What is Kindergarten math?

[kijip]

What sort of math does your kid do in K? The math curriculum here is Everyday Mathematics (which I understand is not all that highly regarded in some educator circles?)

The books have us doing suggested activities like pressing numbers on a cell phone and counting stairs up and down. I am paging through the whole year's materials and not seeing any adding and subtracting. There are patterns, fractions (like 1/2 of a pizza sort of thing), tallying, looking for shapes and that sort of thing. I am wondering if this is typical in other K math programs?

[MelissaTC]

This is the link to the book M used last year in K.

http://www.sadlier-oxford.com/math/student_2006.cfm?grade=k

If you look through the topics, some are similar. They did tallying, shapes, money, time, basic addition and subtraction, positions, etc...

HTH!

[lisams]

What sort of math does your kid do in K? The math curriculum here is Everyday Mathematics (which I understand is not all that highly regarded in some educator circles?)

The books have us doing suggested activities like pressing numbers on a cell phone and counting stairs up and down. I am paging through the whole year's materials and not seeing any adding and subtracting. There are patterns, fractions (like 1/2 of a pizza sort of thing), tallying, looking for shapes and that sort of thing. I am wondering if this is typical in other K math programs?

I don't know much about the K curriculum, but I used EDM when I was teaching a 2nd/3rd multiage class. It is very different, it's considered a spiral curriculum. Most typical curriculums focus on one skill for a specified amount of time and then move to another skill (for example, telling time to the hour for 3 weeks and then on to fractions, etc.) In EDM they touch on the skills taught in the past almost daily. So daily you might do a few activities with telling time to the hour and fractions and two digit addition (in perhaps a first grade class). You build on the skills gained. Kids retain the skills better and it really helps when you get up in grades and you need more than one skill to solve a problem. Also, the program gets away from repitition as a method of learning skills. We did supplement for addition and multiplication facts, doing timed tests to get children to memorize them when they were ready.

I like the program but some teachers did not. I liked that it was developmentally appropriate and there was a reason behind each activity. Before ever introducing a numeric equation, it focuses on children understanding the concept. For example, when teaching multiplication (3x4) you work on making 3 equal groups of 4 objects. When the children have a strong understanding of what that actually means you start using the numeric equation, and then you work on memorization of the facts. Many other programs jump right into the equation and memorization and this is where you lose a lot of students. They just don't get "why" and as the math gets more difficult the more lost they get.

I wouldn't judge what the children are going to learn just by looking through the book. Those higher level thinking skills will be weaved throughout the activities. For example, counting by five is a needed skill when learning your 5's multiplication facts. Who would have thought that counting by five is getting a child ready to multiply (or count nickels!) There is a lot of math in just the daily calendar.

In DD's K (they don't use any particular curriculum that I'm aware of) they're currently learning to tally, identify and write numbers, counting to I think 20 maybe more, and doing a lot of math in their morning meeting and calendar. I'm sure there's probably more, but that's what I've seen with what she brings home or talks about.

[kijip]

Thanks for your insight, Lisa. I know I disliked the spiral math curriculum when I was a high school student (and more so looking back from when I was studying math in college) but it seems like it can work in many situations.

I am just curious about what is typically taught, in part because T is already figuring out basic multiplication on his own and in part because all I recall from K math is eating goldfish crackers to subtract. :ROTFLMAO:

The Everyday Math website with games (the school assigned him a log in) is a hit with him. The books are actually at home activities that we do with him so I am seeing how that unfolds.

Math education is important to me, being the math geek that I am. It's interesting to seem him develop a deeper understanding of numbers.

[lisams]

Thanks for your insight, Lisa. I know I disliked the spiral math curriculum when I was a high school student (and more so looking back from when I was studying math in college) but it seems like it can work in many situations.

I am just curious about what is typically taught, in part because T is already figuring out basic multiplication on his own and in part because all I recall from K math is eating goldfish crackers to subtract. :ROTFLMAO:

The Everyday Math website with games (the school assigned him a log in) is a hit with him. The books are actually at home activities that we do with him so I am seeing how that unfolds.

Math education is important to me, being the math geek that I am. It's interesting to seem him develop a deeper understanding of numbers.

yeah, the spiral method isn't the best for everyone. I found that EDM was really wonderful for those kiddos that had a harder time grasping concepts. When I was teaching we did supplement with some other stuff to kind of round it out.

I don't think you'll find many kindergartens that hit on formal multiplication (beyond grouping objects in equal groups or skip counting). That's great that he's figuring it out on his own - maybe you could ask his teacher for some ideas on what you could do at home. Also, those first few weeks is when the teacher is assessing where the children are, so I'd wait and see how things are going in a few weeks. As she gets to know the children better, she might change things (a lot of those games have modifications to make them more challenging, at least the ones we were using in 2nd and 3rd).

[kransden]

In my school districts they don't teach formal addition or subtraction until the end of kindergarten if at all. They might do count all the red circles and the blue squares together.

[lisams]

In my school districts they don't teach formal addition or subtraction until the end of kindergarten if at all. They might do count all the red circles and the blue squares together.

I'd say that's typical in my experience as well. When I taught first grade (never taught K), we worked on single digit addition/subtraction in the beginning of the year and then by the end of the year two digit addition/subtraction w/out regrouping.

