SophiaH Posted March 30, 2009 Share Posted March 30, 2009 Is Lesson 31, adding four-digit numbers with symbols, necessary if my dd already knows how to add four digit numbers using the abacus and on paper? She remembers the concept from Level B and I see that adding with the abacus and then on paper are lessons 32 and 33, so I'm thinking that maybe adding with symbols is a lead-up to doing it the other ways? I notice this technique is used again for subtraction, but again it looks like a preparation for subtracting four-digits with the abacus and then on paper. Is there something later on that this is necessary for? I don't want to add another extraneous technique if she already understands the quicker, simpler ways. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ida Posted March 30, 2009 Share Posted March 30, 2009 I have been so blown away by the results of RightStart that I've stopped questioning whether or not ds "needs" a certain element of it, so we did the drawing the shapes thing even though ds was adding and subtracting with carrying and borrowing just fine. I decided it never hurts to look at concepts different ways even if you already understand them. I love all the ways RS has kids manipulating numbers and ideas and not just writing out answers to bunches of problems. The picture lessons don't take that long. That said, the glory of homeschooling is that you do get to decide what works for you and what doesn't. If you choose to skip that part because you feel it would be busywork for your child, no harm will be done. If you come to a point later that you think, "Gee, I really wish I had done that whole picture drawing thing," well, you can whip that lesson right back out and do it then! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SophiaH Posted March 30, 2009 Author Share Posted March 30, 2009 You've expressed exactly my back-and-forth thoughts about it. I know it's only a 2-day lesson. And I, too, have tried to stop questioning why we're doing something because that is what I've found to be the brilliance of RS. You're covering something, say, in the warm-ups for some reason that you can't understand and then 15 lessons later all the pieces come together and you can see the big picture. Like last week, we did the two multiplication introductory lessons and it was so easy for my dd because of all the foundation work done previously. So, just hush up and do it, right? OTOH, I'm also Ms. Efficient, :001_rolleyes: and don't like to "waste" time. And *I* tend to get confused with too many ways to solve a problem (I'm a Saxon product, myself). Maybe that's why I'm trying to right the wrong with my dd's math skills in using RS and other "thinking" supplements. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spy Car Posted March 30, 2009 Share Posted March 30, 2009 What does it mean "adding with symbols"? Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SophiaH Posted March 30, 2009 Author Share Posted March 30, 2009 The symbols are similar to the way RS teaches addition using the Base-10 picture cards in level B. When first teaching addition, manipulatives are used: a 10-stack of abacus tiles=1000 abacus tile=100 one row on abacus=10 one bead on abacus=1 Then they move to adding with the Base-10 cards. The cards are used to teach trading (carrying) when adding large numbers. It's a visual way to see place value.The cards' depictions, which look like the manipulatives used previously: cube=1000 2 dim. square=100 long rod=10 one small square=1 The symbols introduced in the lesson I am talking about are the same. They have the children draw: a cube=1000 a square=100 a line=10 a dot=1 The children are asked to represent a number like 3864 by drawing the symbols. Then to add, they would draw the second number, say 2331, in symbols, continuing where they left off with the first representation. Then they could see they have 5 ones, 9 tens, 11 hundreds (so they'd need to trade one 100 for one 1000 by circling and crossing out the 10 and drawing another 1000 and circling it), and 5 1000, plus the one they traded. LOL! Does that make any sense? I would have said it simpler and more concisely, but I figured, Bill, that you'd be interested in the complete explanation. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goldilocks Posted March 30, 2009 Share Posted March 30, 2009 My DS already knew how to do it, but we did it anyway as well. It only took one day to complete. I pointed that out to him and it made him very proud of himself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spy Car Posted March 30, 2009 Share Posted March 30, 2009 The symbols are similar to the way RS teaches addition using the Base-10 picture cards in level B. When first teaching addition, manipulatives are used: a 10-stack of abacus tiles=1000 abacus tile=100 one row on abacus=10 one bead on abacus=1 Then they move to adding with the Base-10 cards. The cards are used to teach trading (carrying) when adding large numbers. It's a visual way to see place value.The cards' depictions, which look like the manipulatives used previously: cube=1000 2 dim. square=100 long rod=10 one small square=1 The symbols introduced in the lesson I am talking about are the same. They have the children draw: a cube=1000 a square=100 a line=10 a dot=1 The children are asked to represent a number like 3864 by drawing the symbols. Then to add, they would draw the second number, say 2331, in symbols, continuing where they left off with the first representation. Then they could see they have 5 ones, 9 tens, 11 hundreds (so they'd need to trade one 100 for one 1000 by circling and crossing out the 10 and drawing another 1000 and circling it), and 5 1000, plus the one they traded. LOL! Does that make any sense? I would have said it simpler and more concisely, but I figured, Bill, that you'd be interested in the complete explanation. :D Oh yes I am very interested in the "complete explaination" :D Thank you for the trouble, I'm happily going to "steal" this idea. We've been working with both the Right Start base-10 cards, and a combo of base-10 flats and Cuisenaire rods and expressing these as numerals and with the abacus, but I had not thought of "symbols". I like it! Thank you Heather! Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ida Posted March 30, 2009 Share Posted March 30, 2009 My son had never learned how to draw a cube before, so he thought it was kind of cool! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom-ninja. Posted March 30, 2009 Share Posted March 30, 2009 We did even though ds knows 4 digit addition well. He loves math and can't get enough. He doesn't care if it's something he knows. Plus, I figure it's good to explain things in many ways. Oh, and symbols are used in higher math so getting used to symbols other than numbers is good. Also it was fun for him to learn to draw a cube. We also did the lesson in one day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
christine in al Posted March 30, 2009 Share Posted March 30, 2009 My son grooved on the drawing the cube too. I'm glad you asked this question, because i have been struggling with RS and all the geometry. I'll shut up and keep plugging away. I am thrilled with RS results too, but I have strayed in the past because we weren't covering topics I wanted to, ( Kilograms, etc.) So , now I just add them but I'm back with RS and my kids are glad about that. I think do at least PART of every lesson. ~Christine in AL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom-ninja. Posted March 31, 2009 Share Posted March 31, 2009 I'm glad you asked this question, because i have been struggling with RS and all the geometry. I'll shut up and keep plugging away. I am thrilled with RS results too, but I have strayed in the past because we weren't covering topics I wanted to, ( Kilograms, etc.) So , now I just add them but I'm back with RS and my kids are glad about that. ~Christine in AL I hadn't thought of adding the metric system. I just figured it'd be introduced at some point. Hum, I guess I need to look into getting extra materials for that. What do you use? I add teaching the 24 hour clock as opposed to just the 12 hour. It really bugs me that I can't find any appliances with a 24 hour clock. :glare: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SophiaH Posted April 1, 2009 Author Share Posted April 1, 2009 Well, I decided to go ahead with the symbol lesson today. After drawing the symbols, we moved to using the base-10 cards (instead of the suggested post-it notes). She laid out the first four-digit number with the cards as told, but then when it came to adding, she wanted to just do it in her head from the right like is taught in the "Adding four-digits on paper" lesson from level B. I was actually a little surprised that she remembered how to do it, especially without prompting. We compromised by her doing the first problem on the worksheet with the cards, but then I let her add the equation on paper, and then had her check her answer with the cards. Then with the second problem I let her use side 2 of the abacus, adding on paper, and checking with the abacus. She was happy to do it this way since I assured her that tomorrow she could do all the equations from the worksheet on paper. So, I tried, right? *shrug* Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.