank you! I am gonna do that - maybe I will purchase some new colored beads at Michael's to put on it instead....and save the old beads for fine-motor-development/jewelry-making fun.....I know this is silly but I just can't stand to buy another abacus when I already have a perfectly good one at home.....the RS abacus colors are yellow and blue right?

 

Yes, but the exact colors don't really matter, although it would be easier if you're reading the teacher's guide as a script. And I agree with you about not buying new things unless you really have to. We reuse everything that can be reused. My husband even built our duck house out of old fence boards, from when we had to replace a portion of our fence. :D

[SnegurochkaL]

I have being using both; RS and Singapore. I used RS as a core and added Intensive Practice books to it. My child read PM textbooks in order to be familiar with presented material before doing IP problems. I also found very helpful using MEP curriculum. It gave my child a lot of drilling and more challenging problems than Singapore Math could offer. Here is the link to MEP workbooks. They are free to download. My child is using 1b book this summer as an extra practice. She does 10 pages per day several times per week depending how busy we are with Summer Reading Program.

 

MEP (Math Enrichment Programme)/ British resource

 

http://www.cimt.plymouth.ac.uk/projects/mep/default.htm

[reesecoli]

SneguochkaL ~ Thanks for the info! Very helpful! When did you start adding Primary Mathematics (textbooks and intensive practice books)? Thanks again! Reese

[SnegurochkaL]

Hi Reesecoli, Here is the schedule I had for my daughter combining RS level A ans PM and IP of SM.

 

- First 54 Lessons of RS Level A.

 

- Chapter 1 of PM 1A and Topic 1 problems of IP 1A.

 

- Chapter 2 of PM 1A and Topic 2 problems of IP 1A.

 

- Chapter 3 of PM 1A and Topic 3 problems of IP 1A.

 

We skipped subtraction because RS hadn't introduced it yet.

 

- Lesson 56 ( I skipped calculator lesson) of RS Level A.

I told my daughter she could use her abacus to check the equation so she did.

 

- Chapter 5 of PM 1A and Topic 5 of IP 1A .

 

- Lessons 57-60 of RS Level A.

 

- Chapter 6 (Addition up to 20) of PM 1a and Topic 6 assignments of IP 1A.

 

- Chapter 7 (without subtraction) of PM 1A and topic 7(without subtraction) of IP 1A.

 

- Lessons 61-67 of RS Level A.

 

- Chapter 8 (Patterns ans shapes) of PM 1A and Topic 8 assignments of IP 1A.

 

- Lessons 68-70 dealing with length of RS Level A.

 

- Chapter 9 (Length) of PM 1A and topic 9 problems of IP 1A.

 

- Lesson 71 of RS A

 

- Chapter 10 of PM 1A and Topic problems(weight) of IP 1A

 

- Lesson 72-77 of RS A (end of the book)

 

Then I went back to PM 1A and did chapter 4(subtraction within 10) along with Topic 4 assignments of IP 1A. After that we studied Chapter 7(part 2 dealing with subtraction withing 20) of PM 1A and my daughter worked through Topic 7 problems of IP 1A we had skipped earlier. After all of this she took mid-year review of IP 1A. I broke it in half (first 10 pages-regular practice-Day 1, second 10 pages- challenging problems-Day 2).

 

If you decide to use MEP program, now will be the good time to start with 1b book which covers addition/subtraction operations withing 20.

I wish I would discover MEP program earlier for my daughter to use.

 

I hope it will give you an idea when and what to use. You may decide to do time from PM 1B along with RS lessons dealing with time, but I decided against it because time would be covered again in Level B.

[reesecoli]

you, my friend, are a ROCK STAR!!! Thank you soooo much for taking the time to do this!

[SnegurochkaL]

You are welcome. It is easy when you have all books at your hand:)

I almost lost all typing because I was logged out while trying to submit my post:(

Oh well, nothing got lost:)

[unity]

Yeah, the colors are blue and yellow. Good idea about getting different beads from Michaels or something. I never thought about something like that, but it's clever. I actually probably already have a million different beads. I don't think blue/yellow really matters but it would be really nice to have just two colors used, and be sure to switch which one is first on lines 6-10.

 

Also, fwiw, I just wanted to comment that Right Start does have a lot to the program and I'm not sure most kids would "need" supplementation. I haven't been through a whole level of it yet, but I have used a lot of math programs and looked at this one extensively. If you actually play the games and don't measure math progress as a huge collection of worksheets, there's really a lot there.:)