Rod and Staff math, how do you use it?

[KeriJ]

Do you go over the lesson or have them do it independently?  Do you have them work through the class practice and all the written exercises?  if not,  how much do you assign? 

 

It's our first year using it (6th grade), and I'm trying to get a feel for how it will flow.

[Lang Syne Boardie]

I use it this way:

 

1. Look over the teacher's manual for any useful teaching tips

2. Do the mental drill/review with the student

3. Teach the lesson, standing together at the chalkboard

4. Let him do a few problems from each section of "class practice" (chalkboard) so I can tell if he understands the concepts

5. Assign the written exercises

6. Grade/check

7. Let him redo missed problems on the chalkboard.

[2_girls_mommy]

When the kids were little I did it as written for a classroom.  I had materials prepared before: little games and posters and manipulatives and # charts and clocks exactly as the teacher book laid out. I taught the lesson, did the activities, did all oral drill, gave the speed drills, and then assigned the class practice.

 

But as my kids have grown we don't need to do all of that anymore. My 7th grader (working out of the 6th grade book currently) and I open her book together. She reads through the lesson.  If she doesn't understand it we stop and I work through it with her using a whiteboard or any manipulatives necessary. The speed drills and such stressed her out from an early age.  So I don't use them much.  Occasionally when I feel we need to spend some time on drills again, I will give them for a short period or we will use an online drill site or game somewhere. I rarely do the oral drill from the Teacher's manual anymore, but we do the class practices together so that I know she understands the lesson. Then she does the evens or the odds of the lesson on her own. I do really like the oral practice from the teacher's book.  I always like when we take the time to do that as it reviews what is coming up in the lesson and the review for that day. Sometimes midway through a year and into new material I will feel it is necessary.

 

My current 9th grader finished book 8 about halfway through her 8th grade year. By that time, I didn't spend time with her very often at all.  She had used Rod and Staff from the beginning, and over her last couple of years with it, she worked pretty much independently and was successful with it. I always graded and worked through the review at the end of the chapters to make sure she had mastered the chapter before taking a test (for test practice) and moving on to the next chapter.

 

 

[Zoo Keeper]

For 6th grade (and 7th, and 8th):

1. do the oral drill or mental math part ( about 5 min.);
2. teach the new concept using the TM and a whiteboard, ( about 10 min.);
3. do half (ish) the class practice exercises (in the student book) together, to model the concept ( about 5 min.);
4. have student do the other half (ish)  independently, to see if he really does get it ( another 5 min.);
5. assign odds or evens in lesson.  The TM says the problems are in pairs, so odds or even only is fine to get all the concepts and review for a lesson. Doing half the R&S lesson also allows more time to supplement with something else if needed. One of my kids is mathy and needed more variety and challenge (I added CWP books), but another child didn't supplement at all except when it came to algebra topics and then we added in some of the Key to Algebra books.

I don't do the quizzes, but I do use the tests. I also spread the review lessons over two days (odds one day, evens the next) if it has been a rough chapter.

 

I have found that R&S makes a great base to build from in math. 

Edited August 3, 2016 by Zoo Keeper

[2_girls_mommy]

We do the reviews over two days too, then sometimes another day if it didn't go well to correct it and go back over anything not understood before moving on.

[mama25angels]

We do similar to zookeeper and 2girls mommy. I do

 

Oral drills

We do the class practice together

ALL of the new lesson exercises

Evens or odds of review exercises

Quizzes and tests

[SilverMoon]

It depended on the kid. My responses are specifically aimed at the 6 book.

 

DC who struggled with math:

-oral teacher presentation from the TM
-read the student text instructions together

-do class problems to make sure he understood what he was doing

-put him at elbow to work on the rest of the lessons on his own, I kept an eye on him and scanned to make sure he was getting it

-he did every problem of every lesson and every problem of every review, AND every drill and test in the extra booklets, occasionally we repeated entire chapters too

 

DC who very strongly preferred independent learning and truly enjoys math:

-hand her the book

-get out of her way

-she was really good about coming to me if she really did need help understanding the new concept, and didn't hesitate to redo an entire lesson if she did it wrong (sounds odd, I know, but she really did just learn better this way)

-got away with just doing odds on the easier chapters, as long as her chapter review scores stayed high I didn't care

-did the extra drills for fun

 

Younger, advanced kiddo who was born speaking math's language:

-hand him the book with instructions to put the class problems on a white board

-he had to show me the class problems to demonstrate understanding before setting him loose on the lesson

-he was doing odds unless the material was challenging, and we were nearly all whiteboard by that point (he got so far ahead I ended up switching him to a workbook course instead)

-did some of the extra drills and tests

[ALB]

My kids wake up early and do their assigned lesson on their own, which I have taught the day before.  For example, yesterday I taught my ds lesson 149 of the 3rd grade book, and today he did the exercises for lesson 149.  I checked his work, went over any problems, then taught lesson 150.  Tomorrow morning he will do 150 on his own.

 

My dd, who is finishing the 5th grade book this week, does it the same way.  She does the assigned lesson plus any drill on her own, but she also checks her own work.  She uses a red pen to circle any that are wrong, then re-works those next to the wrong answer (so I can see both).  Later, I glance at what she missed to see if we need to discuss any of it, then teach the next day's lesson.

 

I use the oral drill from the TM, and usually introduce new topics the way the TM suggests, but we also refer to the lesson in the student book.  Usually the explanation is very clear and thorough right there in the lesson.  

 

IMO, one reason NOT to make math entirely independent is that before long I would have trouble knowing what she is struggling with if I wasn't reading the lessons daily.  Even though 5/6th grade math is pretty simple, its been many years since I did some of those specific types of problems.  I like staying fresh and current with the material, and taking a few minutes to go over the lessons together accomplishes that for me.

[Ellie]

Do you go over the lesson or have them do it independently?  Do you have them work through the class practice and all the written exercises?  if not,  how much do you assign? 

 

It's our first year using it (6th grade), and I'm trying to get a feel for how it will flow.

 

The scripted lessons in the teacher manual are optional. Everything that is in them is also in the student text. A student who is pretty math proficient should be able to work pretty independently, although some children will appreciate the warm fuzzy face time. :-)

 

I would do the class practice only if it's a new concept, or if I knew my dc was not really confident. Written exercises: Even/odds. All of the word problems, always. Review exercises: All of them.

[2_girls_mommy]

Oh yes, we do all of the word problems every day, even when we only work the evens or odds. I forgot that part too. :)

[KeriJ]

Thanks everyone.  This helped me. :)

[Emba]

We are doing rod and staff too this year, so this has been very helpful to me too.

[KeriJ]

I'm leaning towards doing the class practice together, assigning evens/odds for written, all word problems, and all review.

[Ellie]

I'm leaning towards doing the class practice together, assigning evens/odds for written, all word problems, and all review.

 

:thumbup: