Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy Should I 'prep' dd?

My 7 yo dd just finished first grade. Next year she starts the self-contained gifted class which will be a mix of 2nd and 3rd graders. I heard that they start all the students out on 3rd grade math. They begin with a math assessment (end of 2nd grade math assessment maybe?) to determine their 'gaps' and go from there. Up until now I haven't done any after schooling with dd except for on occasion we do Sunshine math. I am just wondering if it would be a good idea to give her a condensed 2nd grade math curriculum over the summer? I do feel she instinctively is good at math (PRI of 151) but her school uses Everyday Math and is a bit confusing at times with how they word things and expect problems to be answered.

Does she like working on math problems?

If so, I might try picking up one of Singapore's "Challenging Word Problems" workbooks for Level 2 and let her work one each morning or something.

That way you'll know if there are any major gaps before she starts, and if that one is too difficult, you can always jump back to the Level 1 book.

This way she can use a variety of strategies to solve, and the problems are more like fun puzzles than drill.


(All of that to say that having seen bits and pieces of EDM over the years, I would share your uneasiness.)

You just reminded me, back when she was in pre-k (age 4) she did do a workbook from Singapore Math called "70 Must Know Word Problems" which was level 1. She did those at the time with ease.

I will look for the one you mentioned. She definitely isn't entirely in love with math, but I think some of that may be due to her boredom in school this past year, especially in math. Reading instruction was much more tailored to her level. I did buy this book for her a few weeks ago and have yet to try it out http://www.amazon.com/Primary-Grade-Challenge-Edward-Zaccaro/dp/0967991536 so far it looks like something she would like.

I do have an old 2nd grade EDM workbook from my older dd, do you think I should show my dd some of the stuff from that or just avoid EDM in general and stick to just problem solving?

Can you contact the teacher and ask what she'd like you to do?

Our self-contained HGT classrooms work a year ahead in math, too, also using EDM. (My dd is your dd's age and grade and did 2nd grade math last year in 1st.) I've heard that teachers at our school have kids who enter the program in later grades do math over the summer so that they can start a grade ahead in the fall.

If I were you, that's what I'd do.

We don't know who her teacher is yet, won't know til a few weeks before school. I would work on teaching her 2nd grade math over the summer bur don't really know how to go about it. I'm not even sure what concepts are considered 2nd grade concepts.

I think you are unlikely to go very wrong by using the Common Core 2nd grade standards.

EDM will work to your advantage in this situation. I wouldn't worry about it at all. EDM works on a spiral curriculum, and our school found it very easy to compress the content of two years into one by merging different rings of the spirals. The teacher can introduce the concept, and instead of quitting after the basic introduction at the 2nd grade level, can then present the 3rd grade version at the same time.

We also found that my DD naturally inferred the next rings of the spiral to the point that I suspect she would have been fine without grades 1 and 2 after doing EDM for K.

There's not that much weird vocab in the EDM pre- and post-tests, just in the curriculum itself.

Here is a link to the Everyday Math Algorithms, if it helps you understand how they expect the kids to solve the problems better:

http://instruction.aaps.k12.mi.us/EM_parent_hdbk/algorithms.html

I strongly recommend supplementing EDM with math facts (memorizing multiplication/division facts) because EDM doesn't really teach that in depth K-4 and in our district, if the kids don't have their math facts 0-12 completely memorized by 5th grade, they are left behind.

My DD is just finishing 3rd grade and can do mult/division 0-20 in addition to her EDM curriculum. She is pretty good at fractions too.

I think that if she clearly qualified for the program, you don't need to prep her. The fact that she is a 2nd grader in a mix of 2nd and 3rd graders would indicate that. About a decade ago, my oldest DS was put in a pilot program where the 2nd graders were doing the 3rd grade math curriculum with enrichment. It was no problem for him or many others who were clearly qualified. Unfortunately, it was too small a group and I think they added some students to make the class a bit larger and those were the students who struggled a bit. For some reason, by 3rd grade, a lot more bright kids can handle math curriculum a grade up.

However, if it would make you feel better and your DD is not opposed to it, you can prep on the 2nd grade curriculum over the summer. I would look up the actual curriculum objectives for your district to see if your DD has any gaps.

My DD sort of skipped third grade math and what has tripped her up a little bit is not calculation stuff but things like weights and measures (what's bigger, a pint or a quart?), the metric system, etc, which cannot be faked based on good number sense and require a little more time to get cemented. Also, concepts like perimeter and area, congruence, etc. All these can be taught quite easily but are going to be met with a completely blank look if she's never encountered them (whereas a bright kid is going to be able to figure out a lot of other stuff by herself).