Singapore Math 2nd grade.....

[MistyP]

We are doing Beyond for 1st & 2nd grade this year. I bought the Bigger guide specifically to do math for 2nd grade but I feel like we are missing something. I don't feel like I am explaining the concepts very well. Like today, we started subtracting 2 digit numbers. The whole activity planned with bags of beans was a bit confusing to me. We did use the manipulatives we used with Math-u-see last year. But, I had to try to explain that you "borrow" a number from the tens column to subtract in the ones column. She did some of it by herself but I don't think she "gets"it. I guess I am struggling with no real instructions to explain the "why", just the math problems in the workbook.....

I want to make sure she has a good foundation in math and not just getting by........

[Tree House Academy]

Is this your first year using Singapore? I wonder if you ARE missing something? I know that, in Beyond, things are explained VERY thoroughly to the child. I wonder if maybe you are doing something that would be considered review for a child who started with Singapore?

That said, my experience with Singapore is that it is not a "teacher hand-holding" type of program. You have to be able to teach the concepts which is what was tough for me at first. My ds11, Praise God, is a mathy child and catches on quickly just by seeing it done. When he is lost, I have to usually go teach myself and then teach it to him. However, I can't say this is a bad thing at all!

[MistyP]

This is our first year of Singapore. However, I also have the 1st grade math for DD #2 and it is not in there so I do not think this is review. Last week we had adding where you had to "carry" the number; I didn't feel that the activity explained it at all and then today she started with borrowing to subtract. I guess I am wondering if I am suppose to teach the borrowing and carrying because nothing is said about it at all. It had a subtraction activity with beans........

My experience with Singapore is that it is not a "teacher hand-holding" type of program.

So are you saying I just have to figure out how to teach this myself?????

[mom23]

I'm also struggling with my child (this one a first-grader) not really understanding his Singapore math. I end up holding his hand through the whole thing, and it's becoming frustrating for both of us! Maybe that's what we're not getting, too? I need to find some way to teach the concept before we open the book and let him work through the problems? One thing, though, is that he cannot read the instructions/problems yet.

[HappyMama]

We are struggling a bit too. I pm'd you......

[Mommamo]

Which Unit and day are you on? I was wondering if maybe we knew, then we could help you more understand what that was asking there.

[MomtoJGJE]

I have to agree with 8smiths... what I was thinking throughout your post and the answers saying the kids were having trouble is that they are possibly incorrectly placed for Singapore? My DD1 is a whiz at math, she can do the math workbooks from the store in no time flat... so when we started 2 years ago I had her start 1A, and she did the problems but she didn't get it... so I had her do 1A again. Then we moved into 1B and the same thing... she did them, but didn't really really get it. She's going through 1B again now and in 1 week she's done 20 exercises. Looking at the ages of the kids, if they've never done Singapore math before, then they might be in too high of a book.

We will be starting 2A in January, when my oldest who has done SM for 2 years now is almost 8 and halfway through 2nd grade. She scored a 3rd grade level last year on her state testing after only being halfway through 1B. It really is an advanced program.

I guess what my tired brain is trying to say is that maybe go back and start her in 1B, let her work through that just to get how Singapore teaches math and how to think the math and then she'll whiz through 2A

[MistyP]

Just to clarify here.....she has done fine with the basic addition and subtraction, even with big numbers. She is loving the fun stuff in Singapore. She can read quite well; she struggled a bit starting with the word problems but was soon flying through them. I reviewed over the placement test with her the end of last year. I feel that she is appropriately placed. I looked at 1B; she could do it very easily.

then I would just go back over place value concepts and problems such as 33+9, 57+5, etc. These should be able to be done with ease (without using the algorithm) before moving on to the formal process.

She has no problem with those problems....I am not sure what you mean by algorithm.....

Which Unit and day are you on? I was wondering if maybe we knew, then we could help you more understand what that was asking there.

Last week, we were in Unit 6, I taught her addition with "carrying" the way I was taught but thinking that I should be teaching it to her differently. She did seem to understand carrying to the tens place and did well even on adding 3 big numbers. I do not feel that this should be review but is new learning.

Then this week we started Unit 7, subtraction with borrowing; ie 74-36=38.....again I feel that I am teaching it to her wrong...... One thing everyone seems to say that Singapore is much different than what we learned in school. I don't know; I have liked Singapore....my first grader is the one that tends to struggle more with math and she is doing well with 1A. I just want to make sure I am teaching my 2nd grader properly.

That said, if mom is not comfortable with something, the kiddos are definitely not going to be either. And take it from me---it is better to find your fit earlier than later!

That's where I am......Main thing is I don't want my child struggling because I am not teaching her right

[Tree House Academy]

So are you saying I just have to figure out how to teach this myself?????