[nfowife]

I agree with Lisa, I taught EDM and really liked it in first grade. I taught K in a different school so never did EDM for K. I think EDM is a good program. In first, we did supplement with a program that was more "basic skills" because we felt that was where EDM was lacking a bit. But I really liked the approach of the program overall.

[mytwosons]

According to my son's K teacher, most kids' brains just aren't developed enough to do substraction at this point. They can do addition, but can't reverse the process. That said, my son's class will be starting subtraction either in January or the spring (I can't remember).

[jamesmom]

What you mentioned sounds like what DS is doing in K math right now. They just did comparisons and sorting. I don't think they get to addition and subtraction until the end of the year. I plan to supplement that with Kumon addition and subtraction workbooks though.

[mamicka]

This is something I never even thought of - thanks for the topic.

Lawrence is doing addition & subtraction quite well at this point & has started to figure out multiplication as well. As far as I can tell, they're just working on matching & counting. I don't even know if they use a book - I'll have to look into this some more. The only homework they've been assigned so far is pointing out letters & numbers as we read & writing his name.

[lmintzer]

Our school system uses Everyday Math too. I actually like it. What I like is that it seems to teach concepts instead of straight memorization, which is great. True, the K stuff can be pretty easy for a kid who has got the basics. Jack was ahead of a lot of what was taught in K and 1. But the program does allow for "challenging" (asking harder questions of kids who can do more).

I guess I don't know any other programs to compare this one to. But honestly, I wonder if it would feel the same with any program. If T is ahead of the curve, it's going to feel too easy with any program.

Honestly, what you might need to do is request testing and move toward a GIEP. Although, if you speak to the teacher, you might be able to request more "challenges" in math (or math and reading) right in th classroom.

[egoldber]

Most people I know whose kids used Everyday Math hate it and feel like their kids didn't really learn a lot with it, especially people whose kids are gifted with math. If Toby is doing multiplication in K, he really needs to get differentiated.

Sarah's school uses Silver Burdett Ginn Mathematics. They definitely spiral year to year, but they go more in depth at each topic in a given year. So far her second grade math has been a repeat of first grade topics, but they are moving quickly. At Back to School Night, the teacher said they do basically the same topics in second as in first, but at more depth.

I am considering supplementing at home with a math curriculum because I really do not think that Sarah is being challenged at all in math.

In our district they don't start doing multiplication in any way other than superficially until third grade.

[LBW]

You might want to look into the Hopkins CTY program or a similar program - I know Stanford offers one, but I'm not sure of the name.

http://cty.jhu.edu/

Our district uses Everyday Math, and depending on how my son is doing and how much differentiation his teacher does, we're going to use the Hopkins program as enrichment. Liam was doing 2-digit addition and subtraction in pre-k, and, like Toby, was starting to figure out multiplication on his own. I don't want to push him at all, but I want to keep him interested in math. I'm really worried about him becoming bored, especially next year when they review the topics taught this year. He has never done tally marks, etc, before, so for now at least he's enjoying himself.

[MamaKath]

Sounds similar to where we are right now in K. Our school uses Sadlier-Oxford and it is a great curriculum. It certainly promotes higher level thinking from the kids then the Scott-Foresman or the HSP curriculum we used in the past. We just finished sorting. K kids get by color, shape, or size. If you ask them if there is another way then the one they choose, many are stumped. Asking them to sort in more than one way throws them too (like by color AND shape). We do subtraction and addition later in the year though. This is the link to the practice...
http://www.sadlier-oxford.com/math/mc_practice.cfm?grade=k&sp=student

If you are looking for sites to help practice skills he is already aware of (like addition, subtraction, etc.) this one has really fun games...
http://arcademicskillbuilders.com/

[brittone2]

nak-
DS is a little younger than Toby (DS is 4.5). I'm not familiar with the specific curriculum that you mentioned, but I can understand your frustration.

Right now I just follow DS's lead and interests. I provide some manipulatives (geometric solids, a preschool pan balance, tangrams, geoboard, 1, 10, 100 and 1000s manipulatives, abacus, etc.). He has figured out quite a bit just playing with those items (like dividing each row on the abacus in half on his own). We also have the Singapore Math workbooks, which we use loosely when the mood strikes. He asks a lot of questions and learns quite a bit without much explicit instruction...it is amazing to watch.

I've heard good things about this game and we may buy it for DS in the next year or so
http://www.livelylessons.com/Nobleknights.html

Math U See, Miquon, and Saxon are some other math curricula that I know a lot of HSers like if you are looking to supplement. I like that Singapore doesn't use a ton of repetition...if your child needs it, you can search out additional problems, but it doesn't do excessive repetition for those that don't need it.

We have some Kumon books too but he isn't a huge fan...he likes the Singapore books better. He does some of the money and telling time portions from Kumon though.

Maybe you can just find something to do a little supplementing at home?

[mecawa]

What the OP posted is exactly what I covered in the district in which I taught K. We did simple addition and subtraction at the very end of the year. In K, you get kids who come in already adding and subtracting, and others who can't yet count using one to one correspondence. The skill level's vary greatly. Everyday Mathematics in my opinion is an excellent math program for Kindergartners, and was favored by most of the teachers in both districts in which I worked, although it was only "officially" used in one of them. In the other district teachers used it part of the time or modified it to be used along with the district's required math program. Hands on activities/games are in my opinion the best way for a child that age to learn the basic math concepts and it's also great for the teacher because then she/he can modify the activities for those different skill levels with ease.