a first grader and math work.

[joysworld]

I am wonder what doing math with a first grader looks like? Ds gets the concepts I teach, then I have him do his workbook pages. Usually only two or three. We are in sm 1b. Anyways, I have to sit down with him and a lot of times I have to explain each problem. Now, I don't have to do this with subtraction or addition under 20, but I still would have to sit there and keep him on task. We are still working on 'how many more' 'how many fewer.' He has gotten better at that concept, and I can give him oral problems and he gets it, but when it comes to the workbook pages, I will have to explain each problem. Is this typical? Am I doing something wrong?

 

I was wondering because if he were in ps, the teachers don't/aren't able to do that with each child. From what I remember, the teacher teaches the concept, and then they do worksheets. Am I missing something?

[Five More Minutes]

I've had the same experience here. I don't think that a typical 6 yo can work independently in math (regardless of how it may need to happen in PS).

 

In my case, my daughter required the same hand-holding for most of the way through SM 1A. I read and explained every problem in the workbook, she talked about what she would do, and then wrote it. After a while I would start to explain two problems at a time to her, and ask her to do those before I would talk to her about more math problems. She's now in 1B, and we've now worked up to a point where I can usually read through 3-5 problems with her, ask her if she understands, and let her go to work while I sneak peeks to make sure she's not going too far wrong. I stay in the same room and close by to make sure she stays on task

 

I should say, though, that I sit beside her for every CWP -- those remain team efforts!

 

All that to say that I think that your son is doing his math work in an appropriate way for Gr. 1.

[Crimson Wife]

Honestly, I'm not terribly impressed with Singapore 1A/B. DS completed 1A but I felt that he didn't really have all that good an understanding of the underlying concepts. Not like my oldest got from working through Right Start B. So rather than moving on to SM 1B, I decided to take DS through RS B. The first part of RS has been super-easy for him after doing SM 1A, but I can tell he's getting a much better understanding of place value and addition. I'm also having DS work through the 1A Intensive Practice book.

 

I do plan on taking DS through the SM 1B textbook further along into RS B, maybe doing 3 days per week of RS and 2 days per week of SM.

[chepyl]

My son is very good at math. I still have to sit with him and make him do EVERY problem most days. Every now and then he has a day where he works independently; but those are rare :) It is not that he does not know the concepts or understand them, he is just 6. He needs guidance.

[joysworld]

Okay, thanks everyone. Y'all make me feel much better:)

[Spy Car]

Sounds pretty typical of the age, the gender, and the expectations of the math program.

 

Bill

[Walking-Iris]

My first post---I think---can't remember.

 

I found that math is the one subject that requires quite a bit of teacher involvement. My son (3rd grade--8 yrs old) has just started this year sitting down with an assignment and completing the work on his own. I usually have a 20 min or so "lesson"--especially if we're starting something new-- and then I let him do practice sets on his own. We do skills review and word problems together. Some days he's working on his own and I'm just checking and re-teaching if corrections are needed. Some days we're doing math together.

 

We also take the time during the week to do math "games" or to explore hands-on type concepts---measurement for example--and to "read" math.

 

When he was 1st grade age he didn't have independent work. I guided him through every math lesson, every day.

[LittleIzumi]

Honestly, I'm not terribly impressed with Singapore 1A/B. DS completed 1A but I felt that he didn't really have all that good an understanding of the underlying concepts. Not like my oldest got from working through Right Start B. So rather than moving on to SM 1B, I decided to take DS through RS B. The first part of RS has been super-easy for him after doing SM 1A, but I can tell he's getting a much better understanding of place value and addition. I'm also having DS work through the 1A Intensive Practice book.

 

:iagree: Just not enough practice in the US Edition, especially in 1B in certain parts. We skipped 1A because dd knew it, but with the lack of practice I am having her go through all of 1A quickly now, then finishing the 1A IP, then going back through the second half of 1B and the whole 1B IP. She doesn't need much practice, but she needs more than we got. I am switching to Standards edition for 2A/2B, as that supposedly has more review. We got to the point where I was walking her through every single problem, and dd didn't feel like she understood it well, so that's why I went back. Now she is flying through mostly on her own and getting more practice, and we will hit the problem area again in a few weeks with more fact practice and understanding under her belt.

