Primary Math IP and CWP?

[Spring Flower]

What is the difference between the Intensive Practice books and the Challenging Word Problems books? Is one more rigorous than the other? Is there any advantage to using both books?

[matrips]

CWP is all word problems, and lots of examples of how to do them. IP has word problems and regular calculation type stuff, but at a definite step up from the textbook and workbook. They can be interesting and tricky, usually requiring more thought than the workbook. We use them all. Text and workbook first. Then after a month or so, I slowly add in IP and CWP. But in the past we also used them a semester and sometimes even a year behind. I like them to get regular practice, but these two books tell me whether they really understand what they are doing and can apply it. I've tried to decide which one I've liked better so we could only do one, but four years later, I'm still using both.

[Gil]

So...how does Singapore work? If you wanted to do the full Singapore program for a grade what are all of the components. Are there seriously a minimum of 4 books per grade and a maximum of 8 books per grade?

Text book A
Text book B
Workbook A
Workbook B

Intensive Practice A
Intensive Practice B
Extra Practice

Challenging Word Problems

 

Does anyone use all of the Singapore math books for a grade? Has anyone used all of the books for a grade at some point?

[grantmeawish]

I have used all the books do far. I break math up into 2 30 min sessions a day. The first half we do TB and WB. The 2nd half we do CWP. After each unit we do the IP unit for both sessions and then move on to the next unit in TB and then continu the Alternating TB and CWP. We don't do all the problems in IP if it is something my ds doesn't need practice with but we at least do every other one. Hope that made sense!

[Nart]

So...how does Singapore work? If you wanted to do the full Singapore program for a grade what are all of the components. Are there seriously a minimum of 4 books per grade and a maximum of 8 books per grade?

Text book A

Text book B

Workbook A

Workbook B

Intensive Practice A

Intensive Practice B

Extra Practice

Challenging Word Problems

 

Does anyone use all of the Singapore math books for a grade? Has anyone used all of the books for a grade at some point?

Believe it or not there are two other books you didn't list- Test book A and Test book B. I don't think they are worth the money.

[Spring Flower]

So are IP and CWP similar in level of difficulty?  The difference is that CWP is all word problems and IP isn't? 

[Spring Flower]

So...how does Singapore work? If you wanted to do the full Singapore program for a grade what are all of the components. Are there seriously a minimum of 4 books per grade and a maximum of 8 books per grade?

Text book A

Text book B

Workbook A

Workbook B

Intensive Practice A

Intensive Practice B

Extra Practice

Challenging Word Problems

 

Does anyone use all of the Singapore math books for a grade? Has anyone used all of the books for a grade at some point?

 

I'm also interested in hearing from people who have used ALL of the books in one grade. 

[rebbyribs]

Believe it or not there are two other books you didn't list- Test book A and Test book B. I don't think they are worth the money.

 

And there are also the Home Instructor Guides.

[matrips]

We have never used Extra practice or the tests. The IP gives extra practice, but at an elevated level. If a child is struggling with the concepts in the text and workbook, I'd probably go with the EP instead of the IP. Both would really be overkill in my opinion. Unless you do the IP later, like during the summer or something. So my kids do seven of the books each year. It's keeps us plenty busy!

 

So...how does Singapore work? If you wanted to do the full Singapore program for a grade what are all of the components. Are there seriously a minimum of 4 books per grade and a maximum of 8 books per grade?

Text book A

Text book B

Workbook A

Workbook B

Intensive Practice A

Intensive Practice B

Extra Practice

Challenging Word Problems

 

Does anyone use all of the Singapore math books for a grade? Has anyone used all of the books for a grade at some point?

[matrips]

I would say the IP is a harder version of the Extra Practice. CWP is probably the hardest, but I don't think of IP and CWP as interchangeable or as substitutes for each other. Just my opinion after 4+ years of Singapore.

 

So are IP and CWP similar in level of difficulty? The difference is that CWP is all word problems and IP isn't?

