Using MM with Singapore

[okiemomof2]

I just recently heard about MM (Math Mammoth). I love Singapore but I think it needs more practice at the level my kiddos are at (DS- blew through EarlyBird this year and has started 1A, DD- started 2A at the beginning of the year and is still there, we rested awhile on subtraction and division with carrying because it took her awhile where I felt like she got it ). So I have been going online and searching for worksheets for extra practice.

Would MM meet my needs for additional practice or do I just need to look into some of the additional practice books that Singapore puts out? Thanks !:001_unsure:

[PenKase]

Bumpity bump. These boards move very quickly. LOL.

 

To answer your question, I really, really wanted to like Singapore. I really did. I think it's a brilliant program BUT I wanted my students to have more practice than what SM provides in the textbook and workbook alone and I really didn't want to shell out more $$ on the supplemental books. That being said, I can see how it would be a good program for the math intuitive child who just "gets" it and doesn't need additional practice. I personally feel more comfortable with more practice. Enter Math Mammoth and, voila, problems solved! Also, where SM makes conceptual leaps, MM leads the student through incremental steps. My dd's (10/11 & 7) are on opposite sides of the math spectrum and MM works well for them both. You can make it as teacher led or independent as needed as the explanations are very clear. There are PLENTY of practice problems (my older dd would say there are too many but I have her do all of them anyway) and I love the worktext approach where I don't have to fumble my way through multiple books.

 

Hope this helps!

 

You may want to do an MM search on these boards. There are tons of them as many here use it. Hopefully others here will see this and share more information.

[boscopup]

I'll start by saying I haven't using SM, but... Part of the program is those other books, right? I think if you're using SM and you need more practice, it's probably because they are meant to be also using those other books.

 

Now will MM give you extra practice? Yep! I'm using MM as my sole program. I looked at SM vs MM early on, and decided I liked the pros that MM had over SM (one book vs. many, for example), and I've been incredibly happy with my choice. There are plenty of problems to practice with, plus MM has suggestions for online places to get more practice, plus worksheet generators (it's a free online one, but she's made a page where you just click links and it sends the parameters to the worksheet generator site so you don't have to fill those parameters out yourself).

 

We've done all of grade 1 and are about to start grade 2 MM on Monday. So far, I haven't had to use the worksheet generators. In fact, I've often had to only assign 1/2 the problems on the page (which the author of MM has suggested for pages that have a ton of problems), so if I needed to give him extra practice on something, we could go back and do the problems we skipped.

 

The downside of MM for some kids is that there are a ton of problems on the page. If that will freak your kid out, then it wouldn't be the right program for you. But it's easy enough to print out sample pages. There are many available on the website. My first grader hasn't had a problem with the number of problems on the page. He also knows that if there are a ton, I will cut some out. So he doesn't have to worry about "doing too much". I tailor it to what I know his hand can physically handle.

 

Hope that helps!

[truebird]

My kids are using both programs and it's working out great for us. I printed out the Math Mammoth pages and put them in page protectors and then binders. It doesn't take long at all to go over the SM lesson and do the workbook pages, and then I have them do a MM lesson. I let them use markers, and then wipe the page and put on a sticker when they are done. If they're feeling like it's too much writing, sometimes I'll sit next to them and let them do the MM verbally. Either way, they get extra practice and reinforcement, and it's worked out very well. (FWIW, if I had to choose one, I would choose SM. The kids like it better, and I love the way it presents the material. But I think MM is great too, and we benefit from using both.)