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Beast Academy's Perfect Square Chapter


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Has anyone else had problems teaching this chapter? I don't know what's going on, but my son cannot grasp anything from "finding the next-largest perfect square" onward. Would it be bad if we just moved onto the last chapter (the Distributive Property)? He also can't grasp the perfect square problems without Base 10 blocks.

 

Anyone else had problems with this? Or is it just us?

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What I did for this chapter was get a whole bunch of square tiles (we had many games that if we turned the game pieces over would become white squares, Scrabble would probably work). Then I'd lay out a 2x2 square, easy to see that's 4 pieces. To go up to the next perfect square, I'd show that I'd have to lay another row of 2 on top, another column of 2 on the side, plus 1 in the corner. To go from a 3x3 square, I'd lay another row of 3 on top, another column of 3 on the side, plus 1 in the corner. We worked all they way up to 10x10 squares a few times. Hopefully (who know if it's stuck, a couple of weeks/months later), the pattern emerges that to go to the next perfect square you add 2 of the current number plus 1. (I guess it also works out that you could add 2 of the next number minus 1.)

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Thanks for your reply! I guess we'll keep low-crawling through the Perfect Squares with a set of Base 10 blocks. He did great with the multiplication chapter and I thought that chapter was awesome. And then, the perfect squares... :bored:

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My son is crazy about square numbers so was really excited about it. I think maybe reading some books and learning about square numbers might help. But I do think it's a tricky chapter that looks at things in a very "different" way. I would maybe move forward, and come back regularly to do a problem or two at a time or something.

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My son had trouble at the beginning of the chapter. I used graph paper cut to the right size and let him cut it to make them smaller or tape them together to make them larger. Does that make sense? It took a couple of lessons, but once he got it, he got it, and from that point on he positively flew through that chapter.

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I completely forgot about the Perfect Square videos on education unboxed. I use the activities on that site for my younger set. Thanks for the reminder! We ended up starting the Distributive Property chapter and I'm going to go back to the Perfect Squares a few problems at a time. BTW, the distributive property chapter seems so simple compared to trying to teach perfect squares.

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I agree that the Distributive Property chapter was a breeze after Perfect Squares, but both were well-received by my little beast-lover. Keep at it, using all the wonderful advice offered above, and I'm sure it will click.

 

What I want to know is, when will the 3D books be available!?!?! I thought it was supposed to be January?

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Are you referring to the last chapter in 3B (Distributive Property)?

 

 

 

No, I am talking about chapter 2 in Aops Pre-algebra that deals with Exponents. The Perfect Squares chapter in Beast is the perfect intro to their prealgebra treatment of exponents.

If Rosie's video don't help, get a math paper (the one with squares). Make one line equal one and draw squares and play with increasing and decreasing them. You can do the next chapter and go back again. I wouldn't just abandon teaching it, but you can certainly take it slow and stretch it out for a while.

 

 

4D should be out in three weeks.

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If Rosie's video don't help, get a math paper (the one with squares). Make one line equal one and draw squares and play with increasing and decreasing them. You can do the next chapter and go back again. I wouldn't just abandon teaching it, but you can certainly take it slow and stretch it out for a while.

 

 

4D should be out in three weeks.

 

You can print out graph paper from various websites, too, which is nice if you don't have any on hand.

 

I am glad to hear they are almost finished with 3d.

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I agree that the Distributive Property chapter was a breeze after Perfect Squares, but both were well-received by my little beast-lover. Keep at it, using all the wonderful advice offered above, and I'm sure it will click.

 

What I want to know is, when will the 3D books be available!?!?! I thought it was supposed to be January?

 

They posted a few days ago on Facebook that the books just went to the printer and that if there aren't any errors, they should be available in 3 weeks. So I would think Feb. 14th-21st maybe.

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