Help starting Miquon Orange

[rgrin]

I've searched here and on the Yahoo group, but I've still got a few questions.

 

For example, each section (of the Lab Sheet Annotations) starts with history or principles that pertain to that area of math. Do I need to read or cover this with my son, or is that just for me to read to get my own brain in line?

 

Following the concept introduction, several activity options are presented. Do I do the activities, then the workbook, scatter the activities throughout the workbook, or do just a few activities, saving some for later workbooks (red, green, etc.)?

 

Perhaps I'm over-thinking this. I guess I'm just not sure how to use a program that's not as... exact as MEP or Singapore. Thanks for your help.

[MeganW]

Everybody says read First Grade Diary, and go from there. I read that, and thought it sounded great, but I still just couldn't quite wrap my head around exactly what to do!

 

The way I finally managed to get started was to buy one extra Orange book, and then COPY instructions from the Lab Sheet Annotations into the related Orange book page. I think there were maybe 5 different things to do on each page - I just wrote them all in a numbered list. Did that for maybe the first 10 Orange book pages. Then the kids and I did those, with me calling the instructions from my book and them working. After that, the First Grade Diary was actually useful! :)

[Ellie]

I just opened the Lab Notations to the section that went with the first page of the orange book and did that. After dc did the page 1 activities, I went to the next section that went with page 2 of the orange book.

 

Miquon is SO not my style, but I was using it in my little school at the recommendation of Dr. Paul Cates, who had tested a couple of the children and said Miquon would be good for them. And it was. It was just hard for ME to teach because I don't need manipulatives, nor did my dc. :)

[kristinannie]

When introducing a new topic, I did have my kids do some of the activities suggested in Lab Annotations, especially for subtraction. I taught it to DS5 using those couple of pages and he just got it. Then we moved onto the worksheets. I rarely open the Lab Annotations when we are doing Miquon. Sometimes a page looks weird to me and I don't get it. That's when I open it up!

[Five More Minutes]

The introductory notes in the Annotated Lab Notes are definitely for you only. Your student will be discovering some of those properties through the Miquon lab activities.

 

We took a pretty relaxed approach to Miquon ... I blogged about it if you'd like to take a look at how we did it.

[blondeviolin]

Those first few topical pages are awesome for when we're scratching the surface of a new topic. I read it, see if there is anything we can reenact, if I have time I read the FGD and see if there is something there that I can pull in too. At first, I had the Annotations always with me. Just go and do it! If you can't tell what the page wants the child to complete, look it up, but otherwise, I hand it to Abby and see if she can puzzle it out on her own. Once you understand how the rods can show certain properties, the pages make perfect sense.

[ErinE]

My dd's Miquon books are in a binder so i let her browse and pick a worksheet she wants to do. If I don't know what to do, I open the annotations book. We have done a few of the non-worksheet activities, but I usually follow dd's lead.

[chiguirre]

The first 10 or so pages in Orange were very strange and it's not immediately obvious what you should do with them. The Annotated Lab Notes for them also gave several suggestions but no clear instructions. However, once you get past those first pages, the rest is much clearer both in the layout of the worksheets and the instruction in the ALN.

 

I remember feeling the same as you, but I just took the plunge and dd made it all the way through Purple without me ever feeling so lost again. It can be done!

[Jay3fer]

My strategy: choose a bunch of sheets you feel your son is ready for and let him pick from those. Don't let him pick anything in the entire book or you'll run into trouble, but pick maybe 5 easy ones from different areas of the book and let him choose. Then, just teach him what he needs to know to do that sheet. Repeat till the book is done!

 

(now that we've done so much first-grade math, my dd6 has about 25 sheets she can choose from at any given time)

 

ETA: I keep the Annotations close by to refer to in case she picks a sheet and I don't know what to do with it. As for First-Grade Diary, it's an interesting read, and I keep it on my bedside table shelf. I have never needed it WHILE we were learning together. :-)

[Amira]

The first 10 or so pages in Orange were very strange and it's not immediately obvious what you should do with them. The Annotated Lab Notes for them also gave several suggestions but no clear instructions. However, once you get past those first pages, the rest is much clearer both in the layout of the worksheets and the instruction in the ALN.

 

I remember feeling the same as you, but I just took the plunge and dd made it all the way through Purple without me ever feeling so lost again. It can be done!

 

:iagree: I think it's unfortunate that the first few pages are confusing when the rest of the program isn't.