Singapore Math resources

New Bar Modeling iPad Apps!

July 28, 2013 by Cassy Turner 6 Comments

For many years, I’ve highly recommended Thinkingblocks.com to my students who hone their bar modeling skills while playing really fun games. These flash-based programs work great on a desktop or laptop, but required third-party solutions to work on mobile devices.

Tired of using Rover to run Thinkingblocks.com on your iPad?

Well, hop on over to the iTunes app store because Math Playground has just published four new iPad apps based on the popular website Thinkingblocks.com that work perfectly, provide tracked progress and are FREE for a limited time:

Addition and Subtraction:

Multiplication and Division:

Fractions:

Ratios and Proportion:

Filed Under: Math Resources Tagged With: iPad Apps, Model Method, Singapore Math resources, Singapore Math word problems

If I had a million dollars, ok $1000…

June 20, 2013 by Cassy Turner Leave a Comment

Recently, I received a question from an excited teacher who had just received a grant to spend on her classroom: “If you had a $1000 dollar grant and taught second grade, what would be the most important pieces of Singapore Math you’d buy?”

If I had a million dollars, ok $1000… here are two scenarios.

#1 Using the curriculum in 2nd grade as your main curriculum

A classroom set of the 1B & 2A textbooks @ $9.00 each, so if you had 24 students + 1 for your self: 25 x $18 = $450
Possibly a set of the 2B textbooks: 25 x $9 = $225
A Teacher Manual for 1B, 2A & 2B: 3 x $21 = $63
A workbook for reference and problem ideas for 1B, 2A & 2B = 3 x $9 = $27
Challenging Word problems level 1 & 2: 2 x $8.50 = $17.00
Intensive Practice: 1B, 2A & 2B: 3 x $8.80 = $26.40
Process Skills in Problem Solving: $10.70
Math Sprints Masters, Levels 1 & 2: 2 x $31 =$62
Elementary Mathematics for Teachers by Parker & Baldridge: $29
Place Value Strips: $12.50

That’s $625.80

I’d spend the rest on linking cubes, base-10 blocks, place value disks or other manipulatives and containers to keep them organized.

Keep in mind that for Number Disks/Place Value Disks you’ll need about 20 each of ones, tens and hundreds disks per student or pair of students sharing. Many companies sell these:

Place Value Disks, 100 Ones Disks

Place Value Disks – 100 Tens Disks

Place Value Disks (1-3): Hundreds Place Value Disks – 100 Hundreds Disks

#2 Using Singapore Math to Supplement another core curriculum:

Start a library at your school with one set of the textbooks and workbooks for every grade level at the school as reference (4 per grade level) x $9.00 each book – k-6 would be $36 x 7, k-5 would be $36 x 6
A Teacher Manual for each level: $21 each book, 2 books per grade level = $42 per grade level
Challenging Word problems are $11 each and there are 6 levels (1-6)
Process Skills in Problem Solving vary in cost from $10.20 to $12.80 – levels 1-6
SpeedMaths Level 1 – 4: $8.20 each (no higher than level 4!)
Math Sprints Masters, Levels 1 -5: 5 x $31
Elementary Mathematics for Teachers by Parker & Baldridge: $29 several copies for staff
The Singapore Model Method for Learning Mathematics: $29 for grades 5 & up
Teaching of Whole Numbers by Dr Yeap Ban Har, Singapore’s renowned math educator, $30.50
Bar Modeling A Problem-solving Tool also by by Dr Yeap Ban Har, for lower elementary. $30.50
Place Value Disks: get plenty of ones, tens and hundreds. $15.95 per 100 disks
Place Value Strips: $12.50 and other manipulatives (if you don’t already have them on campus).

What did I miss? Are there any books or tools that you consider “must-haves” in your Singapore Math classroom?

Filed Under: Math Resources Tagged With: materials, Singapore Math resources

NEW Singapore Math® Job Placement Resource

April 23, 2013 by Cassy Turner 2 Comments

Since its launch in 2008, Singapore Math Source has become one of the internet’s leading sites for Singapore Math® resources.

SingaporeMathSource.com provides a broad assortment of resources for administrators, teachers, parents and students. What’s more, everything listed on these resources pages has been tested and/or created by me personally. When I work with schools and teachers or host my after-school math clubs for students, these are the materials and sites I actually use and strongly recommend.