Sadly, this has been my experience. The activities help, but the teaching is done by the teacher.

I used CLE last year and while there is more teacher hand-holding, most of the "teaching" is done in the actual light unit. Are you using the Singapore Textbook along with the workbook? The textbook does the visual teaching in Singapore too...or at least it does in my older son's 4A book.

[MistyP]

So are you saying I just have to figure out how to teach this myself?????

Sadly, this has been my experience. The activities help, but the teaching is done by the teacher.

I used CLE last year and while there is more teacher hand-holding, most of the "teaching" is done in the actual light unit. Are you using the Singapore Textbook along with the workbook? The textbook does the visual teaching in Singapore too...or at least it does in my older son's 4A book.

I do not have the textbook; I had asked about that and was told that if I had the Bigger guide I would not need the textbook too. I wish I could look at a textbook and see if it would be beneficial to me.....

[blessedmomof4]

Just to clarify here.....she has done fine with the basic addition and subtraction, even with big numbers. She is loving the fun stuff in Singapore. She can read quite well; she struggled a bit starting with the word problems but was soon flying through them. I reviewed over the placement test with her the end of last year. I feel that she is appropriately placed. I looked at 1B; she could do it very easily.

I don't mean to harp on this, but are you saying you looked at the placement test, but she didn't actuallly take it? Singapore truly is different, and when I "looked" at the placement test for my daughter last spring when she was 10, I "thought" she could do 4A easily. When she actually took the test, she placed in 2B. If I had started her in 4A, she would have been confused. There is a lot of mental math development in the early levels, learning to look at numbers differently so you can do the math in your head.
If you have your child placed correctly, and you do all the hands-on activities with your child that are written in the HOD guides, you do not need the textbook at all. You will need the textbook for 3A and up. When my other daughter was doing Singapore 2A with the activities in Bigger a couple of years ago, she had no trouble going from an activity to her workbook page. I had given her the placement test at that time, expecting her to place in 3A, and she placed in 2A.
If you have actually given her the placement test, then great! I hope that Carrie can then come in with some other helpful ideas for you in that case. To be fair, my youngest daughter has been through 2B through 3B, and now with 4A I am having trouble...but she is getting better at it

[MistyP]

I checked at the local used Christian bookstore and they had the textbooks so I bought them They are an older addition so some of the problems are a different but the concept is the same. I didn't realize it was a different addition; I was just so happy to find them for $5! Hopefully it will help me understand how to teach her.

I am having her do the placement test so I will see how that goes......

[MistyP]

Well, out of the first 4 pages of the placement test she only missed one and that was because she added instead of subtracted on a word problem. I told her she could do the last page tomorrow during school time since I interrupted playtime to do the test. So, I feel that our placement is right.

[pjdobro]

I'm glad you found the textbooks used for such a great price. I hope they will help you as a teacher to feel more confident.

I don't remember all of the activities that went with 2A and this might be something you've done or probably will do, but I was thinking about teaching place value and one of the most helpful teaching tools that I've found with my dc is money. We have used pennies, dimes, and dollars often to understand how to regroup in addition and subtraction. Our money system is the perfect manipulative to teach the base 10 number system up to 100's. I also love math literature so one book that we loved while studying place value was Mr. Base Ten Invents Mathematics. It's a fun book to read that teaches place value. Perhaps your library might have it. I thought I would toss those ideas out there just in case you might find them helpful.

[my3sons]

I don't want to harp on this either, but I just wanted to make mention that it is extremely important not to help in the least bit with the placement test - even reading it for them is not something that should be done as this inflates the child's score. Doing the hands-on plans in the Bigger Heart's guide was crucial for my ds understanding the concepts, though this could just be my experience. I do not think he would have understood the concepts as well without them. The guide suggests doing multiple problems for the hands-on lessons, and I found it very important to do that. I also let my ds use counters during the larger addition/subtraction problems. Dc often learn their facts later with Singapore, but the upside is they generally know them better and also understand the "why" behind the "how" better within story problems. I would slow it down for your dd, going to half-speed for awhile. I would do the hands-on lessons multiple times over 2 days, and spread the written assignment out over 2 days. I'd also provide counters for her and let her use them when she wants. She will eventually give them up when ready. When it seems like she's doing better, and is ready for a quicker pacing, she can go back to full-speed. Singapore is considered a year advanced, and I think 2A is a turning point, where math gets tougher. I've slowed my ds to half-speed in 2A, done the hands-on activities 2 days in a row, given him counters, spread out the workbook over 2 days while writing a handful of review problems on a marker board for him, and now that we've done that for a few weeks, he's up to par again, going full-speed. I think helping dc over their rough spots by going half-speed does wonders. HTH!

In Christ,
Julie