[Spring Flower]

I would say the IP is a harder version of the Extra Practice. CWP is probably the hardest, but I don't think of IP and CWP as interchangeable or as substitutes for each other. Just my opinion after 4+ years of Singapore.

 

 

So if I wanted to add a challenge for my kids would I need both books? If you had to choose 1 would it be CWP?

[madteaparty]

So...how does Singapore work? If you wanted to do the full Singapore program for a grade what are all of the components. Are there seriously a minimum of 4 books per grade and a maximum of 8 books per grade?

Text book A

Text book B

Workbook A

Workbook B

Intensive Practice A

Intensive Practice B

Extra Practice

Challenging Word Problems

 

Does anyone use all of the Singapore math books for a grade? Has anyone used all of the books for a grade at some point

In our experience, it takes very little time to go through the workbook and textbook. The IP and CWP are where the meat is. We do these a year behind.

[redsquirrel]

I haven't used the 'extra' books. When I started homeschooling I didn't know they existed. I was given a set of SM 1-6 textbooks (they are 3rd edition, so not 'americanized') and told to buy the workbooks. In about 4th grade I learned about the HIGs here and I got those.

 

I did use Miquon with SM for years 1-3, but that dropped off in 4th grade for no particular reason.  DS1 has done very well in math with just the 'main' SM books.

 

With ds2 we have added in BA in third grade. I haven't felt the need to add in IP or CWPs.

 

I should add that my kids are easy to teach. They seem to grasp math quickly and move along at a good pace. If I thought for a moment they needed extra practice or work in memorization I would pull in whatever I needed. I have used xtra math and times attack and flash cards etc to help with multiplication fluency etc. My younger son enjoys the added challenge of BA and sees it as a treat.

[mamamindy]

So if I wanted to add a challenge for my kids would I need both books? If you had to choose 1 would it be CWP?

If I had to choose one I would choose CWP since I have found (in our limited experience of using SM for 2 years) that more word problems are needed.  Or it may be that my girls need more word problems to really challenge them.  Either way, it's what I prefer if I had to choose one.  However, I don't start using them until SM 2.  That is when I add in IP and CWP from the 1st level.  A year behind.  Make sense?

[Spring Flower]

If I had to choose one I would choose CWP since I have found (in our limited experience of using SM for 2 years) that more word problems are needed.  Or it may be that my girls need more word problems to really challenge them.  Either way, it's what I prefer if I had to choose one.  However, I don't start using them until SM 2.  That is when I add in IP and CWP from the 1st level.  A year behind.  Make sense?

 

:thumbup1:

[Crimson Wife]

To supplement Math Mammoth as a spine, I would just get CWP and/or IP.

 

If someone were interested in switching spines from MM, he/she would need at minimum the textbook and workbook. Some bright kids skip the workbook and just use CWP and IP instead. Bill (SpyCar) will doubtlessly be on here soon to offer up his usual rant about how that's such a terrible idea, yadda, yadda, yadda. However, there is no extra instruction in the workbook, only additional problems that are easier than the ones in the textbook. So YMMV on whether your child needs the grade-level practice or kicking it up a notch in difficulty by using the IP on-level instead.

[Spring Flower]

Some bright kids skip the workbook and just use CWP and IP instead. 

 

This is what I was thinking of doing, actually. The workbook feels like busy work but I don't just want to plow through it and move onto the next level. I'd rather go deeper. I think that the textbook + workbook + IP + CWP seems like too much. I'd like to cut one of them out and I am leaning toward either the workbook or the IP. 

[bensonduck]

The thing that's tricky about the ip book is that the practice is broken up chapter by chapter, not lesson by lesson. I feel like my student needs to complete the whole chapter before beginning the ip pages. So on a day to day basis when teaching a new lesson, I like the workbook as a source of some basic practice problems for my student on each sub topic. I generally agree that the ip and cwp are the more interesting, meatier portions of the program though.

[Roadrunner]

We use textbook, IP and CWP. We find workbooks to be too easy and not necessary given the amount of problems in the textbook. We also have Preocess Skills book.