If you haven’t visited these pages, I invite you to take a look.

New Singapore Math® Jobs Placement Page

Today, I’m happy to add a new “Jobs Placement” page to the site’s Singapore Math® Resources. This page is the direct result of questions that I frequently am asked:

Do you know of a teaching candidate with experience using the Singapore curriculum?
Do you know of a tutor who might help my students learn math?
What school might appreciate my knowledge and experience teaching Math from Singapore?”

This isn’t fancy (for now, at least). But I hope it might help schools, teachers and parents with specific personnel needs to meet one another. If you are asking any of these questions, let me know and I’ll see if I can help.

Photo courtesy of brizzlebornandbred.

Filed Under: Math Resources Tagged With: Singapore Math resources

NCTM 2013 Conference Singapore Math Sessions

March 6, 2013 by Cassy Turner Leave a Comment

It’s conference time again. No not parent conferences, Mathematics conferences!

2013 Annual Meeting and Exposition

The NCTM Conference program book is now online and choosing which workshops and sessions to attend continues to be a challenge. If you’d like to check out some sessions on Singapore Mathematics, there’s good news and bad.

Good news? There are 10 sessions involving Singapore-style math this year and while there’s plenty of bar modeling, there are two that focus on implementations. (The number of overall choices is down again from the number offered last year)

Bad news? Anything listed below in pink is an overlapping session. Below are my thoughts on which session to choose, if you have a conflict.

FYI – Three of the ten sessions are Exhibitor’s Workshops:

Exhibitor Workshops (60 minutes) are designed to allow exhibitors more time to showcase their products and services away from the Exhibit Hall.

Thursday, April 18: 9:30 AM-10:30 AM – No conflict

#61 – Getting Number Bonds to Stick Like Glue
Lead Speaker: Catherine Kuhns

Inspired by the highly successful strategies from Singapore, this session will focus on high-interest and engaging concrete, pictorial, and abstract tasks that lead to genuine understanding and recall of the critical number combinations up to ten. These activities are appropriate for whole groups, small groups, and centers—and they are kid approved. Suitable for educators teaching Grades prek-2.

Thursday, April 18: 12:30 PM-1:30 PM – No conflict

#173 – Reasoning in the Elementary Classroom: It’s Easier Than You Think
Lead Speaker: Berinderjeet Kaur
Co-Speaker: Denisse R. Thompson

Mathematical reasoning is not only one of the NCTM Process Standards but also an important practice in the Common Core. We will share several simple strategies from both the Singapore and U.S. perspectives on modifying tasks and questions to bring reasoning to the instructional forefront. Suitable for educators teaching Grades 3-5

Thursday, April 18 4:00 PM – 5:00 PM – No conflict

#301.3 – Math Buddies: The Digital Singapore Math Solution in Action
Exhibitor Workshop: Marshall Cavendish Education

The latest K–5 digital curriculum from Marshall Cavendish Education, Math Buddies aligns with the Common Core State Standards and integrates multimedia with instructional pedagogy from Singapore Math texts.

Friday, April 19 8:00 AM- 9:00AM – Some conflict

#306 – Adopting Singapore Math: A Case Study
Lead Speaker: Kathleen Jalalpour
Co-Speaker: Corrinne Lieu

Six years ago, Keys School in Palo Alto, California (K–8), adopted Singapore Math. We will present data, experiences, and film clips of math classes. We will summarize the overwhelming benefits of Singapore Math, the obstacles we had to overcome, and the best methods of implementing this acclaimed math curriculum. Suitable for educators teaching Grades preK-5.

Friday, April 19 8:00 AM- 9:15AM – Some conflict

#337 – Exploring Reasoning and Communication with Problems from Singapore Classrooms
Lead Speaker: Ban Har Yeap

Experience mathematical reasoning and communication by solving problems taken from Singapore classrooms. Learn three strategies to enhance reasoning and communication: the use of questions, concrete materials, and visuals. We will use geometry and measurement problems across grade levels. Designed for teachers working with grades 3 – 8.

The first session will provide an overview of an implementation at the Keys School in Palo Alto. Dr. Yeap will be using questions, concrete materials and visuals to explore problems across content and grade level.

