Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Learning Environments Math Acceleration/Differentiation

Well, we met with the principal today at our private school, and had about as good a meeting as I could have hoped for.

DS5-almost-6 is going into first grade, but the principal has agreed with our idea of using a math tutor/mentor after school and allowing him to work during math time on an accelerated curriculum that is guided by the tutor/mentor. We all think he will probably be ready for 3rd grade math next year, and both think that the best person to do this would be the 3rd grade math teacher, who is familiar with teaching that curriculum and is, according to the principal, a good fit for DS. The principal is going to approach her and see if she would be interested. Once we get hooked up with her, I will see how flexible she will be in terms of pace and additional topics for enrichment (e.g. logic, probability, etc). It will mean an extra expense for us, but that is well worth it to have him stimulated again and excited about learning new math. They are even open to using a different curriculum (e.g. Singapore Math) if we decide we want to use that. We are going to take home the 1st and 2nd grade workbooks this summer to make sure there are no areas of deficiency, and then they will test him at the beginning of the school year to see where he is.

We told the principal that we are going to participate in the once-a-week gifted math class pullout at our local public school, which my husband sat in on when DS went to shadow the class. Both my son and my husband were VERY enthusiastic about the program, when we had been lukewarm beforehand. So two good things. I think they will be flexible with whatever classtime he misses at the pullout, as he is pretty far ahead in the other areas as well.

They are also doing a "Think Outside the Box" program for the last period of the day, where the students get broken up to do more work on various topics that require critical/creative thinking (e.g. some topics are Odyssey of the Mind, Zoology, Functional Geography, Botany, Robotics, Math Lab, etc. They will have one section that is only for gifted students, although the gifted kids can choose a different topic if they would prefer.).

To top it all off, I think in large part because of our pushing and insistence that there are a good chunk of kids who are ready to accelerate in math, they are going to try ability gropuing. At our school, they do kindergarten math in pre K, but repeat it with a different, slightly more complex curriculum in kindergarten. Since my kids both scored in the 96th to 98th percentile on the end of year test (based on norms for kids finishing Kindy, not preK), I thought it was a little silly that they had to repeat the whole year of math. I'm sure that's true for a number of the other kids too. DS5 is particularly good at math, and is probably at least two years ahead, but DS4 is solidly ready to work one year ahead -- I think it would have been hard to get her differentiation because she isn't as obviously ahead as my son. Anyway, long story short, the principal is FINALLY ready to try grouping for math in kindergarten. Woohoo! I don't know exactly how they will do this (divide the two classes up by math ability? do different curriculums within the same room (e.g. both classes have some kids doing K and some doing 1st grade)?), but this is BIG progress! And once they do it this year, they will need to continue it as they move forward into later grades.

I am getting excited about the next school year. :-)

Wow! Congratulations on your great advocacy. I hope it all works out. So nice to have the school on board.

Way to go!!

I would try to get hold of some Singapore Math materials before you buy, to see how much you like them. I'm ambivalent about the way some of the material's presented, though it is certainly not even close to the worst I've seen.

That sounds like a little slice of heaven!

That's awesome. You have achieved lasting change in your school, and you're just getting started. I'm keeping my fingers crossed about our public elementary, as they seem receptive and willing to be creative so far, but we haven't achieved anything like that so far (though they already do some amount of ability grouping, by classroom and also within the classroom, and I have a generally high opinion of their methods in general, despite the lack of a GT program).

We love Singapore Math and use it every day. I like the problem- solving based approach to it. I don't think the grade level on it is accurate though- my son's singapore book says "fourth grade," and alot of it was covered in his second grade.
We also use Math Minute, which is surprisingly good.
I did break down and have my son do some Kumon. It's boring but he seems to like it, and at some point, you just have to get your math facts down quickly. It's a "drill and kilL" approach.

Do you have any recommendations for your favorite math curriculum? I thought we did Saxon math, but I was wrong -- they use something called "Real Math". They are going to send home the 1st and 2nd grade workbooks this summer, so we can make sure he isn't missing any topics (like measurement) before he moves into 3rd grade work.


I know!! I'm so excited about it.


Well, this is in a private school... We do have to pay for the privilege of getting them to accomodate our kids. :-) And we will end up paying our "math mentor" for our son, since he's not ready to just go into the 3rd grade class... So it's a lot of expense, but we are very happy with their responsiveness. I have to say that we met with the principal of our public elementary school, and while we aren't ready to leave our private school (which we just love), he was very persuasive about their interest in meeting the real needs of each individual student. It's a place to keep in mind, for sure.

Good luck with your school, and thanks for your comments!

I do think that Singapore Math has a problem-solving focus, which is of course good. It's just that the way they illustrate some of the concepts seems suboptimal to me. But there's a long way between "poor" and "suboptimal". Unfortunately, I don't know much about other curriculums, and have never heard of Real Math. I've read some bad things about Saxon Math, but don't know how accurate they are.

The cheapest place I found to order the Singapore Math "Standards Edition" (apparently made for use in California, with extra coverage on certain topics and using the US units of measure) was christianbook.com . We are not religious, but it is a decent place to order from. We got free shipping by calling for a special code.

jack'smom, for "drill and kill" that's not too boring I would check out IXL. My son used it for a while and found it fun enough to keep going. We haven't used it in a while now, so I may terminate our subscription, though it's pretty cheap at $8/month. You can try it for free up to a certain number of questions per day.

Thanks for the tips!
Yes, we've done IXL. My older one doesn't like it; he's the one that is a bit slow on doing "speed math." My little one likes it.
Our school uses Everyday Math, which really seems muddled to me. Gosh, though, everything seems accelerated compared to what I remember doing as a kid! I vaguely remember learning fractions in 4th-5th grade and my son's school started in 1st and is done with basic fractions in second grade!
Thanks for the tip on christianbook.com I'll have to check that out!

Everyday Math (EM) may present advanced topics in early grades, but that does not mean the children master those topics. EM will revisit those topics in every grade. Singapore Math largely assumes that previous material has been mastered. Almost no homeschooler chooses to use EM, which tells you something. Indirectly EM has strengthened the homeschooling movement, because I have read of many cases where parents pulled their children out of school because EM was not working for their children.

EM classrooms spend a lot of time playing math games. A child who knows his multiplication table will still be forced to play games on this topic. I don't think EM is a good curriculum for gifted children.

My daughter's first year in public school - using Everyday Math in 3rd grade. (Montessori pre-2) She likes the EM WAY better than the Montessori Math. But it quickly got VERY easy. ANd like you said: They play a LOT of games. How many rows..bla bla bla...she has been doing multiplication since Kindergarten! Why are we still counting rows! Poor her. So, I have a meeting on Thursday with the VP of 4th and 5th grade to see about putting her in 5th Math. Maybe EM is a good fit for her learning style if it is being taught at the right level. From what I understand, anything she missed, skipping the 4th grade Math, she will pick-up during the 4th grade review - while participating in 5th grade Math...right? See, the review is good for something! lol...Wish me luck..I have no idea how the school will respond to my request! I DO know that they have NO students skipping 4th grade Math..as of now. WISH ME LUCK!