Eureka math- anyone else having trouble with this new curriculum?

[Anonymous]

I think a mistake they made in the implementation of DL was not giving the Compacted 5/6 math students the "indoctrination" into Eureka math technique. You have to do it their way. Also, I think it is a mistake that they're grading students on aspects of this specific Eureka curriculum - like whether they can do a tape diagram. If they can solve the fraction problem, it should not matter whether they can do a tape diagram.

[Anonymous]

I am confused. Now, does MCPS teach eureka math instead of common core math starting from early elementary school age? So, no more common core math anymore? Eureka math is a tryout, or permanent?

[Anonymous]

Eureka math definitely takes some getting used to, but we're in DCPS and I like the curriculum. It's really meant to help develop deep number sense. I don't know what MCPS was using before, but it is a big adjustment. The entire curriculum is available on the NY Engage website, so you can see videos for parents explaining the vocabulary and strategies, etc. Those might be helpful.

[Anonymous]

Never heard of a tape diagram so I watched a video on it. I don’t get why you need a diagram. Am I missing something? Don’t you just end up doing basic algorithms and then drawing some boxes?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Never heard of a tape diagram so I watched a video on it. I don’t get why you need a diagram. Am I missing something? Don’t you just end up doing basic algorithms and then drawing some boxes?

Yeah, teach them the tape diagram as a strategy, but don't grade them on the tape diagram; grade them on getting the correct solution to the problem.

[Anonymous]

Tape diagram is nothing different than pictorial representation of problem. It may help some students to understand the problem better, but you don't really need to do it all the time.

I enjoyed math as kid and enjoy even now when teaching my kids. Some time teachers may not be so good themselves to teach it properly otherwise Eureka or any math strategies is simple logical steps. Insisting on same steps all the time is problem. Focus should be kids are understanding the problem or not. If they are able to understand and do it then it's great. Nothing else matters.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am confused. Now, does MCPS teach eureka math instead of common core math starting from early elementary school age? So, no more common core math anymore? Eureka math is a tryout, or permanent?

eureka math does follow common core standards.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Tape diagram is nothing different than pictorial representation of problem. It may help some students to understand the problem better, but you don't really need to do it all the time.

I enjoyed math as kid and enjoy even now when teaching my kids. Some time teachers may not be so good themselves to teach it properly otherwise Eureka or any math strategies is simple logical steps. Insisting on same steps all the time is problem. Focus should be kids are understanding the problem or not. If they are able to understand and do it then it's great. Nothing else matters.

This was a problem with 2.0 as well. Class sizes are too big and too differentiated for teachers to give students the individual attention they need.

[Anonymous]

Common core is just a set of standards. States can use any curriculum so long as it satisfies the common core standards (if they want to follow common core). Eureka is a curriculum that satisfies common core standards.

[Anonymous]

For compacted math, did Eureka create a special curriculum to cover 3 years in 2? Or do they just use the same workbooks but expect the teacher to cover 1.5 lessons/day? And what happens in 5/6, given that MCPS uses a different curriculum for 6th grade?

We are in 3rd and are so much happier with Eureka this year than we were with 2.0 on prior years. Last year, we only had Eureka for the DL part of the year, and only with those awful Great Minds videos, not with the teacher leading it. It is so much better this year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For compacted math, did Eureka create a special curriculum to cover 3 years in 2? Or do they just use the same workbooks but expect the teacher to cover 1.5 lessons/day? And what happens in 5/6, given that MCPS uses a different curriculum for 6th grade?

We are in 3rd and are so much happier with Eureka this year than we were with 2.0 on prior years. Last year, we only had Eureka for the DL part of the year, and only with those awful Great Minds videos, not with the teacher leading it. It is so much better this year.

DC is in Compacted 5/6 using Eureka. It seems better than C2.0 but hard to be fair since they find it all too easy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Never heard of a tape diagram so I watched a video on it. I don’t get why you need a diagram. Am I missing something? Don’t you just end up doing basic algorithms and then drawing some boxes?

LOL! So true.

I can understand the use of arrays but the tap diagrams are somewhat maddening. My DS stresses out about labeling the correctly, etc. And the teacher wants them done a certain way.

I told him to solve the problem using division and just to not worry about it.

[Anonymous]

My DD is in 5/6 math with Eureka - it is a bit jarring to switch over this year. I do like the workbooks and the emphasis on word problems/varies approach. Dd's teacher is posting recordings of lessons that's available for 72 hours which I watch and try to use the same approach when helping DD.

I do also think that the kids aren't getting enough practice on basic arithmetics before jumping to word problems. Repetition is key still to build up those skills.

What are your kids doing in math now? Mine is working on dividing decimals and it's pretty tedious for DD (and me) when DD is pretty slow at long division.

[Anonymous]

Compacted 5/6 is learning volume. My DD’s class has a test on Friday. It is the middle of module test.

I am happy with Eureka and what they are learning. The workbooks are helpful.

[Anonymous]

I like That Eureka starts simple in each module and very methodically builds up. DD just finished the first module, and the word problems she had to do toward the end were pretty complex, requiring her to figure out multiple steps to figuring out the math. It is definitely more challenging than 2.0, which didn’t seem to have much methodology behind it.