Singapore Math featured on NBC’s Today Show

Class of 2020 Learns Math the Singapore Way

In September 2007, NBC’s Today Show  launched an ambitious 13-year project to follow a school class from kindergarten through their high school graduation. Students in the Today Show’s “Class of 2020” segment are now in 3rd grade. From an episode that aired on May 2, 2011, we learn that the class of 2020 is learning Singapore Math.

This story does a very nice job of presenting some of the key features of Singapore Math and the ways American teachers are effectively implementing it. Mrs. Kaprelian explains the curriculum’s emphasis on place values, mental math and mental flexibility with math, all leading to a firm grasp of bar modeling. Note how Mrs. Kaprelian highlights the important role of manipulatives (in this case, cubes) in the concrete -> pictorial -> abstract progression. That groundwork leads seamlessly to the use of the bar model method to solve highly complex problems.

I Wish I Had Singapore Math

The role of parents also is addressed. Mrs. Kaprelian offers lessons to parents to introduce Singapore Math and tell them how it differs from other elementary math curricula. Initially, parents may be puzzled by Singapore Math, but typically there’s an “Ah Ha” moment when they get it and say, “I wish I had (Singapore Math).” (This is very common, I see the same reaction whenever I host Parent Nights at schools implementing Singapore Math.)

Involved parents, with knowledge of Singapore Math, on the same page with their child’s teacher…no wonder math is Eileen’s favorite subject.

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Burroughs Wellcome Fund brings Singapore Math Pilot to North Carolina

Thanks to a $1.2 million grant, six North Carolina schools will participate in the Singapore Math Pilot, a partnership with the Department of Public Instruction and State Board of Education. The selected schools were among 19 targeted by the initiative. The Singapore Math Pilot will provide approximately $240,000 over six years for teacher training and the purchase of Singapore Math workbooks and manuals.

The schools participating in the Singapore Math Pilot are:

* Murphey Traditional Academy, Greensboro
* Elizabethtown Primary School, Elizabethtown
* East Arcadia School, Riegelwood
* Eastfield Global Magnet School, Marion
* Gallberry Farm Elementary School, Hope Mills
* North Wilkesboro Elementary School, North Wilkesboro

The Singapore Math Pilot is the result of an effort launched by North Carolina foundations, policymakers, educators and business leaders in 2008, when a delegation visited Singapore. I’ll share more about this project in coming weeks.

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Fayette County to expand Singapore Math program

Fayette, Kentucky schools were in the news this week:

More Fayette schools sign up for Singapore math program
By Jim Warren
Lexington Herald-Leader Online

More Fayette County schools want to join the district’s demanding new Singapore math program, the county Board of Education was told Monday night.

And WLKY.com and the Associated Press adds:
More Singapore Math Classes Likely In Lexington

The county’s elementary math content specialist told the Fayette County Board of Education on Monday that up to eight more schools want to start using the program in the fall, the Lexington Herald-Leader reported. Nine elementary schools in Fayette County began using the program in 2009 and a dozen more joined this school year.

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Parent takes a stand for Singapore Math

This story came across the news today:

Parent Kipp Marcus discovered Singapore Math:

“…because a colleague of mine whose son goes to Hunter, was working on the whiteboard in our office one day, and this kid was just exploding with math,” Marcus told the Board of Education on Monday night. “And what was exciting was not just that he knew how to do math, but that he loved it — and this was not a kid who just loved math. He was just a kid who got it.”

Read the full story: Westport Dad Backs ‘Singapore Math’

 

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