Post
by Nealewill » Wed Aug 19, 2015 4:27 am
I agree with TrueGRIT. Singapore math is advanced! He would not be a grade level behind because 5A&B aren't necessarily meant for 5th grade. HOD's position is that they want the kids to finish 6B before they start algebra and they don't schedule to start algebra until WG (or 9th grade). One other thing to remember is that he had all summer off. Some of the stuff he may have missed because he forgot how to do it. If you refreshed his memory and then he understood, yeah!
As for repeating the level, I think that is up to you. Do you feel like he truly didn't understand last year? If so - then yes, I would repeat it. If you feel like he needs some freshening up, then no, I wouldn't. Also - just curious - does he have most of his math facts memorized? If he doesn't, what I might do is start your year with math off a little bitter differently. Since you said math is really hard for him, I would take the 5A and 5B books and print off all of the practices and reviews from the student textbook (I guess you can just use plain paper but my kids always like to write their answers on those pages). I would then plan to spend a month or so doing those practices and reviews. I would set a timer for how long he should be working on the review - maybe 20 min a day. He just gets done what he gets done and leave the rest for tomorrow to pick up where he left off. Also - let him ask you anything he wants while he works on it. Any review he has no understanding off - go back to the text and review that portion of the lesson. You can just use the review problems in the text for practice. If you still have the extra practice problem book, you can use that too. Then, for 10 min a day, have him practice his math facts. Carrie recently wrote a post on the post on the facebook page about this. I can't figure out how to link it so I just copied and pasted what she said:
Teaching Tip:
Summer is a good time to work on firming up any skill practice that may not fit in your schedule as well during the school year. Math fact practice is an easy skill to work into your summer. It is important for kiddos to memorize their addition facts and their multiplication facts. Once children know their addition and multiplication facts, they often automatically know their subtraction and division facts. Public schools often have little ones learning their addition facts as early as first grade and their multiplication facts as early as third grade. I tend to be on the later side for working on memorization of facts, waiting until the end of second grade or third grade to make sure kiddos have their addition facts down, and waiting until the end of fourth or even fifth grade for drill of multiplication facts. I tend to wait for several reasons. First, I want to give the child every chance to learn these facts on his/her own through the math curriculum. Second, I want the child to see the need for learning the facts in order to solve math problems more quickly. Third, I want the child to understand the "why" behind the "how", or the meaning of what he/she is memorizing. No matter what your thoughts on when kiddos should learn their facts, summer is a great time to work on this important area.
One easy way to do this is to cut index cards in half and make a set of addition cards for the 0's (making a card for 0+1, 0+2, 0+3, 0+4, 0+5, 0+6... all the way up to 0+12). Use a black marker on the white card to write each fact. Then use a pencil to very lightly write the answer on the back of the card, so the child cannot see the answer. You can put a small piece of masking tape on the back of the card, before writing the answer to conceal the answer a bit more if desired.
Set a time limit that your child must meet to "pass" the set of cards. 15-20 seconds is a good range, depending on the child. Time your child in passing the 0's and give an appropriate small reward once the child passes the 0's. Then, move on to the 1's. This same process works well for memorizing multiplication facts. Have the child practice only one set of cards each day and then come to you when he/she is ready to test.
We paid our kiddos a quarter each time they passed a set of cards. We gave them a dollar upon completion of all 12 sets of cards. You can structure this any way that works for you. Once the cards are made, you can save them for future kiddos! Memorizing a small set of cards at one time that all follow a pattern is so helpful. Plus, the black writing on the white card really stores the image of the fact well in the child's memory bank. Try it and see what you think!
Blessings,
Carrie
My oldest is starting 5A and this year and she isn't very mathy either. I plan to set a timer daily for her math work and spread out anything that takes too long. I feel like she is very young into her book. I also do own the 6A and 6B books (mainly because I am nosey and wanted to see what was coming next) and they really build on everything that was learned in prior levels - especially 4A through 5B. 6A & B look pretty challenging! So if your son is struggling with 5, then a review may be in order. But again, I would pray about why he missed what he missed. If he missed it because he couldn't remember the steps, doing a quick review would help. But if he missed things because he didn't understand, then I would probably consider going back and review what he didn't understand.
Daneale
DD 13 WG
DS 12 R2R
DD 10 R2R
Enjoyed DITHOR, Little Hearts, Beyond, Bigger, Preparing, CTC, R2R, RevtoRev, MtMM
I had no idea it would be that low. Many of his errors were computational, but he definitely needed to review some procedures with me before solving the problems too. He is a VERY verbal kid. If I sit with him and he can talk through the problems, he always does much better than just working through them on his own. And math always seems to take a long time for him to complete. He breezes through all his other subjects.
I'm glad to learn that he wouldn't really be behind by spending some time to solidify those concepts. 