SINGAPORE MATH Parent Information Night – September 2015

QUESTIONS?

Singapore has led the world in math mastery for over a decade. Its students become competent and proficient mathematicians at very early ages. They grow to be capable problem solvers who think mathematically with ease.

SINGAPORE’S PRIMARY MATH CURRICULUM  Has a proven track record  Builds understanding through part-whole thinking  Bases instruction on student background knowledge  Is coherent and teaches for mastery

CURRICULUM KEY COMPONENTS  Revolves around several key number sense strategies  Relies on model drawing to solve word problems  Mental math which will teach students to solve problems in their heads  Strategies taught are layered upon one another  Teaches students to understand math in stages  Aligned to Common Core objectives

RESEARCH BEHIND SINGAPORE MATH  Concrete-pictorial-abstract approach (Jerome Bruner)  Relational understanding (Richard Skemp)  Multiple models and varied practice and experiences (Zoltan Dienes)

STAGES IN SINGAPORE MATHEMATICS BRUNER Concrete Pictorial Abstract C-P-A PROGRESSION: Instructional strategies build understanding through activities that move students in a sequence from the concrete (manipulatives) to the pictorial (visual models) and then to the abstract (symbolic) level

RELATIONAL VS. INSTRUMENTAL SKEMP Relational vs. Instrumental - instrumental understanding tells you how to do it - relational understanding not only tells you how to do it, but WHY Instrumental Relational

MULTIPLE MODELS AND VARIED PRACTICE DIENES  “Conceptual learning is maximized when children are exposed to a concept through a variety of physical contexts.” Using a variety of materials and experiences leads to an understanding of mathematical abstraction.  Practice with different strategies and representations leads to deeper understanding.

INSTRUCTION BASED ON STUDENT BACKGROUND KNOWLEDGE “What students already know about the content is one of the strongest indicators of how well they will learn new information relative to the content.” - Robert Marzano

A COHERENT CURRICULUM – TEACHING FOR MASTERY  The curriculum is coherent. All the steps in the curriculum are connected to each other and logically integrated into the whole.  Singapore’s spiral approach is one that teaches for mastery, then moves to a higher level of complexity.

HOW DOES SINGAPORE MATH SPIRAL DIFFER FROM THE EVERYDAY SPIRAL? 1 st grade Numbers to 40 Counting Tens and Ones Comparing Numbers Addition and Subtraction Multiplication Adding Equal Groups Making Multiplication Stories Multiplication Within 40 2 nd grade Numbers to 10,000 Addition and Subtraction Adding/Subtracting Ones, Tens, Hundreds, and Thousands Multiplication Tables of 6, 7, 8, and 9 Common Units that get more complex at each grade level. This is different than the spiral approach of Everyday Math where topics are spiraled inside of each unit.

WHY IS SINGAPORE MATH APPROPRIATE FOR GIFTED CHILDREN?  Depth and acceleration Singapore Math is topic intensive, which is critical for gifted learners. The curriculum covers fewer topics per grade level than most traditional curricula, but it covers them in greater depth, which helps students develop mathematical thinking. At the same time, Singapore Math is an accelerated curriculum. Deceptively, in the early levels, students spend more time than in traditional programs investigating apparently “simple” concepts like addition. However, this additional time allows concepts to be investigated in deep, rich ways. This deep investigation provides students a foundation that leads to significantly more complexity and acceleration as students progress through the program.

WHY IS SINGAPORE MATH APPROPRIATE FOR GIFTED CHILDREN?  Communication as a vehicle for learning The curriculum emphasizes precise mathematical communication. The act of describing mathematical operations verbally and in writing can be complex for gifted learners, who frequently make intuitive leaps when solving problems. The process of communicating their work opens up new levels of understanding and prepares gifted learners to share their thinking with others.  Visual learning Singapore Math is a highly visual program, with an emphasis on model-drawing to solve problems as an interim step to mental visualization. This benefits many visual-spatial gifted children.  Mental math Mental math is embedded in the program, encouraging students to utilize and deepen their number sense as they do increasingly complex problems without a pencil and paper.

DIFFERENTIATION IS EMBEDDED IN THE PROGRAM Concrete-pictorial-abstract in action  Children will progress through the stages at different rates Build a number bracelet Number bond picture Learn Addition algorithm  Children will need more practice will be able to remain at the concrete or pictorial level until mastery is reached  Children who are ready can quickly reach the abstract level

MODEL DRAWING IS A KEY ELEMENT FOR UPPER ELEMENTARY Anne and Sue drove together to the beach. The trip was a total of 350 miles. Anne drove for 3 hours at a constant speed of 70 MPH and then Sue drove the rest of the distance. If the trip took 5 hours and 20 minutes, how fast did Sue drive?

SINGAPORE MATH AT THE SCHOLARS ACADEMY All students in K through 4 will use this program Grade levels are beginning at various levels this year to transition to the new program and new vocabulary Grade levels will complete 2- 3 textbooks per year (1 st grade may do 1B, 2A and 2B – approximately 10 units per textbook). Currently we do not plan to extend the use of this program into the middle school.

ASSESSMENT The students will take a pre-test and a post-test at the beginning and end of the school year to see how the new math program is working. Formal assessments are included at the end of the unit Informal assessment daily as students move through the C-P-A stages

TEACHER TRAINING  K-4 teachers attended a 2 day workshop in July to prepare to teach this program  Ms. Zagorski also took more intensive courses online and is serving as the school’s lead teacher for the Singapore math program  New teachers hired after the summer workshop are taking an online Singapore math course  Additional teacher training is planned throughout the school year

WHERE CAN PARENTS GET MORE INFORMATION?  Monthly, we will add a Singapore math section to our Eagles Nest newsletter containing more explanation of the layers along with more examples to help you learn the same process your child is learning.  Singapore math website has a wealth of information including:  Articles about other schools using this program  Curriculum outline  Videos/articles about the Singapore math methods

WHAT DO WE NEED FROM YOU?  Patience – as we know that this is a different way of learning math than what you may have been taught as a child.  Practice math facts daily with your child (addition, subtraction, multiplication and division).  Trust us in this process. We want the children to understand “why” before teaching algorithms.