[Spring Flower]

We find workbooks to be too easy and not necessary given the amount of problems in the textbook. 

 

This is how I am feeling as well. There seems to be more than enough practice in the textbook. I'd rather skip the workbook and do IP and CWP instead, at least for now. 

[mamamindy]

This is what I was thinking of doing, actually. The workbook feels like busy work but I don't just want to plow through it and move onto the next level. I'd rather go deeper. I think that the textbook + workbook + IP + CWP seems like too much. I'd like to cut one of them out and I am leaning toward either the workbook or the IP. 

I agree with you, but for us, doing the WB (independently) later (the next day) gives me an assessment of sort of how well the material sunk in.  I don't want to give my child busywork either, but I think that practicing math isn't really busy work.  Then we can incorporate the CWP/IP on it's own on another day - say, once you've completed a chapter.  We do this on Fridays usually.  However, I wouldn't say my DD1 is advanced in math.  Average, doing well, but not extremely "mathy".

[matrips]

You can always try it. I tried skipping the workbook this year, and ended up buying them a few weeks in. I hadn't anticipated any struggles with doing the IP as their practice, but I found mine benefitted from the really simple practices first to cement the concepts.

[petepie2]

Since the Extra Practice book was mentioned, can someone tell me if it is arranged by chapters like Intensive Practice?

[kbutton]

We use the TB, IP, and sometimes the CWP. My son is a SLOW worker who is good at going deeper. "More" but not as deep means he goes on auto-pilot. "More" also means we get behind. So, we've really whittled it down to those books, and it's been working pretty well. We do the IP and CWP on level.

 

[Gil]

So...the full (or Deluxe) Singapore Primary Mathematics Package is composed of 11 books...PER GRADE?! Grades 1-6?

 

Home Instructors Guide

Text book A
Text book B
Workbook A
Workbook B

Test book A

Test book B

Intensive Practice A
Intensive Practice B
Extra Practice

Challenging Word Problems

 

11 books?! Really? I know that Asian countries are depicted as encouraging hard core study and lots and lots and lots of math practice--even outside of the classroom but c'mon! 11 Books per grade?! Do they not put many problems in each book? How do you know where/when to switch to the other books?!

 

[Nart]

Actually 12 since there is Home Instructor's Guide A and Home Instructor's Guide B.

[Gil]

Actually 12 since there is Home Instructor's Guide A and Home Instructor's Guide B.

:svengo: :svengo: :svengo:

Edited to add:

I can't imagine using 72 different books for elementary math! It boggles my mind!

[Crimson Wife]

NOBODY does all of the Singapore Math books. MOST HSers just use the textbook, workbook, and HIG. In a classroom situation, the teacher would add the tests (since she doesn't know how each individual student is doing on a daily basis) and swap out the TM for the HIG.

 

A student who needs the EP book shouldn't be doing the IP, and vice versa. EP is designed for struggling students, and IP is designed for bright students who need more challenging material. An average student might do the IP from a lower grade, but most HSing families don't use them at all.

 

Singapore chooses to break up the textbooks and workbooks into semesters rather than having one big full-year textbook & workbook. Someone on another thread speculated that this might be because most kids in Singapore walk to school, so having smaller books makes them easier to carry.

[Dana]

NOBODY does all of the Singapore Math books. MOST HSers just use the textbook, workbook, and HIG. .

Or very few people do :)

 

We used Standards. Text, WB, IP, CWP, iExcel, sometimes tests, sometimes extra practice.

 

I also got the HiG...despite having a masters in math and teaching at the cc for years, I like some of the additional suggestions and explanations.

 

I also used Miquon in 1 st and 2nd grades.

 

The extra practice book didn't give enough extra practice. That's when I moved to the tests and just used pages from it when ds needed extra work. I also sometimes used spectrum workbooks for extra drill.

 

If I could only use one extra, it would be IP. With two, IP and CWP.

 

I think Singapore did an excellent job of giving ds a solid foundation.

I also see many many students who are weak from not really mastering arithmetic, so I made sure we put in enough time that ds was very solid on his basics.