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Save the Date! Singapore Mathematics Fall 2014 Seminars

July 3, 2014 by Leave a Comment

My brain exploded!

Here are the just-released Fall 2014 dates for my BER seminars “How to Use the Best Strategies from Singapore Mathematics to Strengthen your Math Instruction”  and  “Boost Students’ Math Problem Solving Skills Using Singapore Model Drawing” 

“Boost Students’ Math Problem Solving Skills Using Singapore Model Drawing” (BER)

A whole day of problem solving with Singapore Bar Modeling PLUS that handbook for your own home enjoyment! (- with the answers and fully worked solutions!)

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“How to Use the Best Strategies From Singapore Mathematics to Strengthen Your Math Instruction” (BER) – I’ll update this post when the registrations are available. UPDATED 8/16/2014

2015 dates – I’ll update this post with links when the registrations are available. 

This overview of Singapore Math® strategies will put your students on the road to success with number sense, computation and problem solving.  (Plus you a get a handy-dandy handbook!)

 

Your city not on the list? Contact me and I can bring my Singapore Math® workshop(s) to your school or district – email Cassy (at) singaporemathsource.com
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Seattle School Board rejects enVision Math, adopts Math in Focus

June 11, 2014 by Leave a Comment

Seattle Public Schools logoAt its June 4, 2014 meeting, the Seattle School Board voted 4-3 to adopt Math in Focus as its math curriculum for K-5 schools starting in the 2014-2015 school year.

Math in Focus is adapted from Singapore’s My Pals are Here Maths for the North American market.

Previously, most of Seattle’s schools 59 elementary schools had used Everyday Mathematics.

A Math Adoption Committee (MAC) reviewed many options and recommended  the adoption of enVision Math from Pearson.

The Committee discounted Math in Focus because it wasn’t aligned to the Common Core State Standards and had a higher cost than enVision.

For many years, a community-wide, grass roots coalition has pushed for consideration of Singapore Math® materials in Seattle. One Seattle school, Seattle’s Schmitz Park Elementary, has successfully used Primary Mathematics under a waiver of District requirements for many years.

On June 4, several school board members justified their support for Math in Focus rather than enVision by citing:

  • the program’s clarity and rigor,
  • how its visual approach works for struggling readers and English language learners,
  • backing from teachers and the community, and
  • their view that Math in Focus was worth the higher price.

The Board considered, but rejected, a proposal for a dual adoption of both enVision and Math in Focus. Ultimately, the Board voted to adopt Math in Focus on a 4-3 vote.

Interested in reading or hearing/watching more? Here are some links to coverage of the Seattle School Board’s decision:

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Singapore Maths Coming to Australia!

May 5, 2014 by Leave a Comment

australian_flagIn a series of recent stories, The Australian newspaper highlights the success of Singapore’s students on the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) exam and describes the value of its curriculum.

The paper cited a report by the Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority that compared the Singapore and Australian curriculums. It found Singapore schools spent about twice as much time on basic operations and geometry in the first few years of school and had a greater focus on problem solving (from “A lesson learnt…” see below)

The Australian then reports that Scholastic Australia will be publishing a new set of textbooks based on the Singapore model that, “enable children to gain a deeper and better understanding of mathematical content and ways of working.”

Here is an article and an editorial from The Australian:

Kids get Asian lesson in maths

The Australian, April 12, 2014:

Schools in Australia will be able to teach maths Singapore-style with the release next month of primary textbooks that set out the teaching methods responsible for taking Singaporean students to the top of international tests.

A lesson learnt from Singapore

In an editorial on April 15, 2014, The Australian was encouraged by the forthcoming release of new textbooks based on the Singapore model. To be published by Scholastic Australia, the texts will be linked to the Australian curriculum and endorsed by the Singapore Ministry of Education.

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Pre-orders open for Primary Mathematics Common Core Edition

April 24, 2014 by Leave a Comment

PMCC and DMCC As I previewed last week, the new Primary Mathematics Common Core Edition is now available for 2014-2015 school year.

Primary Mathematics Common Core Edition maintains the proven Singapore approach to teaching and learning mathematics, with a focus on the Concrete to Pictorial to Abstract (CPA) method and use of strategies including bar modeling.

We are currently accepting pre-orders for Primary Mathematics Common Core Edition and Earlybird Kindergarten Common Core Edition. Materials will be available to ship starting in mid July 2014. We will arrange the delivery for a time convenient to your school.

Want more information? Schools can request a price list, review sample chapters, and get info on  pre-ordering materials with this form.

Dimensions Math Common Core is also available for grades 7 & 8.

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Singapore Math® News and Views

April 21, 2014 by Leave a Comment

number bondsThe Singapore Math® program recently has been in the news in the U.S., Canada and the United Kingdom. Several articles focus on the results of the 2012 Programme for International ­Student Assessment (PISA) which was released in December.

Can the Singapore method help your children learn maths?

Shortly after the results of the PISA exam were announced in December, BBC Skillwise ran a piece that explained some of the features of math in Singapore:

Singapore teaches maths better than most countries including the UK, according to international rankings for secondary pupils.

The difference starts at an early age.

There are many reasons but one key factor is its step-by-step approach that can be used at home or in the classroom.

Canada urged to demand same standards in education as in hockey

From the Calgary Herald, February 19, 2014: Sliding scores in math, science, literacy spark alarm.

Canada’s former deputy prime minister, John Manley, spoke at a symposium focused on Alberta’s ongoing Inspiring Education during the Sochi Winter Olympics. Manley, who now serves as president and CEO of the Canadian Council of Chief Executives, asked:

“How can we be satisfied with 13th place in math when we’re not satisfied with second place in hockey?”

Whitby school borrows ‘world-best’ teaching methods

The Toronto Star reports that students at the Trafalgar Castle School in Whitby, Ontario, are learning math the Singapore way.

Headmaster Adam de Pencier is pursuing the “world best” curriculum  by cherry-picking the leading teaching methods from around the globe:

“If we believe curriculum drives a school, shouldn’t we try to choose the best curriculum, whether it’s from Whitby, Walla Walla, or Wellington?” asked de Pencier, who had math teacher Jessica Semkin train in Singapore math last summer.

Semkin said the Singapore approach “slows down the pace of learning to make sure there is a mastery of skills. With Singapore math, we spent about two weeks on multiplying fractions, instead of a day or two, and then coming back to it later.”

Gill St. Bernard school receives a visit from Singapore math leader

Nine years ago, Gill St. Bernard School piloted the Singapore Math® curriculum in second grade. It quickly expanded; by 2005, the curriculum was in use throughout the Lower and Middle school.

When Lower School Director Peggy Campbell-Rush visited Singapore in 2012, she met Yeap Ban Har, Ph.D, an internationally recognized Singapore math leader. On April 16, 2014, Dr. Ban Har visited Gill St. Bernard School to conduct professional development for the school’s K-6 teachers.

Finally, an OPINION piece that urges consideration of a more rigorous math curricula such as that used in Singapore:

Save kids from Fuzzy Math

A February 3, 2014, New York Post Opinion piece by Naomi Schaefer Riley, includes this revelation:

The education establishment frowns on anything so simple as adopting the methods of high-performing countries…[I]t insists we spend decades and millions of dollars to evaluate each one.

 

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