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Hi...

At the risk of this question getting lost at the end of another post, I will repost here!

My 7yo son is going through Singapore 1a right now and finding adding/subtracting very frustrating. I think I may have taught it poorly or misunderstood the main point of the hands on activities in the HOD guide. Should we stop where we are (into adding and subtracting numbers up to 20) and go back to a former lesson and reteach it with the HOD activities until he is not so frustrated? Today I just wrote four problems out on his whiteboard (ie: 7+1= 7-1= 8+2= 8-2=) without any stories and had him work through them with his abacus. After I helped him with the first four questions, he got the hang of it and I was able to fill his board two more times with problems that he could easily work through with the abacus. At this point, he should be allowed to rely on counters, right? I think I thought he was supposed to be able to do it without counters, which may be why he is confused and frustrated.

The odd thing is, if i just dictate a word problem to him, he can solve it without counters, just straight from his head. However translating that to the written equation can produce tears. In other words, if he hears a math story problem, he cannot figure out how to write it in an equation, even though he can solve it in his head. So I obviously think I taught him poorly...wondering if we should just camp on the HOD hands on activities from former lessons until he can understand the written equations better, before moving on in the workbook? I notice after addition/subtraction we will move on to shapes, which will be a nice break for him I think!

I went back through the workbook and HOD guide this afternoon and I think that I'm not wrapping my head around the limit of what should be taught with each lesson. Wondering if the textbook would help us out?

Thank you!

Let me see if I understand you correctly - his main problem is using the sentences, or translating from word problems to sentences? He seems to understand all the math concepts well once he knows what is expected of him?

Yes, children are definitely allowed to rely on counters at this stage. They do not need to have facts memorized or try to think of the number of items in their head. I have heard it recommended to use something besides fingers, because if they do become a crutch you can take them away (but that is FAR down the road). My 8YO still uses her fingers occasionally and she is in 3A (but it gets less and less so I am not worried).

If translating to sentences is the main problem I would model model model and practice practice practice. Show him how you do it. Let him do it with counters or go back and use some of the activities Carrie has written that use things like "ants" to help them write sentences. Maybe give him a word problem and let him work it out on his abacus without having to write the sentence and then say "well, how would you write what you just did?" See if that way is easier for him. You may want to slow down but I don't think you need to go back. It may also just be a disconnect with him, children are so different in how they learn well and what clicks easily for them.

The Singapore textbooks IMO don't give you any more hints on how to teach, at least the 3A which is the first textbook I have seen. There are just practice problems and I guess they are broken down. Carrie's activities actually teach additional concepts to what is in the workbook. There are Home Instructor Guides which might be better at helping you as a teacher get the concepts across, but I don't know because I haven't used those either.

Ok! We will work on modeling and practicing the sentences. He does enjoy answering the sentences verbally. In fact both kids ask me to make up math problems for them to solve when we are out and about driving in the car and such. We will slow down and see if he can learn how to write the sentences! Thank you!