Singapore Math: syncing IP, CWP & Sprints

[songsparrow]

Are there any charts or resources that recommend which problems from the Intensive Practice, Challenging Word Problems, or Math Sprints books should be used with which Units/Chapters in the Textbooks?

 

The Home Instructor's Guide tells you what to do from the Extra Practice and Tests books, but not from these additional books.

[rochesterboy]

Very good question. I am also trying to figure this out for my 2nd grader son who is using Singapore 2A Standards edition.

[tammyw]

We're figuring this out also. We don't do the Extra Practice or Tests. I have started just throwing the Intensive Practice in at the point where it seems it fits (just kind of looking at the problems to make sure we've covered). We will do the CWP randomly, I think.

[Spy Car]

Personally, I don't bother (generally speaking). With the exceptions of times I want to work on a particular skill, I find a certain benefit in having the supplimentaly books serve as (for lack of a better word) "soft spiral" and review.

 

My thinking is the core Primary Mathematics books are fairly topical and not aligning the supplement too closely (with noted exceptions) helps keep things fresh.

 

Bill

[songsparrow]

Bill, Do you have a plan or schedule for how often you work out of the supplemental books, or how many problems you do?

 

Right now, I make sure that my daughter has mastered the material in the textbook and workbook before we move on, and I am hoping to use IP and CWP to gain a deeper understanding and provide more challenge. I'm not sure, though, how best to combine them.

Edited October 7, 2011 by songsparrow

[Spy Car]

Bill, Do you have a plan or schedule for how often you work out of the supplemental books, or how many problems you do?

 

No. Except in the "big picture" sense of having generalized goals for completion.

 

We after-school, so our situation is different than most on this forum. I am very committed to our home education, but also attempt to work in our lessons without interfering with fun life opportunities that may come up, so I need to be flexible. Even so, we get an awful lot done.

 

So I have a "master plan" but not necessarily a daily schedule.

 

Even if I had precious more time I still think I'd keep a schedule loose. I like to really monitor my child's understanding, and be ready to hit an area where I sense less than complete understanding form different angles. Or, when he really gets it, to take time to use those skills by going off on a tangent. Or doing something completely different and challenging just to keep interest up if the core work seems dry.

 

It isn't that I don't think about it a good deal, but there is certainly a good deal of improvisation in the math schedule. Although on many days it is just a matter of picking up where we left off.

 

I am probably no help :tongue_smilie:

 

Basically, I make sure that my daughter has a strong foundation from the textbook and workbook before we move on, and I am hoping to use IP and CWP to gain a deeper understanding and provide more challenge. I'm not sure, though, how best to combine them.

 

For what its worth, my way is to make the Textbook lessons very Socratic. To really probe his understanding. To mix direct instruction (where needed) with times when the burden is more on him. But either way this is the time for "clarity." If there is not clarity we move to other means. To date I have been the scribe for most of the Textbook problems (with the exception of those problems where I feel it is important he write them himself).

 

The Workbooks are semi-independent to independent (depending on age and difficulty) with the goal being this is when he shows he has a command of the materials. He writes them himself.

 

The supplements get broken out anytime I get "eye-rolls" (either literally or figuratively) over material being "too easy."

 

Or when we just need a change of pace. It is often a last minute decision. Part of why I tend not to synchronize the materials is because my child enjoys a change of pace, but children are different.

 

I'm sure my way would drive someone who like to "plan" batty :tongue_smilie:

 

Bill

[abbeyej]

Don't. :) Really, you don't need to align them perfectly. Stay a little behind in the CWP and IP books, and just do a few problems here and there with some regularity. You *want* them to force kids to think about problems other than exactly the same sort they're doing in their textbook each day. It's meant to remind them to use concepts they've used before, stretch them a bit, force them to think, and, as Bill points out, keep things fresh. :)

[Crimson Wife]

DD is using IP and CWP in lieu of the regular workbook so I do line them up. She finishes the chapter in the textbook first, then the corresponding chapter in CWP next, and finally the corresponding chapter in IP.

[JessMcG]

We use IP and CWP half a year behind where we are in the textbook.