StephanieF Posted July 3, 2008 Share Posted July 3, 2008 My 1st grader is doing my head in! I'm doing Singapore Maths with him (My Pals are here) and we have just started level 1A number bonds. For the sum 6+?=8 I am getting him to split the 8 into 6 and ? so he can see that ?=2. He knows how to split etc but he can't do the working out on his own he keeps forgetting and I know he doesn't "get" it. He can do basic addition 6+2=8 up to 20 (haven't gone any further) but doesn't understand the split. Is this a difficult concept? I am moving on to the number stories which really is just addition but don't want to move onto subtraction until we have mastered this. I know that certain concepts are mastered at different stages developmentally so really I'm looking for reassurance that he will wake up one morning and all will be clear lol! He is only just 5yrs old. Thanks! Stephanie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VaKim Posted July 3, 2008 Share Posted July 3, 2008 Just my personal, honest opinion, since you asked. :) But, yes, I think you may be expecting too much. And also, yes, he will be able to "magically" do these things when he is developmentally ready. As I have said elsewhere, I have discovered that you have a couple choices. You can frustrate yourself and your child for two years trying to force something they are not ready for. Or, you can wait two years (doing other things they can do), until they are ready, and it will just click, and they will quickly end up in the same place, or even further, than if you had forced it. I have found this to be true over and over again. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pata Posted July 3, 2008 Share Posted July 3, 2008 My dd had problems when we got into addition/subtraction within 40. We just went back and did 1A again. She needed the extra time for it to really sink in and stick. I also added Miquon in for some more practice. She was 5yo when we started Singapore 1A. Now we are 3/4 of the way through 1B and she's doing so much better. It could be a maturity thing, Singapore is already advanced (I believe that in Singapore they start 1A in the spring of first grade). Hope that helps! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Haiku Posted July 3, 2008 Share Posted July 3, 2008 Translating ? into 2 is a pretty abstract thought skill. I'm sure there are 5 year olds who could do it, but I'm not at all surprised that your 5 year old can't. No matter how smart a kid is, sometimes there are developmental leaps that can't be rushed. I'd say skip this section of the math and come back to it later. Btw, if you move on to subtraction (or anything else in Singapore) and encounter something similar, that's probably a clue that your son is not ready for Singapore 1A yet. Singapore requires some pretty heavy abstract thought. Tara Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Isa Posted July 3, 2008 Share Posted July 3, 2008 One thing you could do is present the concept in a very concrete way with manipulatives. Children at that age are concrete learners and many learn best through manipulatives first. After they understand how the concept works with manipulatives, they can go on to represent it with symbols, and then eventually get to the abstract level. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Another Lynn Posted July 3, 2008 Share Posted July 3, 2008 MUS teaches this with their manipulatives. If you put the 2block with the 6 block it makes the size of the 8 block. So you could lay down the 8 block with the 6 block on top and ask which block is needed to complete the problem. Sometime during Alpha (the first grade book), they are doing problems like yours: 6 + A = 8, what is A? And ds can do those okay. But maybe seeing the blocks first helps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kalanamak Posted July 3, 2008 Share Posted July 3, 2008 Yes. He may well do better with that if you introduce all the aspects of number bonds (the addition and subtraction facts). My kiddo is almost 6 and on Singapore 1A, and I have a number line taped to his desk. If he can't answer something flat out, he is welcome to count down or up on the number line. He keeps picking up more facts as he practices. HTH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mallory Posted July 3, 2008 Share Posted July 3, 2008 I don't think there is any harm in waiting for a while with a kid this young. But there also isn't any reason to try to make it more concrete. Can he do it with manipulatives? This is a place that a scale is helpful. The = means both sides have be the same, if you put 6 on this side and 8 on the other how many do you have to add to the higher side to make them even? Or the rods or MUS blocks are easy to see, but also just lining up 6 pennies and 8 pennies and seeing what the difference is. I also find that food (then later money) are eaiser for my kids to see what is going on. If you have 6 candy bars and want 8, how many more do you need? This is also a skill that kids practice all on thier own with board games and dice. Ohh, I really want to get here I need x more, I hope I get a 6 and 2. I would say put away the book and work with manipulatives and games for a few weeks or months, you could even preview what is coming up and get in that hands on practice for the next few lessons, so when he is back in the book he has some expierience with these ideas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Homemama2 Posted July 3, 2008 Share Posted July 3, 2008 Just want to agree about the manipulatives. My ds (just turned 6 last month) can learn most any math concept (in the appropriate textbook, of course) but HAS to use manipulatives to do it. We stick with the manipulatives until I notice he honestly doesn't look at them anymore when giving an answer. If you've tried with manipulatives and your dc still doesn't understand, I'd put it aside for 2-3 months (or less, depending on your dc) and come back to it. So much depends on their being developementally ready at this age...and in a couple years you're not going to remember if they learned it in the fall or spring. ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tristangrace Posted July 3, 2008 Share Posted July 3, 2008 My 6yo stalled out partway through the MUS Primer (which "everyone" predicted she'd breeze through). She just wasn't getting the concepts. I freaked out for a few weeks, read up on child development, and then decided to just drop math altogether for . . . it's been about 6 months now. (She was halfway through her K year.) We're going to start up formal math again in the fall, but I am REALLY happy with my decision--most (or maybe all--I haven't gone back to formally evaluate yet) of the concepts that were difficult (e.g., skip counting, solving for the unknown) she has picked up on her own during this "math-free zone" we are in. It seems that she was just not developmentally ready six months ago, and she is now, and I am SO glad we didn't waste ANY more time on it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris in VA Posted July 3, 2008 Share Posted July 3, 2008 I think it has to do with the development of reversibility--that comes in time. I'd say just do the facts, then you can play around with them and see all kinds of neat things numbers do! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StephanieF Posted July 3, 2008 Author Share Posted July 3, 2008 Thanks ladies! I know you are right! I did think it was quite a difficult concept to master when I saw it. We'll just concentrate on the basic addition and subtraction etc and I won't worry about the rest at the moment! Thanks again Stephanie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StephanieF Posted July 3, 2008 Author Share Posted July 3, 2008 Yes I am using manipulatives-the cubes which fit together (a bit like lego) so he can see that they split into 2 piles. He seems to get it sometimes but I also think that our session is too long, as he stops getting it as we do more and more. I'm too used to working with my older boys and forget that he is only little! I'm so wrapped up with him not falling behind that I am pushing him too hard, I know that but it is difficult when there are so many things I'd like to teach him and not enough time! He is my first one who I have taught at home-the other two are in school so it is a steep learning curve for me. Stephanie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mommy22alyns Posted July 3, 2008 Share Posted July 3, 2008 The number bonds were a bit of a struggle with Becca too. I wonder if it's because it's not a skill we (as adults) were taught as kids - it's new to us too? In any event, manipulatives helped Becca. I'd tell her that 8 was her "big number," so she needed 8 blocks altogether. Then one pile of 2, so the other pile has ___ blocks in it. She'd count and see that there were 6. After several sessions of that, she was able to talk herself through figuring it out. If you get the Intensive Practice workbook, there are a lot more pages on number bonds there as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nestof3 Posted July 4, 2008 Share Posted July 4, 2008 For what it's worth, I let my first grader use manipulatives for all math. Sometimes he would choose the abacus, sometimes colored chips, etc. But for calculations, he was always allowed to use something tangible to help him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajjkt Posted January 27, 2009 Share Posted January 27, 2009 Both of my kids have struggled with that at that age. My son couldn't 'see' the number bonds the way Singapore set them out when he was 5. I left it for a year and started again but with MUS alpha. A year later he is in doing MUS delta and obviously a very mathy kid. I'm glad I waited that year because now he just loves maths. My daughter is more well rounded. She is good at maths, but cannot see X + 6 = 8. I've left it and will go back to it later. I think she is starting to get it now and we will return to it later. I think its a developmental thing rather than an aptitude thing. HTH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StephanieF Posted January 27, 2009 Author Share Posted January 27, 2009 Well here is an update! I put Singapore to oneside and bought rightstart B. We are now at nearly lesson 70 and it is going well. He loves the games and would play all day if I let him. The number bonds to 10 were learnt and understood within a couple of games, it was amazing. I have to say that he does forget the facts if I don't keep doing it but he understands number bonds plus everything else we have done. If he doesn't understand something right away, he does within the next couple of lessons. I know understand a bit more when I hit a developmental block and just move on and keep coming back. I do like Singapore but I think he needs to be a little older before we go back to it. I will probably do rightstart C in Sept and then decide where to go from there when that is finished and he is 7 yrs old. Oh and I do have some Horizons workbooks coming just so we get a bit more practice with workbooks and he can do a little independently. Stephanie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alpidarkomama Posted January 27, 2009 Share Posted January 27, 2009 One card game that has REALLY helped my 5-year-old get faster at figuring out 6 + ? = 8 is a game we call Fives. You play it just like Go Fish. We took the aces to 5s of 3 decks of cards. You can discard as a pair anything that adds up to 5. If you have a 3, you can say "Do you have a 2?" After mastering Fives, you can go to Sixes, Sevens, etc. We love playing it, and for her the number bonds for Fives now are pretty much mastered (after 5-6 games) and we're going to start Sixes this week. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lovedtodeath Posted January 27, 2009 Share Posted January 27, 2009 MUS teaches this with their manipulatives. If you put the 2block with the 6 block it makes the size of the 8 block. So you could lay down the 8 block with the 6 block on top and ask which block is needed to complete the problem. Sometime during Alpha (the first grade book), they are doing problems like yours: 6 + A = 8, what is A? And ds can do those okay. But maybe seeing the blocks first helps. And my DD had trouble with this at first! (turned 6 in July, appeared advanced in K) It is hard for them to switch gears at this age. She was learning simple addition and math facts then wham! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tabrett Posted January 27, 2009 Share Posted January 27, 2009 Please remember SP 1 is used with 7 year olds in Singapore. It was designed for a 7 year old's brain development, not a 5 year olds brain. A 5 year old may be able to "do" the math, but comprehention on the level SP desires require an "older" brain. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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