madteaparty Posted November 23, 2015 Share Posted November 23, 2015 (edited) I was looking at my relative's math textbook (public school, 5th grade) and every single chapter had "algebra" by way of description. As in "inequalities--algebra". I was actually pretty impressed with the level of math being taught in 5th grade... Edited November 23, 2015 by madteaparty Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jean in Newcastle Posted November 23, 2015 Share Posted November 23, 2015 What used to be just missing numbers in operations ( like 8 + ____ = 10) is often called algebraic thinking now. I'm sure it applies to many other things (like inequalities) as well. 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SKL Posted November 23, 2015 Share Posted November 23, 2015 My sister told me her kid's KG curriculum includes "algebra." Yeah, that's what they are calling fill-in-the-blank now. :) I do agree that math skills are being taught earlier now, but not that much earlier. ;) 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellie Posted November 23, 2015 Share Posted November 23, 2015 The problem is that schools are not teaching basic arithmetic, which is necessary to be successful with algebra. TPTB think that by teaching algebra earlier, children will do better in math. So far, in over 20 years of doing that, the results have not proven that theory to be true. Often, publishers label something as "algebra," which makes the state departments of education happy, but there's actually only a teeny tiny bit of algebra touched on just once in the whole text. :thumbdown: 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wapiti Posted November 23, 2015 Share Posted November 23, 2015 (edited) My beef is the attempt by CC to redefine what has been the relatively standard scope of "algebra 1" for 40-something years, with half of that now in CC8. This will make it much more difficult for advanced students to get to calc in high school if they don't have support at their school for accelerated CC7 or the compressed alg 2/precalc that is recommended by CC but the compressed course apparently isn't going well from the little bits that I've read. It also makes discussion about this confusing. I wish they had named CC8 more appropriately, such as algebra 1A, or some other indication. On the one hand, there's arguing for and against whether algebra 1 should be standard for 8th graders, and "research" that it doesn't work for some large chunk (i think that's debatable and depends much on quality of prior instruction) so we must delay algebra 1 until 9th, but then half of algebra 1 was moved to 8th anyway, even though it isn't called that. My other beef is the addition of stats topics sprinkled throughout all levels. It was unnecessary to totally mess up the usual middle and high school sequences such that calc is off the table for so many students; instead there could have been a semester required course in stats in high school, when the concepts could be pulled together in a more mature context and learned more thoroughly (IMO) without interrupting the path to calc. (I could go further and suggest that if the path to calc was much faster, a calc-based real stats class could be offered, which would be far more robust than "stats".) Edited November 23, 2015 by wapiti 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ray Posted November 23, 2015 Share Posted November 23, 2015 Hi, can you post the name of the 5th grade text used in your post? Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madteaparty Posted November 23, 2015 Author Share Posted November 23, 2015 Hi, can you post the name of the 5th grade text used in your post? ThanksI can't. I was an out of town house guest and I snooped on the math textbook :) as I tend to do (not really snooped--I asked because I thought it was the older child's book). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arcadia Posted November 23, 2015 Share Posted November 23, 2015 (edited) Algebra as a "domain" is very broad. Kindergarten kids had find the unknown variable in their math workbooks before common core. They just use triangles, squares, circles instead of x as the unknown. My other beef is the addition of stats topics sprinkled throughout all levels.Stats topics was in California's 1997 math standards. I guess it is due to stats being included in SAT and ACT tests. ETA: For the OP From California's K common core standards "Operations and Algebraic Thinking ï¬ Understand addition as putting together and adding to, and understand subtraction as taking apart and taking from." Edited November 23, 2015 by Arcadia 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kateingr Posted November 23, 2015 Share Posted November 23, 2015 There have been a couple different shifts on this in recent years. The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Principles and Standards for School Mathematics came out in 2000. It emphasized including all five of the major strands of mathematics in elementary school: number and operations, geometry, measurement, algebraic thinking, and data analysis and probability. Since it was the most-influential set of standards in use, publishers aligned textbooks to it and made sure to label where the strands were so that curriculum committees could easily see it. (You can read a summary of these standards here.) In the curriculum that I worked on in 2004, we were always looking for ways to incorporate algebra and data to add more content to these strands. But one of the main complaints about these standards was that they resulted in programs that were a mile wide and an inch deep--everything was covered superficially, and number and operations didn't get enough time. In response, the Common Core standards were created to be much more focused. Taking a quick glance, I don't see anything specifically algebraic until fourth grade. There's still a little data in the younger grades, but it gets a lot less emphasis under Common Core standards than it used to. So a lot of the differences between school-oriented programs have to do with when they were published, and which standards were most influential at the time. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tsuga Posted November 23, 2015 Share Posted November 23, 2015 I live in a bubble of sanity. We have common core. Fifth graders do not learn algebra except in the gifted program. We do not have CC8. We have K through 5 or 6 math, then pre-algebra, then algebra, then geometry, then algebra II, then trig, then Calc. If you are in pre-algebra in 6th you get to Calc II and if you are in the gifted program, there are Stem engineering vs other tracks starting in 11th. Nobody is doing pre-algebra or algebra in 5th unless, you know, it's actually algebra. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tsuga Posted November 23, 2015 Share Posted November 23, 2015 We do have as Jean said, "missing number operations" and "critical thinking" but it is not called algebra. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tsuga Posted November 23, 2015 Share Posted November 23, 2015 Oh, and they learn basic arithmetic and math facts as well. They first do concepts then do speed drills at the end of the units to hammer it home and encourage fluency before moving on. I know, it's basically like living in some kind of weird educational Bizarro world in which things actually work. Not perfectly, but mostly. Between this and the whole "my kids have to learn to write paragraphs in kindergarten" posts, I either am delusional or I can never leave this area. And it's not just my fancy town. My nephew attends a below average rural school and he also is on the same pace as my kids. Teachers are not insane and they get two recesses. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Library Momma Posted November 23, 2015 Share Posted November 23, 2015 Oh, and they learn basic arithmetic and math facts as well. They first do concepts then do speed drills at the end of the units to hammer it home and encourage fluency before moving on. I know, it's basically like living in some kind of weird educational Bizarro world in which things actually work. Not perfectly, but mostly. Between this and the whole "my kids have to learn to write paragraphs in kindergarten" posts, I either am delusional or I can never leave this area. And it's not just my fancy town. My nephew attends a below average rural school and he also is on the same pace as my kids. Teachers are not insane and they get two recesses. Things are the same here and I think I live on the opposite coast from you. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ray Posted November 23, 2015 Share Posted November 23, 2015 (edited) I can't. I was an out of town house guest and I snooped on the math textbook :) as I tend to do (not really snooped--I asked because I thought it was the older child's book). Around here the trend is away from physical books which makes sating my curiosity about other math books hard. My Snooping opportunities lie mostly online but it helps to have a title for starting point. Thanks though. Edited November 23, 2015 by Ray Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tsuga Posted November 23, 2015 Share Posted November 23, 2015 Things are the same here and I think I live on the opposite coast from you. That's very comforting to hear. Sometimes I worry... What if we did have to move? Does anyone else teach arithmetic? It all sounds so dire. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SKL Posted November 23, 2015 Share Posted November 23, 2015 I think as teachers get more familiar with the newer programs, learning happens more. My kids' school started Singapore Math the year my kids were in 1st grade. The teacher just walked the kids through the workbook at some generic pace, tested them, and moved on to the next chapter. It was fine for kids who get everything the first time around. It was a disaster for others. But in the past couple years, the teachers have been better about going over stuff and making sure there is understanding before moving on. I still would like to see more review for the kids who forget stuff before it comes up again next year. I have to do that at home. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fourisenough Posted November 23, 2015 Share Posted November 23, 2015 Things are the same here and I think I live on the opposite coast from you.Another vote for a sane approach to math where I live. And I'm on neither coast! School math doesn't look any/much different than what I'm teaching my kids at home via Math Mammoth. The neighborhood kids, who we know well, have both solid conceptual understanding & fact fluency. I know because they love playing math games at our house. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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