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I have Grandchildren in the 1st, 2nd & 4th grades. They spend at least one afternoon with us every week and we work on their spelling and other homework. My second grader tried to tell me last year that spelling was OK as long as you got most of the right letters in the word. She also told me that if the math problem was a couple of number off, but still close - then the teacher would count it correct.
My response to that nonsense was:
"Put this in your memory book - the word is incorrect unless it is spelling correctly. The math is wrong unless the answer is correct". That's Grandma's rule, and it's the rule we will follow. I make them work on handwriting every week, and now on their cursive writing. The parents at this school pitched a fit over "close is good enough". The good news is that my son also follows "Grandma's rule", but he had a lot of practice doing that.
All 3 of my Grands know that the "close" is not correct and will never be correct in the real world. This is the sort of Math they are trying to teach kids today - no wonder the little girl was in tears.
Any parent that does not closely monitor what is going on in their children's classroom is a fool, and doing a grave injustice to their children.
What is so complicated about that math problem? That's how I do mental math. In first grade, my youngest was given a set of ten interlocking blocks. Five were red, and five were yellow. I would put them behind my back, and take off a few before revealing the remainder to my child. His job was to tell me how many more were needed to make ten. Practicing that for a few minutes each night gave him a superb sense of basic addition and subtraction. I thought it was a brilliant first step in mastering mental math. What your grandchild is being asked to do is simply an extension of that skill.
Last edited by randomparent; 02-13-2014 at 06:35 PM..
I have mixed feelings about common core. I was in college by the time common core came around, but it seems like they are standardizing the work-arounds I created for myself to get through math. For instance - I STILL, as a 26 year old working on an analytical MS program - do mental math by grouping into 10s and then adding the ones. It works - and I think out of the box ways of arriving to the solution should be applauded and used to SUPPLEMENT traditional math. The same is true teaching basic algebra using scales and physical pawns - it is a supplement to reach different types of learners, but should not be a replacement.
What is so complicated about that math problem? That's how I do mental math. In first grade, my youngest was given a set of ten interlocking blocks. Five were red, and five were yellow. I would put them behind my back, and take off a few before revealing the remainder to my child. His job was to tell me how many more were needed to make ten. Practicing that for a few minutes each night gave him a superb sense of basic addition and subtraction. I thought it was a brilliant first step in mastering mental math. What your grandchild is being asked to do is simply an extension of that skill.
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I guess learning "skip count" is the NEW, NEW Math
I've never seen a Math problem like that one in any of my grandchildren's homework - they learn their times tables and math using (what I guess is) old fashioned methods. My comments were that an answer to a Math problem is not good enough if the answer is just "close", and the same for spelling tests. Math problems and spelling tests have correct answers OR they have wrong answers. Close only really works in horseshoes.
We all learned little 'tricks' with numbers and with words - my grandchildren are learning those, I even teach them some ...... the issue for me is accepting a wrong answer as correct. In the case of the problem in the illustration - if you think that's the best way to teach that 7+7=14 (adding 7+10 and then dividing 7 into 3+4, and then adding 4 to 10) .... to each his own. I'll go with the old fashioned way. and then tell them I bet they can't tell me what 2 times 14 is. They can't ever resist proving me wrong on that. All schools and their programs are not created equal, neither are the kids that attend those programs. My grandkids have to do timed tests weekly - the pictured method would be very problematic in a timed test of 100 simple math problems in 2 minutes (which I might add that none of them have been able to do). They can get in the 80's, put not complete the entire test .... which is a 'fun activity' for some odd reason - presented as a "race" with some sort of prize for top 3 places.
What is so complicated about that math problem? That's how I do mental math. In first grade, my youngest was given a set of ten interlocking blocks. Five were red, and five were yellow. I would put them behind my back, and take off a few before revealing the remainder to my child. His job was to tell me how many more were needed to make ten. Practicing that for a few minutes each night gave him a superb sense of basic addition and subtraction. I thought it was a brilliant first step in mastering mental math. What your grandchild is being asked to do is simply an extension of that skill.
When you get to double and triple digit numbers they mess it all up.
One should not need to do that for single digit numbers.
Just memorize them.
Gregory Holland Ah! Common Core. I'm a teacher and teaching use to be fun. I worked with students. I felt that students were enjoying my class and learning something. Hell some former students have even told me that I helped them choose a career path. Now! I don't really teach anymore. I follow a plan that has nothing to do with my subject. Now we go through a process...to prepare for a test... Results... Kids hate school more then ever and are learning less. 2 hours ago · Like · 10
Patti Reinertsen Traynor As parents, we should have a say and input on what is taught to our children. As they say, the government is NOT "my baby daddy"!
What is so complicated about that math problem? That's how I do mental math. In first grade, my youngest was given a set of ten interlocking blocks. Five were red, and five were yellow. I would put them behind my back, and take off a few before revealing the remainder to my child. His job was to tell me how many more were needed to make ten. Practicing that for a few minutes each night gave him a superb sense of basic addition and subtraction. I thought it was a brilliant first step in mastering mental math. What your grandchild is being asked to do is simply an extension of that skill.
Why would someone that has no problems with math ask that question? The ability to learn, recall, and apply information is not the same in all of us. Some of us have proplems with one or more of these abilities.
If a grown woman can't figure out a second grade math problem, what does that tell us about the education system that that mother learned under?
Explain it.
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