Starting Singapore Standards

[KristenR]

I got my shipment in yesterday from Rainbow Resource. :lol:

I love when curriculum comes in because my girls pick up on my excitment and dance around with me while we open the box and pore over all our new learning things.

 

Anyway, among other things, I purchased Singapore Primary Math Standards 1a and 1b. I purchased the extra practice and intensive practice workbooks so I have them if I need them. I started reading through the HIG last night and am a slight bit confused how people use their textbook. It looks almost like a workbook in its own right. I assumed we would read the textbook and do the workbook. But do you write in your textbook? Or do you just go over it and then switch to the workbook?

 

I have two younger kids so I had envisioned using the textbook and HIG for all three and just buying additional workbooks. But now I am wondering if they will all need their own textbook? It looks like something that should be completed itself......

 

Suggestions?

[blondeviolin]

We've been doing SM alongside our Miquon for the last three weeks or so. We just finished the first section on subtraction. Out of all three books we have (HIG, text, workbook), the text is used the least. If/when we use it, I just have My daughter point to or tell me the correct answer. (We've also got youngers who will use these!) To be honest, we haven't already played with in Miquon.

[baybedaul]

We just read through the textbook together and talk about the answers. We write in the workbook and the IP. The textbook never takes more than a few minutes (we're in 1A). We spend way more time using manipulatives or playing games for practice. Mostly those are from RightStart, but we've seen a few similar ones in the HIG.

[tarahillmom]

We just write in the workbooks and not in text. We go through it either orally or we will write things on a little board. I have been using Singapore for 5 years now, and the textbooks are on their 3rd use:lol:

[missmoe]

Yup, we do the textbook together as lesson time. And then the workbooks are used afterwards for practice.

[Samiam]

We just started using Singapore this year.

 

At first, I wasn't going to have either DS5 or DS8 write in their Singapore textbooks, so I could sell DS5's and resuse DS8's.

 

So that is still the policy for DS8's....no writing in textbook, just workbook,

so I can use the textbook again for DS5 when he is older.

 

But for the Kindgerten Singapore, I found that DS5 really needed to write in his textbook, because the workbook does not provide enough practice on it's own.

[rochesterboy]

Text Book for Standards Edition is very different and intensive compared to U.S Edition. TB has methods to teach new concepts, exercises for each topic (like workbook) and practice pages for each topic.

 

We teach our son the concepts from the HIG and then we move to corresponding pages in the text book. If text book pages requires writing then our son uses a note book. Then he moves into WB pages and completes them. At the end of each week, he takes a test from the test book.

 

Hope this helps.

[Spy Car]

My approach is to use the Textbook as interactive teaching/learning time. I almost always have looked at the topic in Miquon (and often other materials) and have let the ideas I want to bring to the table roll around in my mind in advance.

 

But this is the time we work together. Sometimes (often) we will work Miquon-like activities in advance, other times we will do the math as "cuddle time" on a couch or in bed. I like there to be lots of "talking" (especially on the students end) and I generally try to be the facilitator/Socratic questioner. But when I feel the need for "direct instruction" I go that way. Whatever works.

 

When working thorugh the Textbook I am always probing for understanding. Never, especially in Level One, was the "correct" answer "good enough." I always made him explain his strategy and his reasoning. Sometimes now I'm more easy going on topics he knows (but still :D). I'm tough that way.

 

And we also discuss "alternative" strategies for solving problems.

 

Long-story short, Textbook time in our home is as interactive and teacher intensive as I can make it. We do write in the Textbook, or rather *I* write in the Textbook (they are marked up like crazy). He does the work, but I'm almost always the "scribe." Everyonce in a while, if there is something I think is importanthe write out, we break the general rule.

 

The Workbook on the other-hand he does as independently as possible. I will clear any confusions (usually by asking leading questions) but this is his time to prove he has absorbed the lessons and can apply what he has learned to independent (or semi-independent) work. 1A was more semi-independent as he started at five, but independent work was (and is) the goal for me.

 

He always done all the writing in the Workbooks himself.

 

So the "modes" of work are quite differentiated in our home.

 

I hope that helps :001_smile:

 

Bill

[JadeOrchidSong]

You can use a plastic sheet protector on the textbook pages and you or your dc can write on it with a dry or wet erase marker.

 

That's what we do. In fact, my older ds does his workbook this way, too, so that I don't have to buy another workbook for younger ds.

 

I only transited to SE for 3A and 3B and then we moved back to US edition because I don't like the SE. There are enough practice in the SE textbooks. When older ds did both the SE TB and the WB, it took a long time. So this time around younger ds does mostly the exercise in the TB, and sometimes that is enough. We do IP and CWP, too, which provide lots of practice.

 

I have HIG for PM 4, 5, and 6. I used 4A HIG for a few weeks and grew out of it. I prefer to teach myself and I see nothing wrong with it. In fact, I generally don't like to use TM.

Edited October 27, 2011 by aomom