An article published by the Rodel Foundation of Delaware describes how Kuumba Academy took a serious approach to remediating the problem of poor math achievement. They adopted a Singapore Math curriculum, and with it, they gave their teachers “intensive, on-going professional development to deepen teachers’ understanding of math instruction at the elementary level.” The school also implemented parent workshops and a “Bring Your Parent to School Day,” which would help parents and guardians understand the sometimes very different approaches Singapore Math takes. One minor incorrect point the article states is that Singapore Math uses math sprints to strengthen math skills.…
In a training today, I learned about sentence frames. These are helpful for English language learners, and also native speakers, to develop understanding of math concepts by filling in a statement with blanks in it. In researching this further, I came across a wiki that contains a number of sentence frames for various California math standards categorized by grade level. These can be used in any context to fit your math teaching. You can even contribute your own sentences by joining the wiki. Go to the wiki here: http://mathsentenceframes.wikispaces.com/
For my educator friends and colleagues, I have added a new multiplication chart lesson plan, complete with reproducible handouts, to TeachersPayTeachers.com. It is free to download and use. It can be used in a classroom, in a homeschooling setting, or in a special needs or remedial context. The lesson is aligned to the Common Core Standards and includes objectives, materials, and descriptions of procedures, follow-ups and adaptations. Please let me know if you find it useful, and if you do, please add a rating to the TeachersPayTeachers site. Download the lesson plan here.
Teachers in my math workshops like me to share some multiplication and factoring tips I teach my students. These help with number sense as well. I hope they can be useful for you too. Tips for Multiplying Whole Numbers Times 2: Double the number. If multiplying by 2, the result will always be even. Times 3: Triple the number. Products alternate odd and even (3, 6, 9, 12, etc.). Times 4: Double the number twice. The result will always be even. Times 5: The result must have a 5 or a 0 in the ones place. Times 6: Triple the…
About two weeks ago, a post titled “Singapore Math Is ‘Our Dirty Little Secret’” appeared on the Core Knowledge blog. It criticized the New York Times article about Singapore Math that appeared on October 1. Apparently, the author believes that the poor state of math education in the US is due to what he calls “reform math.” This ignores an entire generation of math-phobic adults who learned math through “traditional” methods, and most likely instigated the reform movement due to their dissatisfaction with those methods. While the curricula based purely on constructivist approaches have their limitations, the idea that Singapore…
I’m on my way to participate in the NCTM Regional conference in Baltimore, Maryland. My presentation is first thing tomorrow morning, and it will be on the topic of Singapore Math model drawing. The session is 75 minutes long, enough for a taste of several types of model drawing. Hopefully the participants will come away with some understanding of the power of model drawing and will be able to put it to use. If you are there, come by and see me after the presentation, from 11:00 AM on, at booth 614, with SDE!
Bill Jackson, the Scarsdale Singapore Math coach who is making waves nationwide, wrote an interesting series for The Daily Riff. The first article lays out how he got interested in Singapore Math. Here is a quote from his experience working with Japanese math teachers: When I began working with the Japanese teachers, I soon realized three important reasons why they were such good math teachers: (1) They had a high level of math content knowledge. In fact, I felt that their first grade teachers knew more about math than I did as an 8th grade teacher! (2) They used thin,…
Following on from last Friday’s New York Times article, the NY Times blogs ran a brief follow-up article titled, “A Slower Approach to Math,” with the opportunity to add your own comments to it. There were some pretty interesting thoughts there, which inspired me to add the following comment: As a teacher experienced in teaching Singapore Math and training other teachers to use it, I am constantly learning about the state of education around our country, especially in math. I see Singapore Math has many strengths as a curriculum and approach, and more of these are being adopted into our…
Last Friday, this New York times article about Singapore Math appeared. The premise of the beginning of the article is that by studying one number at a time slowly, students learn more thoroughly and therefore build a better mathematical foundation. This is true, even if it is an oversimplification of the curriculum. Here is a quote from the article: Principals and teachers say that slowing down the learning process gives students a solid math foundation upon which to build increasingly complex skills, and makes it less likely that they will forget and have to be retaught the same thing in…
Watch the video below and see if you can identify which of the concepts Pa and Ma are missing. Then take the quiz below to find out if you identified the concept. Learn more about these important concepts in my book!