Edited October 6, 2011 by LittleIzumi

[LMD]

I usually sit with my 6y/o the whole way through. Sometimes I'm able to ask her to finish off the last few on a page on her own - usually I'll ask if she can do it before I've hung out the washing or something. Manipulatives are a must too.

[Spy Car]

:iagree: Just not enough practice in the US Edition, especially in 1B in certain parts. We skipped 1A because dd knew it, but with the lack of practice I am having her go through all of 1A quickly now, then finishing the 1A IP, then going back through the second half of 1B and the whole 1B IP. She doesn't need much practice, but she needs more than we got. I am switching to Standards edition for 2A/2B, as that supposedly has more review.

 

Yep, more review in the Standards Edition.

 

Personally I liked Primary Math SE 1A/B. I do think Singapore would have done well to have some of the place value work up front (as CW noted RS has). I simply added that sort of foundational place value work to our math mix using base-10 flats, C Rods and ideas and manipulates from RightStart (place value cards, base-10 cards, abacus, etc).

 

Parents who are interested can get the precursor program (that became Right Start) by purchasing the Activities of AL Abacus book. It has many ideas to potentially glean if one doesn't want to use the full RS program, but still wants to borrow on some of the good ideas in that program.

 

Bill

[joysworld]

Thanks everyone. I was just wondering if this meant he wasn't really mastering it. He doesn't have this problem in reading, so I didn't know what to expect.

[SorrelZG]

I use MM and DS could do go at it by himself at least part of the time but I don't always want him to even if he can (although sometimes it is more profitable for me to just walk away and leave him to it). I like to be there so he can talk through it with me and I can see how he's he thinking through things which often leads to conversations about various approaches and well, potentially all kinds of things.

[nov05mama]

My son is very good at math. I still have to sit with him and make him do EVERY problem most days. Every now and then he has a day where he works independently; but those are rare :) It is not that he does not know the concepts or understand them, he is just 6. He needs guidance.

 

This. I don't so much have to help him with the problems, but I have to help him stay on TASK...otherwise I will come back to all kinds of scribbles and art along with the math problems :lol: He can do it independently, he just loses focus if I am not right there or checking in every couple of minutes. FWIW, he will be 6 next month and just moved up to 2A in Singapore.

[MerryAtHope]

Sounds very normal to me too! (And remember that everything they don't get done in school, they get as homework--so the parent sits with them at home to get it done!). Merry :-)

[chepyl]

This. I don't so much have to help him with the problems, but I have to help him stay on TASK...otherwise I will come back to all kinds of scribbles and art along with the math problems :lol: He can do it independently, he just loses focus if I am not right there or checking in every couple of minutes. FWIW, he will be 6 next month and just moved up to 2A in Singapore.

 

I have left him and come back to the following:

 

*The whole page done in colored pencils.

*Answers in strange places with lines drawn from the answer to the question (long, squiggly lines).

*Multiplication like this:

6X5 = 10+2+3+6+4+5.....Daddy told him it was correct :glare:, Daddy did not read the directions. It is "correct" it's just not working on the correct concept.

*squiggles, happy faces, and his name all over the page.

*a workbook, pencil, and no child:tongue_smilie:

[nov05mama]

I have left him and come back to the following:

 

*The whole page done in colored pencils.

*Answers in strange places with lines drawn from the answer to the question (long, squiggly lines).

*Multiplication like this:

6X5 = 10+2+3+6+4+5.....Daddy told him it was correct :glare:, Daddy did not read the directions. It is "correct" it's just not working on the correct concept.

*squiggles, happy faces, and his name all over the page.

*a workbook, pencil, and no child:tongue_smilie:

 

:lol: I think we have clones :))

[Walking-Iris]

:lol: Yep. This is my child. He doodles all over his work. I have even been able to use doodles as a reward. "Finish xy and z and then you can draw such and such." He draws "prizes" for himself at the bottom of the page---old rusty cars, stinky mops, dirty socks. I wonder if that is his passive aggressive way to say how he really feels about math.