Implementing Math Mammoth Blue

[Condessa]

The sample pages of the Math Mammoth blue series only show single pages from different points in the books.  Is each section only one page, or longer?  How do you schedule out assignments for these books?  How much is reasonable to expect a child to complete in a day?

I'm getting these to work on filling in gaps with my foster girls.  My other elementary kids do Beast Academy Online and are assigned two sections per day.  My foster girls really want to also do BA, because it looks so fun, but are in need of explicit instruction in some foundational areas.  My foster daughter who has been here since April has a BA account and really wants to do it, but it is very challenging for her and she needs lots of help with it.  I thought maybe I could give them an option, something like either 1)complete (insert one reasonable school day's worth of Math Mammoth here) or 2)complete (insert half the prior amount) and one section of Beast Academy.  That way they will be making daily progress on the work they really need in MM, but can also have the fun and challenge of BA if they want it without having to struggle with it if they are frustrated.

[Condessa]

9 minutes ago, kand said:

We use Light Blue, not Blue, but my understanding is they are the same pages in a different order. If so, we find two pages is typical most days. Sometimes, depending on kid or specific pages being particularly problem heavy, I will circle the problems I want done, and skip some.

 

Thanks

[Condessa]

9 hours ago, kand said:

Reading more carefully, in your particular scenario, since I also have used Beast Academy online, I would say either two pages of Math Mammoth, or one page of MM and then Beast Academy online would be appropriate.

I appreciate your help.  I can't buy the curriculum until our school funds come in, and at that point I'll already be in to teaching time and won't have a lot of time to spend on prep, so I'm trying to plan and schedule things out sight unseen.

[Sarah0000]

My kids do one workbook math page in the morning with their table work and then one to two lessons in BA Online in the afternoon. I sometimes use MM Blue for the morning math. I print out the pages I want depending on what I want each kid to review or practice or learn more explicitly, which is usually about half of the work text. My 8yo is currently doing Division 2, one page a day, for review. Then he does either two short lessons or one long lesson in BA 4 or one lesson in BA 5. This does not feel like too much here, but we are using MM for review/rote practice. If you were using MM for new teaching and wanted to let them play with BA Online too, you might let them do an easier BA level.

[Emily ZL]

My younger kids do one page per day, and my 5th grader does 1-3, depending on how hard it is, how much practice he needs, and how well he's doing. I used to just look at the number of pages in the book and divide by the number of school days, but that's a bad idea.

First, you should know that Maria Miller says in the materials that most kids should only be doing about half the problems, so sometimes you can get through more pages by circling or crossing out half. So that's an option.

But honestly, the best possible strategy I have found is: you buy yourself time to really go through the math book slowly AND get through everything by checking the total topics covered and prioritizing only the important ones, instead of seeing all pages as equally important, because there is a TON of required/common core type stuff in there that comes up every single year and is really not a priority. 

For example, in a typical 4th grade text, there will be sections on borrowing and carrying large numbers, multi digit multiplication, decimals and fractions, and long division. Those are your meat and potatoes. They need to be solid! Take your time and cement that! But there will also be many more sections on telling time, weights and measures, converting F/C and metric, geometry and area, etc. That's there every year and frankly it's easily learned when you get around to it. 

This way we cover all the stuff that's important without racing through it. And without wasting time converting temperatures while place value and multiplication are still really shaky.