Photo credit Monica Lim
There have been several items in various news outlets this past week.
From Boston.com comes the story: Wellesley math teachers learn Singapore techniques from Tenacre specialist
Although the Wellesley district is not considering adopting a Singapore Math curriculum, they asked a a teacher from another school to demonstrate one of Singapore Math’s well-known strategies, the bar model method of solving word problems. Jen MacPherson, Wellesley Public Schools’ elementary math coordinator may look at further professional development for the teachers:
Kids struggle with word problems. This is an easy tool to use in any curriculum.
Model drawing is a hot topic! The School Board in Briarcliff agrees. Their budget includes:
Approval for consultants to train kindergarten through sixth grade teachers in the Singapore Math Model Drawing Method.
And in the Honolulu Star-Advertiser is a brief snippet amongst a story about a Hawaiian charter school that began in a chicken coop: With stable teaching staff and financial aid, Waianae school is model for student success
Principal Alvin Parker cites Singapore Math as helping the school meet turnaround goals:
The school adopted Singapore Math in the fall of 2009, and math proficiency jumped from 27 percent of students to 37 percent over the course of that school year, helping the school make “adequate yearly progress.”
Finally, blogger Monica Lim writes about her life with kids in Singapore and periodically includes interesting math problems as well as issues with the PSLE and education in Singapore. She recently posted a couple of interesting problems and student solutions: Revisiting maths models.
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Thank you SO much! This helped a whole lot. I have a test on this tomorrow and I needed help with solving my math word problem, so than you.
Great to hear we could help!