Lesson plan for RightStart Math Level A

[Guest NorthEastMomma]

Hi,

I am starting to plan out my year, the best I can for my Kindergartner. I reviewed the RigthStart Level A table of contents and saw that there are 77 lessons. I don't know how long each lessons will take. But it looks like I would be doing math 2-3x per week with the number of lessons in the book.

 

If you used/use RightStart, how are you setting up the lessons? I'm guessing some lessons ds will get right away and other lessons we will be repeating.

 

This is my first year so I am just penciling in my plans since I really don't know what to expect. I have an active wiggle worm, I'm guessing it will be a lesson then a break and continue that way until 3ish.

 

Thanks for any input.

 

Zoie

[JulieD]

Most of the lessons easily divide into two parts. We had math lessons every day, taking two days to do a lesson.

[Micron4]

I used RS B last year with my dd6. I found it hard to judge how long a lesson / concept would take. There were some lessons that the manual said to take 2 days to do that we could do in 1 day, and some lessons that the manual said to take 1 day to do that took us 5 days or longer. I was hesitant to move forward with the material until I felt she had mastered the concept. If that was the case, we spent extra time reviewing the lesson, playing games, and doing worksheets (either ones I had photocopied from the worksheet book or simple problems that I hand wrote.)

 

I think for scheduling purposes, it's best to plan to do math everyday. That gives you the freedom to slow things down or play extra math games as needed. :)

[theYoungerMrsWarde]

The first lessons start out easy and depending on how much fun your kids is having can take anywhere from 15 minutes to over 30. After around lesson 20 (?) they take more and more time. I know some people stop at the 30 minute mark and whatever they don't finish pick up the next day. That however does not work with my math-loving ds5. And on days with the games it can take even longer. With the lessons with geoboards I do everything first, then do the geoboards. After we've done the lesson part I let ds5 play with the geoboards while I do other things (ideally cleaning, but more like being on here :D.) He can play with them for an hour, especially making music with the rubber bands. We've experimented with different rubber bands and the higher or lower tones. I almost got the right notes to play "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" once. :D

 

Some lessons can be done once and other need more repeating. I LOVE to schedule out, but I can't do that very well with RS math. You have to be really flexible. But it is a lot of fun, so it makes you lose track of time. :001_smile:

[KAM]

With that level, we just did 20-30 min. and then stopped wherever we were. I stuck a post-it note on the page to keep track of our stopping point. Then if we had time we spent 10 minutes playing one of the games.

[LynnG in Arizona]

Although it will obviously vary with each child, I would say you could plan on Right Start Level A taking two days per lesson, and doing two lessons per week (so four math session weekly).

 

I would estimate an average of 15-25 minutes per day doing it that way. The earlier lessons typically take less time, and then they get a bit longer as the year goes on.

 

Good luck . . . RS Level A lays a great foundation! Just be patient, as it might seem a bit strange at first. But by the end of the year, I think you'll start to see it really pay off. :)

 

I just began RS A with my second student this morning, as a matter of fact!

Edited June 20, 2012 by LynnG in Hawaii

[PeterPan]

Like the others, we did it with a bookmark and just stopping when the timer went off. Don't make lesson plans for it, you're wasting your time. :)

[Mom2Es]

I have not gone through Level A, but my kindergartner went through most of Level B this year, and I found that the length of the lessons was not very consistent. Some of them we'd fly through in just a few minutes (even ones that said to spend 2 days on), and others I found myself needing to skip parts or split them into multiple days (either because of a comprehension issue or because I think they were just putting in busywork to fill up the two pages!). When you are doing your planning, make sure to accommodate for lessons they say to spend 4-5 days on and for spending time playing the card games. If there was a lesson that they said to spend multiple days on and we went through it quickly, I marked the lesson and "spiraled back" at some later point on my own for reinforcement.

 

If I were you, I would plan to do math at least four days a week, even if all you do on a given day is a quick review or playing a couple of the games.

[Guest NorthEastMomma]

:D Thanks for all the great advice. I'll pencil in math everyday and we will set the timer like a lot of you suggested.