First Year using Miquon, Singapore and MEP together - coordination help please

[RosieCotton]

Thanks to advice from others here at WTM I'm embarking on new math for my 1st and 2nd grade boys this year and I'm super excited!

 

Coordinating them all is a question I do have after reviewing the products. Ha!

Should I do 3 days of Singapore and 2 days of Miquon/MEP each week or what should I do? We are doing review this week and I start the new programs on Monday.

 

I could add Miquon/ MEP at the end of a Singapore lesson fairly easily . . .  or reverse that to change it up and reduce reluctance.

 

We really love math and I want a solid foundation for this year. The boys have seen the new Miquon materials and think they look like fun. Hurray! :hurray:

 

How should I coordinate these programs? A little of both each day or focused work on MEP or Singapore for a few days with Miquon as a fun math lab type day?

MEP looks awesome BTW. . .

 

 

 

 

 

[Spy Car]

We used these 3 (and some other stuff) to great effect. It will take a lot of work on your part (just so you know), because the "teacher (re-)education" is a huge part of what makes such a thing fly, and you will have much study time ahead of you.

 

A few thoughts. Generally the Miquon materials help introduce concepts in a way children grasp easily. You may find ways to extrapolate Miquon-like ideas (I found reading the First Grade Diary inspiring in this regard). Do read all the topical information sections (on Addition, Subraction...etc) in the Lab Annotations book as you go (ahead of time).

 

Read the MEP Lesson Plans. If you are doing all 3 I'd advise "cherry-picking" problems, concentrating on the really interesting variety (or on areas that need work). Don't burn-out the kids doing redundant "basic work" that is covered in Singapore.

 

Teach that the "number bonds" in Singapore and the weighted inequalities in MEP are really the same thing (in a slightly different form). It is all just parts, and wholes, and differences.

 

I did not coordinate too closely, but did (continuously ask myself what my child understood, what I hoped to teach him next, and what (if anything) he needed to know before we tackled the next subject. So sometimes I'd coordinate lesson ideas across programs and other times (most of the time) we'd aim for seeing how all this early math is inter-related, and not worry about trying to tightly allign the lessons. Being slightly haphazard (assuming the child is absorbing the materials well) has the advantage of a built-in sort of review ( and "freshness").

 

These programs really complement one another. Just keep it fun.

 

Bill

[Monica_in_Switzerland]

That's a lot of math programs.  I found it overwhelming to keep up with actually completing worksheets from Miquon along with SM, so here's what we did:

 

I used the ideas behind the Miquon sheets to learn how to use Cuisinaire Rods correctly and effectively for each topic introduced in SM.  For more detailed teacher training, check out the videos on www.educationunboxed.com. 

 

In other words, on our first day of addition "with carrying", we worked entirely with manipulatives (I also used a whiteboard to write out the problems, which I invented on the spot) in a Miquon-esque way (we also use an abacus from Right Start). 

 

The next day, we did a warm up with manipulatives, then did side-by-side manipulation with the written algorithm. 

 

For the last few days of the week or until the end of the unit in SM, we did just the workbook pages (independently mostly) and challenging word problems (together on whiteboard mostly, this area is challenging for my son), with manipulatives out and available if needed.

 

Also, we start each math lesson with a warm-up of 10 of the mental math problems from the back of the SM HIG.

 

Hope that helps, that's how we combine SM and Miquon! 

[RosieCotton]

 

These programs really complement one another. Just keep it fun.

 

Bill

 

Thanks for the great tips Bill, and for getting back so quickly. I'm pouring over the Dairy and Lab book and reading the MEP lessons plans I already have a few good ideas. I know it will be challenging but I'm going to give it my best.

[Chelli]

I am using these three programs with my first grader. She does a Math in Focus (singapore method) lesson every day. It takes about 15 minutes. Then we do an MEP lesson later in our school day which takes about 15 minutes. I save Miquon for when we finish a chapter in MIF. We do a week of Miquon before we start the next chapter while still doing our MEP lesson.

[RosieCotton]

 

 

Hope that helps, that's how we combine SM and Miquon! 

 

Thanks Monica!

This is supr helpful so thanks for sharing it. Great ideas. I know it's alot to work with, but after getting Singapore in my hands I knew it wasn't quite everything I wanted to do. And Miquon is the perfect addition I think. Luckily we are a math family and some days 2 hours will go by and we won't even realize it. We have so many math games now we may be doing some with the grandparents on weekends.

 

Thanks for the assist!

[happypamama]

I mainly alternate between Singapore and Miquon, using Singapore roughly three days a week and Miquon two. Sometimes we do more of one on a weeks than the other, and part of that has to do with how much time I have -- my son can do Singapore mostly on his own, but since we largely do Miquon orally, that needs me to be with him. Adding MEP was too much for me, personally, but ymmv.

[FO4UR]

I have used those 3 programs in varying degrees with my big 3 kids.  My advice after btdt is to choose MEP *or* Miquon and Singapore paired.

 

If you choose MEP, just do MEP.  It is more than enough. Use it to it's fullest.

 

 

If you choose Miquon & Singapore, use Miquon as a way to introduce and teach new concepts.  Use Singapore as a follow-up practice.  Buy a pack of sticky-notes to mark pages b/c you won't go through Singapore from front to back like this.  You might stretch a Singapore unit out over several weeks for review while learning something new in Miquon.  (Just watch the clock a bit and cut the math lesson off at about 45min if it isn't over at that point already. There is always tomorrow.  Put the sticky note in the page you are working and carry on with the day.)

 

 

There comes a point in the year when the child (and/or the teacher LOL) just simply wants to revolt over seeing the same old math books brought out (February).  MEP makes a great switch-to-for-a-time kind of math b/c it's the same basic work, but in a very different context. 

 

 

 

[Spy Car]

Thanks for the great tips Bill, and for getting back so quickly. I'm pouring over the Dairy and Lab book and reading the MEP lessons plans I already have a few good ideas. I know it will be challenging but I'm going to give it my best.

 

When all the great ideas (including your own flashes of brilliance) start percolating in your head, YOU (as the teacher/facilitator) will have so much to bring to the table. Then you can create creative activities (guided discovery) were the kids are "in the lead" at times, and step in with (deep) direct instruction at other time. Your inner-intelligence will guide you.

 

Do be ready to give names to concepts they discover. Example, my son was playing with C Rods one day (when not quite 5) and he observed "5 and 4 is the same as 4 and 5." Well I had the biggest deal ever about how he'd discovered the Commutative Law. I did not expect it to necessarily "stick" (the name I mean) the first time, but it did. And down the road we learned the importance of the Associate and Distributive Properties as well. Miquon is    the most helpful for making these axioms really easy for kids to grasp.

 

It can be really (really) fun to mix it up. Cross polinate.

 

Bill