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lovinmomma
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We will be using Singapore math wiht our 2 children for Kindergarten. We only "school" 4 days per week and on the 5th day we will do fun reinforcement or just learning games. I was wondering if there is a math curriculum or book or whatever that has fun games to reinforce what my children will be learning through SM with fun games? Anyone know of such a thing? It doesn't have to directly coincide with SM.

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I used to let my daughter play online math games to reinforce what she was learning. I cannot remember the names now, but if you google "free online math games" you'll get alot of hits. I also used a CD rom supplement called Elementary Advantage. It teaches basic elementary curriculum skills through fun games. My daughter particularly liked making movies with the Junior Net disc. She liked the math one too, and actually wanted to learn more math because the game was a little above her level when she started playing it so it actually was a great motivator. Hope this is helpful. :)

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We've enjoyed Sonlight's Mathtacular DVD - it's good for showing you how to use manipulatives to teach math. For something a bit more elaborate, we've enjoyed RightStart Mathematics Math Card Games Kit. We've also used living books that we get from the library (I've noticed the book stores in our area are starting to carry more of these, also). They usually have a page or two in the back of each book that have games/hands-on that reinforce the topics of the books.

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I have the RightStart Math Games and Abacus manual. I didn't want the whole curric - I use SM too. I use it lots with my 4yo - just casually - she LOVES to tell me to "Go to the Dump":tongue_smilie:.

 

Miquon is also fun to start casually young - mainly play with the cuisenairre rods and not actually working the workbooks (read the TM's though). ds6 did this and gained that intuitive sense of how many each color rod represents.

 

I am pretty much a math curric. junkie - I like reading the "how's" and "why's"from different math teachers.

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We will be using Singapore math wiht our 2 children for Kindergarten. We only "school" 4 days per week and on the 5th day we will do fun reinforcement or just learning games. I was wondering if there is a math curriculum or book or whatever that has fun games to reinforce what my children will be learning through SM with fun games? Anyone know of such a thing? It doesn't have to directly coincide with SM.

 

You've already seen the Right Start games on another thread. These are great for cementing what for lack of better words are called "math facts".

 

On the other side of the spectrum are things that help kids conceptualize, think critically, make discoveries and help them move from "concrete" to abstract thinking. For this I love the Miquon math materials combined with Cuisenaire Rods.

 

Introducing these Cuisenaire Rods early with my son got him really interested in number relationships, doing "equations" before he could even write, and I'm convinced have helped make him a "mathy" kid. And I think this is a common experience with children who take to Miquon. And not all do. But starting of with Rod work really worked out fantastically well with my son (who is 4.8).

 

Reading the 3 Miquon teachers books really helped me feel confident as a math teacher for a child this age. So at least in my experience starting with Miquon was extremely valuable, and much more so the Singapore Earlybird which we are using as well. And not a knock on Singapore, it's just that Miquon had a very high value.

 

In a similar vein to Miquon (not in method but in building critical thinking) the Math Enrichment Programme (MEP) materials are very special. One of our members, Karin, used MEP for the first time with her mathy son and his comment was: My brain hurts! :D

 

Oh, and MEP is available for download without charge. I'd start MEP after they had some grounding and math confidence.

 

http://www.cimt.plymouth.ac.uk/projects/mep/default.htm

 

Bill

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Wow! This was a very informative post. Thank you.

 

You've already seen the Right Start games on another thread. These are great for cementing what for lack of better words are called "math facts".

 

On the other side of the spectrum are things that help kids conceptualize, think critically, make discoveries and help them move from "concrete" to abstract thinking. For this I love the Miquon math materials combined with Cuisenaire Rods.

 

Introducing these Cuisenaire Rods early with my son got him really interested in number relationships, doing "equations" before he could even write, and I'm convinced have helped make him a "mathy" kid. And I think this is a common experience with children who take to Miquon. And not all do. But starting of with Rod work really worked out fantastically well with my son (who is 4.8).

 

Reading the 3 Miquon teachers books really helped me feel confident as a math teacher for a child this age. So at least in my experience starting with Miquon was extremely valuable, and much more so the Singapore Earlybird which we are using as well. And not a knock on Singapore, it's just that Miquon had a very high value.

 

In a similar vein to Miquon (not in method but in building critical thinking) the Math Enrichment Programme (MEP) materials are very special. One of our members, Karin, used MEP for the first time with her mathy son and his comment was: My brain hurts! :D

 

Oh, and MEP is available for download without charge. I'd start MEP after they had some grounding and math confidence.

 

http://www.cimt.plymouth.ac.uk/projects/mep/default.htm

 

Bill

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Wow! This was a very informative post. Thank you.

 

It's my pleasure. I'll only add that having twins would only make the "Math Lab" aspect of Miquon more appealing to me. You could give 'em a set of Cuisenaire rods and tell them to find all the ways you can make "ten". And they could play, and work together (or compete) and stack up the rods, and learn in a fun way.

 

Bill

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Thank you! I'm very interested in using Right Start, but didn't know if I could use it without the whole curriculum.

 

Yep! The book is organized into concepts - just leaf through for a review on whatever SM concept you want to play with.

 

Agreeing with Bill - math lab with twins sounds F.U.N.:D

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