Recommendations:
-> Interested in one school’s experience? Head to the adoption session.
-> The second session has Ban Har Yeap. Enough said.

Friday, April 19 9:30am – 10:30am – Some conflict

#372 – Singapore’s Visual Models to Reason and Make Sense of Problems
Lead Speaker: Andy Clark

We will focus on the visual models and visualization used in the highly successful Singapore curriculum. These aspects offer students entry points to complex problems and develop deep understanding of topics such as operations with fractions, ratio, and algebraic manipulation. We will also discuss examples of their rich problems. Suitable for educators teaching Grades 6-8.

Friday, April 19 9:45 AM – 11:45 AM – Some conflict

#396 – Bar Modeling, Percent Decrease, and the Common Cold
Lead Speaker: Kathleen Hill
Co-Speaker: Jennifer Luebeck

Lesson using the investigative approach with an interactive computer simulation and the mathematical tool of a bar model to help students make sense of the variables that affect the spread of disease. Suitable for educators teaching Grades 6-8.

Friday, April 19 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM – Some conflict

#425 – Linking Bar Diagrams and the Standards for Mathematical Practice
Lead Speaker: Robin Silbey

This highly interactive presentation teaches bar diagramming, a powerful, visual–logical problem-solving strategy focused on reasoning. You’ll draw bar diagrams to represent and solve several word problems. Through the lens of the Standards for Mathematical Practice, you’ll see how bar diagramming develops mathematical proficiencies. Hands-on session designed for teachers working with grades 3 – 8.

Recommendations:
-> Looking for a specific lesson with a little bit of bar modeling? Head to the second session
-> Andy and Robin are always insightful. I’d aim to hit both the first and third sessions!

Friday, April 19 2:30pm – 3:30PM – No conflict

#542.3 – Lessons from Singapore: Developing Number Sense/Problem Solving with Visual Models
Exhibitor Workshop: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

See an American version of Singapore’s highly successful curriculum and its use in the U.S. The session will focus on how Singapore’s visual models and effective pedagogy enable all students to develop number sense and solve complex problems so they are ready for the Common Core State Standards–based assessments.

Satuday, April 20 10:00 AM – 11:00AM – No conflict

#681.3 – Implementing Singapore Math: A Collaborative Effort
Exhibitor Workshop: SingaporeMath.com

Explore how the Primary Mathematics series was used as a tool to build a higher-performing mathematics program in a low-performing school. The presenter will share data, pictures, teacher reflections, successes, and challenges of implementing this focused and coherent curriculum.

Filed Under: Math Events Tagged With: NCTM Conference, Singapore Math curriculum, Singapore Math resources

Seeking Singapore Math Assessments?

October 29, 2010 by Cassy Turner 1 Comment

A recent visitor left this comment:

I am part of a team of first grade teachers at my school. We are piloting Singapore Math this year. We are creating assessments and were looking for ready-made assessments to genuinely fit the curriculum.

One of the challenges for a classroom teacher using the U.S Edition is that there aren’t any assessments ready-made. The Standards Edition of Primary Mathematics has assessments, however they won’t correspond directly to the U.S. Edition Materials.

Keep in mind that if you write the questions, you can tailor them to the objectives of your lessons. Are you assessing for basic competency? Are you assessing for deeper understanding? Additionally, for a teacher-created assessment, you need to create an answer key. I frequently hear from teachers who tell me, “Well, I gave this test, but all I have is the answer and I’m not sure how to work the problem.”

That being said, I know teachers’ time is valuable. Many teachers use questions from the Review sections of the textbook. Other basic questions from Intensive Practice books or practice problems from the Challenging Word Problems books could be used as well.

Be sure to save any well-written assessments for future use. After one year of working with the materials, you should have a good bank of assessments for future years.

One site that offers Singapore test paper problems for free (with registration) is Old School. At the first grade they have several mid-year and end-of-term papers available. Teachers can select the questions, either short answer or multiple choice, and create an assessment. Additionally, you can choose problems from a list of topics. Topics for first grade are:

Addition and Subtraction

Combination Questions (3%)

Comparing and Ordering numbers (13%)

Division (1%)

General (1%)

Graphs (5%)

Measurements (7%)

Multiplication (3%)

Notation and Place values (9%)

Shapes and Patterns (12%)