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Curious what state you are in (your profile doesn't say). Some states are not FULLY implementing Common Core, so I wonder if your state was one of them as what you described is not typical of Common Core. Most Common Core math problems are VERY lengthy and the majority of parents AND teachers needed a class to understand it, so no way did a teacher explain it to you in 40 seconds! We used to live in Illinois which was a state that fully implanted the Common Core standards. My oldest daughter had been doing Common Core for almost 4 years when we moved to Indiana. Indiana "somewhat" implements it, but not extensively as the state is fighting against it. What you described is more on Indiana's level to me.
I'm in North Carolina. The one occasion I referenced in my post was when my middle child was in first grade. They were teaching multi-digit addition using a method I hadn't heard of, and that had no examples in the homework that my child presented to me. My older child, who could have helped as she'd gone through the same class 2 years previous, was unavailable.
That's one of the problems with implementing some of the new methods - kids don't have textbooks or even the full workbooks, so parents are at a loss as to what the teacher wants to see when unfamiliar terms are used in the instructions. I'd read the instructions, but I still didn't understand what was being asked.
In subsequent years, the teachers put some math instructional pages together at the beginning of the year, and had them laminated and placed in the kids' binders, for reference. That was very helpful.
second graders do not need number sense. Nor do third, fourth and fifth graders. They need to learn the concepts first and the more abstract, higher level reasoning second. All this new math does is complicate what should be a somewhat easy concept like division or even addition.
It drives me bonkers that my kids understand the old way of doing division, multiplication, subtraction and addition very easily. They picked it up fast. The new math just confuses the hell out of them. And it makes them feel stupid. How is this good for students?
Again, the point is to develop number sense. And parents need to understand that that is the goal.
The fact that you reacted in this way is proof that you are part of the large majority that don't understand this.
I applaud your school for trying to educate the parents. It has nothing to do with a parent's education level and how many advanced degrees they have. It seems unnatural to us because we know the "quick" way, but like I just posted, the quick way does not always mean you know WHY you are doing it. Of course, no one is going to expect an adult to draw a bunch of circles when doing long division and so the algorithms are still necessary. But they are introduced AFTER the students have an idea of what is going on.
I'm going to venture a guess that a physician and mechanical engineer managed to master some pretty advanced math during the course of their education. I also have a college degree. I was in the gifted program all through school and took advanced calculus (and got an A, I might add). I think we all managed to develop number sense. BTW, I'm also a teacher, although I teach younger kids. I agree that kids need to develop number sense. But it needs to start before 3rd grade, and there are better ways of doing it.
When our elementary school has to have classes for the PARENTS of 3rd graders just to explain how to help their kids with their math homework, it's absurd. And I live in one of the wealthiest areas of the city, so most of these parents have college degrees, many more than one. Heck, one of the parents who went is a freakin' pediatrician, and even she needed a class to figure it out.
My daughter never struggled with math - ever. Aced it, in fact, including getting a 98% and the standardized state and district assessments. As soon as common core was introduced, her grades started slipping. She asked me to help her with long division. So I said, "OK, what's the first step you're going to do?" She immediately started drawing a bunch of circles. WTH??? I asked, "Why are you doing that?" She said because that's the way they "had to" do it. I asked her if she could do it another way, and she did the plain, old-fashioned method and solved the problem (correctly), in just a few seconds. There is something wrong with that.
Same thing happened to my neighbor's kid. Very bright, always got good grades, knows how to add/subtract/multiply/divide. But is now getting poor grades in CC math, and he even told me he is doing "bad in math". It's horrendous.
I'm in North Carolina. The one occasion I referenced in my post was when my middle child was in first grade. They were teaching multi-digit addition using a method I hadn't heard of, and that had no examples in the homework that my child presented to me. My older child, who could have helped as she'd gone through the same class 2 years previous, was unavailable.
That's one of the problems with implementing some of the new methods - kids don't have textbooks or even the full workbooks, so parents are at a loss as to what the teacher wants to see when unfamiliar terms are used in the instructions. I'd read the instructions, but I still didn't understand what was being asked.
In subsequent years, the teachers put some math instructional pages together at the beginning of the year, and had them laminated and placed in the kids' binders, for reference. That was very helpful.
And I would argue that you shouldn't have to teach parents 2nd grade math. When that happens there IS something wrong with the school curriculum.
And explain too, why half the kids graduating from high school can barely read, write, sign their name legibly, balance a checkbook, or add a column of 3-digit numbers?
I will tell you what "number sense" is. It's a way for some bunch of "advanced teaching scholars" to get grant money, develop a "program" that is not needed or wanted, and get forever rich and famous implementing their gibberish.
A proper definition: An intuitive understanding of numbers, their magnitude, relationships, and how they are affected by operations. (number sense)
What it really looks like:
knowing the concept of a fraction, and which is larger than another
understanding negative numbers, and how they relate to one another...realizing that you have to look at the sign BEFORE the number, and that numbers are just negative and positive being combined together, not necessarily "addition" and "subtraction"
being able to manipulate/rearrange numbers easily to do mental math. Example: 25 + 53 + 75. Some students will add linearly from left to right ... but those with good "number sense" would realize that 25 + 75 is easy to do in their head, and then 53 is easy to add to that. Same with multiplication: 2 * 38 * 5. Much easier to do 2*5 first, then multiply that answer by 38
Mental math also means recognizing patterns and, again, how numbers relate to each other. Example: 25 + 8. Instead of manually adding 25 and 8, think of it as adding 10 then subtracting 2. This is especially handy with 9...add 10 and subtract 1. That's how my brain works
Being able to calculate change correctly...especially if you are trying to "round up" to receive a nice collection of coins (or none at all)
Again, with these concepts, kids absolutely do need to know their basic facts and algorithms...but actually knowing WHY they are doing things helps in the big picture.
And I would argue that you shouldn't have to teach parents 2nd grade math. When that happens there IS something wrong with the school curriculum.
Again, they're not teaching parents 2nd grade math. They're explaining the different way of thinking. They are not implying that parents can't do 2nd grade math.
Thanks for the replies. Based on them and my assuming my kids are like my wife and I (math always came natural to us and we both earned engineering degrees from top tier University) I don't think we'll be fans of common core.
I majored in accounting and I was a math tutor. I have seen plenty of examples of how common core is supposed to work. There are plenty of examples on YouTube and elsewhere. It's been a big issue in our local school districts.
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Totally agree with you 100%
