Math problems of the week: 4th grade Mathland vs. Singapore Math

I. The final word problems in Mathland's 4th grade Skill Power, p. 219:

Choose the Answer

Gloria scored 12 points in last night's basketball game She scored 1/6 of her team's points. How many total points did the team score?

A. 24 points
B. 36 points
C. 72 points
D. 84 points

Explain your thinking.

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Which size?

Corn Crunchies are on sale. The 10-oz size is $1.60. The 24-oz size is $3.36. Which size would you buy to et the most for your money?

Show how you know.

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True or False?

A can of cat food costs $1.20. True or false? You can buy 9 cans with a ten-dollar bill.

Explain how you know.

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II. The final word problems in Singapore Math 4th grade Primary Mathematics Workbook, 4B, p. 161-2:

A tank can hold 30.1 gal of water. A bucket can hold 1/7 as much water as the tank. Find the capacity of the bucket.

Neil saved 15 quarters in January. He saved 35 nickels in February. He saved 21 dimes in March. How much money did he save in the three months?

How many quarters are there in $116.75

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III. Extra Credit

Which does your child prefer: doing easier problems and explaining his or her answer, or doing harder problems?

Show how you know.

Left-Brain Child book talk tomorrow night in Boston

...specifically in Waltham, north of Boston, at Back Pages Books.

We'll discuss concerns and anecdotes about Reform Math, social classrooms, projects and "personal reflections," and grades, as well as strategies for parents and teachers.

Please spread the word to parents, friends, and teachers of shy, unsocial, analytical, academically gifted, math-inclined, science-inclined, and/or Aspergian children.

UPDATE: EVENT CANCELED!

Fire-induced flooding hit the bookstore while the owner was away for a family emergency, which my publicist only found out about today because she herself is out sick.

Everyday Math author defends his program against Katharine Beals

In today's Philadelphia Inquirer Letters to the Editor, excerpted here:

Katharine Beals' article on the use of "reform math" with students with autism contains many misperceptions about Everyday Mathematics that, as the program's coauthor, I want to clarify ("The 'reform math' problem," last Monday).

Everyday Mathematics was designed for general education students, but it has been effective in special education, including with students with autism.

Beals' claim that students spend large chunks of time working in unsupervised groups is untrue. A teacher supervises student group work at all times. While some assignments are "open-ended and language-intensive," many are not. A balanced curriculum needs simple exercises to build basic skills, as well as more difficult problems.

Beals writes that students "lose points for failing to cooperate in groups, explain their answers, and comprehend language-intensive problems." While decisions about how to grade students are made at the local level, many people believe it's reasonable to require students to work cooperatively, explain their work, and understand word problems.

Everyday Mathematics is not just a "sequence of themes," but a carefully organized sequence of lessons resulting in mastery of a specific set of goals. Its approach is well supported by research, the authors' experience, and decades of classroom experience.

Naturally, accommodations for teaching children with autism must be made, and that's what professionals always do. As with any tool, Everyday Mathematics must be used with professional judgment.

Andy Isaacs

Chicago

Dysgraphia, dysteachia, dystopia

For some of the prototypically left-brain children I write about in my book, penmanship problems are common. They are worsened by the dearth of penmanship instruction in today's schools. One can ask the same thing about dysgraphia as more and more people are asking about dyslexia: how much of this is merely dysteachia?

Just as dyslexia (or dys-phonics-teachia) ultimately impedes higher-level reading comprehension, so does dysgraphia (or dys-penmanship-teachia) ultimately impede higher level writing. In struggling hands, ideas quickly bottleneck, choking off fluency.

Precisely this kind of writer's block is plaguing a gifted third grader I know. So his mom had him evaluated by an occupational therapist, who confirmed "dysgraphia." Mom brought this diagnosis to the school and asked penmanship tutoring. The answer? "No."

As it turns out, our school district (5th largest in the country) is not obliged to provide support for penmanship instruction... because penmanship isn't part of its official curriculum.

This, despite the fact that, in their many hand-written projects, students are routinely marked off for deficient "neatness."

Math problems of the week: 2nd grade Everyday Math vs. Singapore Math

I. A sampling of problems from the 2nd grade Everyday Math Student Math Journal, Volume I, "Addition and Subtraction Facts," pp. 20-50.

Use > , <, or =.

6 + 7 ___ 15 - 4
5 + 8 ___ 8 + 5
18 - 9 ___ 5 + 4

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Today is ________________
(month) (day) (year)

The date 1 week from today will be ____________

-------------

Use a number grid.

How many spaces from: 17 to 26? 49 to 28?

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Which is heavier: 1 ounce or 1 pound?

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Write an addition story.

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Play Broken Calculator.
Show 17. Broken key is 2.
Show three ways.

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Draw a rectangle around the digit in the tens place

349
406

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Follow the rule. Fill in the missing numbers.

Rule: + 6

___in___out___
___2____8____
___3 ____9____
___5 _________
___9__________

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Subtract. Use the -9 and -8 shortcuts.

13-9 = ___
14 - 8 = ___
...

II. A sampling of problems from the 2nd grade Singapore Math Primary Mathematics Workbook, Volume I, "Addition and Subtraction," pp. 31-68.

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Compare two sets.
[squared-off picture of 11 flowers, labeled "A," next to squared off picture of 6 flowers, labeled "B"]

11 - 6 = ___
Set A has ___ more flowers than Set B.

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Add

3 + 4 =
30 + 40 =
300 + 400 =

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Subtract
7 - 3 = ___
70 - 30 = ___
700 - 300 = ___

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Subtract.

689
- 32

786
- 73

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Add
7 + 6 =
27 + 6 =
527 + 6 =

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Add

264
+ 36

486
+ 54
...

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A watch costs $167.
A camera costs $48 more than the watch.
What is the cost of the camera?
What is the total cost of the camera and the watch?

The total cost of the camera is $ ____
The total cost of the camera and the watch is $ _____

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Add or subtract.

251
-170

358
+416

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David collected 930 stamps.
He had 845 stamps left over after giving some stamps to his friends.
How many stamps did he give to his friends?


III. Extra Credit:

Discuss the phrase "a mile wide and an inch deep."

Everyday Math tells people to "trust the spiral." Do you?

Op-Ed in yesterday's Philadelphia Inquirer

Here.

Be sure to check out the comments that appear below the article.

For all the talking points that Reform Math proponents deploy in response to the general criticisms, I haven't yet seen any talking points that respond to concerns about children on the autistic spectrum. Has anyone else?

Since it's well-documented--and generally agreed--that AS children require structure, direct instruction, and discrete tasks, and that many of them have the potential to excel in math, and since the education establishment's purported missions include (1) mainstreaming and (2) catering to different learning needs, I believe this is a fruitful message to keep plugging.

Gifted Exchange

Laura Vankerkam of Gifted Exchange has honored me with an interview here.

She's also got a great piece on the BASIS Schools in Arizona. As Vanderkam notes, "the schools explicitly model their curricula on the best practices exhibited in other countries that routinely trounce the US in international comparisons."