Singapore math

[kimwhite]

Can someone confirm for me which Singapore math book to purchase for my 1st grader? I'm confused because the Singapore website says "if your child is entering 1st grade, start with 1A & 1B; however, HOD catalog gives you a choice whether to go with 1A & 1B or 2A & 2B. . . . when going with Beyond LHFHG guide. I was going to have her take the on-line assessment, but then saw the comment about all 1st graders starting with 1A & 1B. . . Can anyone shed light on this? Thank you so much!!

[Jessi]

Assuming your daughter is on target for first grade I would say use 1A & 1B. Beyond gives the option of either 1A/1B or 2A/2B because some people choose to use Beyond with a first grader and some would use it with their second grader. Does that make sense?

[MomtoJGJE]

I would still have her do the placement test... you never know with singapore.

The reason the guide has multiple choices is because it's not a graded curriculum. You choose which guide they fit in on the placement chart. If they are first grade age, but not really doing much writing and can't sit still and listen for long periods of time then people generally use Little Hearts with first grade options. But if they fit in the placement chart for Beyond, people use Beyond for 1st grade.

Have you looked at the placement chart for your daughter?

[kimwhite]

Thanks Jessi. . . that makes sense.

MomtoJGJE: No, I have not looked at placement chart. I talked with Carrie at our local convention earlier this month and in talking with her, she recommended Beyond. . . I didn't even know about placement chart until looking through the message board last night. Good idea, I'll go ahead and have her take placement test with Singapore. Do you use Singapore and if so, what are your thoughts?

[MomtoJGJE]

I use singapore, and I think it all depends on the kid. My oldest dd is 8 and almost through with 2A. She's doing great. My second dd is 6 and halfway through 1A... she went through the K level books first though. We are going slowly with it and she'll get through with 1B about the time she finishes Beyond, but she hasn't started Beyond yet

I would definitely have her take the singapore test just to make sure... But I would not imagine you would just start out with level 2. DD1 is already doing mult. and div. and she still has a couple of weeks left in 2A. It's definitely advanced as far as concepts go with public schools. I believe I've read on here that in Singapore they actually start their kids with 1A when they turn 7.

[sw1ssm1ss]

It sounds like Carrie might have placed her when she was talking to you at the convention... that's great! I'm really excited to meet Carrie at our state convention in a couple weeks.

As far as Singapore Math, we're really enjoying it. The math, plus the activities in the Beyond guide are just enough without being too much. We've done 1A and 1B with Beyond this year with my daughter. Singapore is actually considered advanced compared to other math curricula. 1B actually introduces multiplication and division in a gentle, natural fashion. I am fine with this--my daughter is a very intuitive thinker with math and we've had no problems other than the "problem" of her accepting that I sometimes need to teach her math and it won't always be obvious with no teaching! I just figure if we come to concepts that require her more time to grasp later we can slow down as needed without me worrying that we are really behind.

[Kathleen]

Kim,

If you have a child ready to enter 1st grade, I would say 1A for sure to start with. This is assuming that your child has done some basic K math like number recognition and writing, counting, skip counting, one-to-one correspondence, simple addition and subtraction, story problems, etc. There's a whole list of what's covered in the K books in the Intro to LHFHG if you scroll down on this link to page 11. http://www.heartofdakota.com/pdf/little ... -intro.pdf A child who has already completed a K program comparable to this would be ready for Singapore 1A with Beyond.

I'm not sure that the Singapore placement test will do you much good as it will only tell you if your child is DONE with 1A or B. And, unless your child has already completed a quite advanced 1st grade math program, that won't be the case. The Singapore placement test is super helpful for moms who are switching a child to Singapore further down the road though. I know that my child who had competed another 2nd grade math program that was more advanced than the public school programs in our area, placed in Singapore 2A. So, usually students coming from anything else will need a level lower than their grade level. (Which isn't a problem - Grant is still learning concepts and thinking by doing 4A & B as a 5th grader that other 5th graders in other programs haven't done yet.)

We've started Beyond and will be continuing it in the fall. This is my 1st time through this guide, and we are really enjoying it here! You're in for a GREAT year!!!

Kathleen

[kimwhite]

Thank you to everyone who has responded! So helpful! We are almost done with Horizons Kindergarten math books. It looks like from the posts that starting with 1A & 1B is a good idea. Thanks again to everyone. . . Very excited about starting our 1st grade year with HOD !