FAN Math Process Skills vs Challenging Word Problems

[mathmarm]

How do these 2 series compare?
Does anybody own both? If so do you feel it necessary to use both?

Are CWP harder than the problems given in FAN-Math? Does it make sense to follow FAN-Math 1 with CWP 1 as an extension are or are you repeating the material at roughly the same level?

I love that FAN Math includes a guided lesson and helps kids to break down the word problems as well as organize their thinking, but I hate how few problems there are in each book (usually 12 per chapter, sometimes only 8).

[HomeAgain]

I had never heard of FAN, but thank you.  I went and looked it up on CBD and that seems absolutely perfect for a kid I know.

[madteaparty]

I don’t really know how to compare but I have and use them both. And yes I find *I* need them both, DD may not 😂. There’s far more problems in CWP than in FAN. I’m not mathy, and I’m afterschooling a kid that has a pretty long day... I find FAN a bit more...digestible? slightly easier? We just started 3 in FAN with my 2nd grader and I can tell you we are still very much in CWP2. So FAN gives me a feeling of actually having done something, bc we finished a book 😂 

 

[mathmarm]

1 hour ago, HomeAgain said:

I had never heard of FAN, but thank you.  I went and looked it up on CBD and that seems absolutely perfect for a kid I know.

You might also like the Kumon word problem books.

 

47 minutes ago, madteaparty said:

I don’t really know how to compare but I have and use them both. And yes I find *I* need them both, DD may not 😂. There’s far more problems in CWP than in FAN. I’m not mathy, and I’m afterschooling a kid that has a pretty long day... I find FAN a bit more...digestible? slightly easier? We just started 3 in FAN with my 2nd grader and I can tell you we are still very much in CWP2. So FAN gives me a feeling of actually having done something, bc we finished a book 😂 

 

Thanks! I may pick up CWP 1 just to give it a whirl, and if that works, then we'll continue with a combination of FAN + Kumon and use CWP as a chaser.

[madteaparty]

33 minutes ago, mathmarm said:

You might also like the Kumon word problem books.

 

Thanks! I may pick up CWP 1 just to give it a whirl, and if that works, then we'll continue with a combination of FAN + Kumon and use CWP as a chaser.

Yes for someone with your username 😉 I’d consider the FAN optional fun and definitely use CWP and IP. I use FAN math to make me feel good for the dismal math education I’m giving my children 😂

[desertflower]

I use both or just FAN PS. I find that FAN PS explains the problems in the CWP book. I do find that the problems in CWP are harder than in FAN PS. we do skip the first set of questions in each chapter in the CWP book. Those seem too easy. We do the second set.

[MistyMountain]

FAN math gives more explicit instruction on how to do a problem but has less problems overall. So they both can be used if you want explicit instruction and practice.

[SoCal_Bear]

Each CWP is about 200 pages long. So literally 100s of problems in those books. I don't think you will feel as if you will run out of problems. Each topic has two sections. One is on level with the level it corresponds to in SM and the second section is much more challenging. The word problems that show up in SM's TB/WB are too easy IMO. The CWP book makes you have to think and work harder at it. There are a couple of worked examples before each section. Other than that, there is no instruction in the CWP book.

Fan Math is good if you need explicit instruction on the problem solving strategies being used. It's not necessary if you can figure it out from the examples and teach your child from that.

[Sarah0000]

I've used both in the past. I prefer FAN for my child who does not write anything down except the final answer. He's only 7 so it's not a big deal but I like to give him practice at showing his answer occasionally. FAN, at least in the first two levels, has fill in the blanks spaces at the beginning of each section to write out the problem with a bar model, standard arithmetic sentence, and number bond model.

However, CWP has better, more challenging problems with greater breadth. I'm thinking of doing every FAN book because they are short and maybe doing every other CWP for the rest of elementary.

[Farrar]

In the early grades, I don't know that there's much difference overall. By fourth grade, I found the wording for a lot of the CWP problems really confusing. They're not written in a way that made any sense to me, honestly. My kids and I both found it difficult to understand what was even being asked. Not in every problem - but in enough to be annoying. In that sense, I liked the FAN books better. But this may just be a personal preference. I haven't seen a lot of people make that complaint. The added instruction in the FAN books is nice too, especially if you're using it with a program that isn't Singapore. The CWP assumes you're using it with Singapore so you don't need as much explicit teaching in the strategies.

Unless you have a kid who is really in need of a challenge, I'd assume that the problems in FAN would be plenty. They're not expensive, so using both would also be totally fine and make sense, especially if you wanted to have a larger bank to work from and not have to worry about solving every single one or wanted to be able to go back and forth with a buddy math teaching method or something.

Edited March 25, 2019 by Farrar

[kbutton]

14 hours ago, Farrar said:

In the early grades, I don't know that there's much difference overall. By fourth grade, I found the wording for a lot of the CWP problems really confusing. They're not written in a way that made any sense to me, honestly. My kids and I both found it difficult to understand what was even being asked. Not in every problem - but in enough to be annoying. In that sense, I liked the FAN books better. But this may just be a personal preference. I haven't seen a lot of people make that complaint. The added instruction in the FAN books is nice too, especially if you're using it with a program that isn't Singapore. The CWP assumes you're using it with Singapore so you don't need as much explicit teaching in the strategies.

Unless you have a kid who is really in need of a challenge, I'd assume that the problems in FAN would be plenty. They're not expensive, so using both would also be totally fine and make sense, especially if you wanted to have a larger bank to work from and not have to worry about solving every single one or wanted to be able to go back and forth with a buddy math teaching method or something.

I am not that big of a fan of the CWP either.

We did use some FAN math books, and we used the Intensive Practice books. I felt like the IP books offered enough of the challenging word problems to stop buying the CWP books. We used the US Edition of Singapore Primary Mathematics, for reference. 

If you've not looked at the IP books, they have word problems, but they also have some exercises that sort of extend the concepts taught in the TB. I don't remember how cost compares, but I think the CWP books are for the whole grade level, and IP books two per grade level.

I had one kiddo that thrived on the IP books (they really fueled his math intuition and shored up his confidence--we used it in place of the WB for him) and one that really didn't think that way. He could do the exercises, but they didn't turn on any additional lights.