math for 2nd grade

[Elizabeth86]

I used singapore primary mathematics for first.  At the beginning of the year I hated it and wanted nothing more to do with it.  We are almost done this year and I have grown to love it.  Here are my dislikes with this curriculum:

-we are only doing textbook and workbook for first so the other books I feel I need to try next year overwhelms me.

- I loathe the instructors guide which I haven't  used this year, but I don't  know how long I will make it not using the IG.

-I love the progress ds has made with it and I hate to change curriculum since he is doing so well.

I had planned on switching to bju math, but am still kind of clinging to singapore math.  My other thing I was wondering about was math in focus.  I only recently thought of using this curriculum.  Any thoughts on how it compares to primary mathematics?  Are there a ton of supplemental books?  Is the instructors guide better?  Better as in I love a scripted curriculum that tells me word for word what to say.  Hope I'm  clear about what I am looking for.  Any thoughts or suggestions for second grade?

 

 

[CAtoVA]

I have been using both Singapore Math Primary Standards Edition and Math in Focus along with other things for many years now. My question for you what are the "other books" you "feel you need to try next year?" And why do you feel you need to do this? Your reply to these questions will help me focus my response better : ).

 

 

[Elizabeth86]

7 minutes ago, CAtoVA said:

I have been using both Singapore Math Primary Standards Edition and Math in Focus along with other things for many years now. My question for you what are the "other books" you "feel you need to try next year?" And why do you feel you need to do this? Your reply to these questions will help me focus my response better : ).

 

 

lol well i know there is challenging word problems, extra practice, intensive practice.  I feel I need to use them because...idk they exist I guess.  This is my first kid so I just question everything I do.

[Kiara.I]

Did you want other possibilities to consider? Rightstart is scripted, and one teacher book, a workbook, and the card games book.

[Dudley]

I would not feel any pressure to use the extra books, they are there is your child needs more practice, I’ve only use a couple over the many years I’ve used the program with several kids. 

At some point the teacher guide becomes helpful to understand the different way this program does math. (Maybe as early as 3rd , but definitely by 5th) I’ve never used them to actually teach, but when I got confused by the bar diagrams and what the point was I consulted them Or to get a better understanding of the way they were teaching mental math. 

Im strong in math so honestly at some point I stopped using the textbook too and just used the workbook, but I believe the textbook would get you most of the content if you use manipulatives regularly and go from concrete to diagram to abstract as they expect. But if you struggle to teach/understand math AND you can’t stand the guide then .... well...

So if you are willing at some point to learn the bar diagrams, mental math, and can work with manipulative and can support reinforcing /memorizing facts , I would say stick with it. Cuz it’s a great program And it is working for you 

 

[CAtoVA]

What Dudley said : ).  Anyway, it's true, I LOVE Singapore math but you don't *need* the extra books. I do have many of them for whatever level I am teaching but I tend to pick them up at curriculum or library book sales for around $1.00-$3.00 so if they only get used partially it's no big deal. I have books like Intensive Practice, Topical Problem Solving, and Extra Practice.

As far as HIG's go, they can be helpful with Singapore Primary for the reasons Dudley mentioned. I have the Standards HIG for every level I have used so far that has a HIG (1st-4th) but I don't use  them a lot. But, then again, I'm strong in math and love the subject, so that helps, lol. Earlybird K does not have a HIG. I have used Math in Focus 1st, 2nd and 5th so far and the only TG I have is for the 2nd grade. It's a big TG like a school teacher would use; I don't know if they make a Math in Focus HOME study guide. It has been helpful but it also is geared toward a school setting so lots of adjusting is necessary. There really isn't a script to follow in the MIF TM  like you might find in Rightstart Math and the teacher guidance is buried under all the "schooly" things you would need to do in a school setting. I only used it the first time through of teaching MIF 2nd grade.

Definitely you will need manipulatives to teach 2nd grade math and the Standards HIG's do discuss what you would need and show a bit about how to use them. You also might want to search on teacherpayteachers and pinterest for additional help in teaching specific primary grades math topics with manipulatives.

The difference between MIF and Standards primary seems to be in color, brightness and bling. One of my kiddos found the MIF textbook distracting due to the "busy" pages and preferred the more cartoony but seemingly simpler Standards textbooks. The workbooks are similar (b & w) but there are "thinking cap" type of puzzler questions every chapter in the MIF workbooks that Standards doesn't have. These are application, analysis, synthesis type of questions/problems. My 1st grader loves the MIF workbook but my now 4th grader didn't really enjoy it. There are a lot of problems per page/lesson in the MIF workbook so sometimes I would break the work in pieces and do it over days.

What I have found to be the most fun and helpful as a supplement to Singapore Math is Beast Academy https://beastacademy.com/. They just added 2A and 2B and I have used 3A-3D and am now using the 2nd grade books and the 4th grade books with two of my kiddos.I love these books for challenging problems, different ways to approach what is being learned from Singapore, and for reinforcement of skills. Some people use the books a grade behind but I find that if I pick and choose carefully I can still use a book at the same grade level as my child. That doesn't mean I don't revisit some topics I may have skipped, because I do that too.

Another series I find particularly useful is Fan Math because it breaks down the Singapore way of problem solving (bar models, part to part, etc.) and provides lots of extra practice solving problems this way https://www.rainbowresource.com/product/sku/003959. If I had to choose between using the Singapore "extra books" and using Beast Academy and Fan Math as "extras" I would choose Beast and Fan Math.

 

[CAtoVA]

Oh and another general thing... in regard to whether you should switch mathematics programs or not. As Dudley said, if it is working for your son (as in, he is learning and enjoying it) you may not want to change unless you find Singapore simply unbearable or too confusing to teach well.

Singapore is just such a powerful program—it has given my children the tools to really understand math and the confidence to solve a variety of problems. They don't rely on memorizing because math makes sense to them and the memorizing (aside from things like facts) comes naturally. Even with facts they know how to break them apart and apply strategies if a fact is temporarily "forgotten" such as 8 x 7, etc. This gives even my littlest a feeling of control over her math knowledge. She knows she can "work it out" even if she doesn't get something right away. My oldest DS went to school for 3 years and the math he was taught was so inferior to Singapore methodology. I was so happy to have him back home two years ago and back to the Singapore "way." Even though he is taking Algebra 1 now and not using Singapore as a textbook, he still uses many of their methodologies.

[david5329]

We used Singapore math intensive practice and felt that is the right level for us, some basic exercise and some more challenging problems.

[Sarah0000]

I use Singapore as my primary scope and sequence. We use the textbook primarily orally, especially before 3b. I use education unboxed instead of the HIG and BA instead of the workbook. We use Process Skills and CWP a level behind and just do a couple problems a day when he's taking a break from BA.

[YodaGirl]

We've used Math in Focus since my oldest (rising 6th grader) was in 1st.  She'd used it in public school K, so we just continued. 

When we first started, I bought the TE, textbooks, workbooks, extra practice books, reteach workbooks, enrichment books, and the assessment book.  Reteach, extra practice, and enrichment were totally not necessary.  There are so many free resources out there for additional practice, that I just couldn't justify the money when the books largely went unused. I tried buying the home school kit with just the answer key one year, and I found myself missing the TE.  I do like the assessment books, although I wouldn't say they're necedsary, either. 

The TE has a pretty good script, and I've found the lessons to be pretty easy to adapt to my kids' needs.

I haven't used primary, so I can't give you a comparison. We've been pretty happy with MiF, though.