Eureka Math - I am SO ANGRY

[Anonymous]

https://www.khanacademy.org/math/engageny

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Who starts counting with their pinky finger????

I learned to count this way in lower elementary in the late 70s. It’s so weird to me that people start in the middle of their hand/thumbs.

I also learned how to count starting with the pinky finger in lower elementary living in Singapore.

[Anonymous]

You will get the same answer if you don't start counting with your pinky. #truth

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You will get the same answer if you don't start counting with your pinky. #truth

But starting on the pinky is more logical and may help develop math sense. It’s customary (here, not everywhere) to count to 10 starting in the middle, but it’s not necessarily the best way. I think this kind of mentality can hold people back - I’ve always done it this way so I can’t fathom doing it another way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The worst is when they un-teach your kids how to write the alphabet! My kids were doing great until his teachers told him that he needed to start at the bottom of the letter "i" and work his way up to the dot. Likewise with the letter "l". As for "d", you are supposed to make the vertical bar first than make the circle on the left. Or the "o" is clockwise rather than counter clockwise. This undid everything they knew coming into Kindergarten and to this day, and screwed them for writing cursive properly.

Who teaches cursive anymore?

I had to pay my son's former OT to teach him b/c printing was too laborious for him.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Who starts counting with their pinky finger????

I think I figured it out! Make a fist with your hand. Extend only your pinky - 1! Now extend your ring finger also -2! Middle finger - 3. Then 4, then 5. Now make a fist again. Extend your thumb first this time - 1! Now your index finger-2! Keep going. You will get stuck on finger number 4. Your hand can show 4 fingers in a row much better if you start with your pinky.

Remember, the kindergarten curriculum has to accommodate children who might never have been in preschool. It accommodates children who are new to this country. I have a kindergartener also. She knows that she can count in different ways. I don't think she would have a problem counting starting with her pinky.

Yes, if your child is suddenly melting down because they can't learn to count starting from the pinky rather than their thumb, you have bigger problems. They need an evaluation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You should not need to help your kid with homework in 4th grade. If she doesn’t get it, teach her to talk to the teacher to get help.

Are you in MCPS??

My kids’ homework is never checked for accuracy. Only completion.

[Anonymous]

In 3rd we get the homework helper sheet. Overall it seems much better than last year. Can you ask the teacher to send home the guidance sheet?

I took issue with the kindergarten sheet that asks kids to identify the "same" objects and then also state why the "same" objects were different. This makes no sense- If they are the same they can't be different!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My daughter started 4th this week. I understand the last curriculum, particularly math, was a dismal failure of which this county should be ashamed. But my daughter was doing fine in math, but with some intermittent confidence issues. Now I can't even figure out how to to help her because the her work sheet is like it's in another language. Zero support or explanation or heads up from our school. Even once I figured it out in order to help her, it seems pointless - and frankly designed to rock her confidence by starting fresh yet again. So sick of these people f'ing up not only my kids' education but also our home life and stress levels. My son started K this week and honestly I am not even kidding...we are supposed to teach him to count starting with his pink instead of thumb or index finger. He was pretty advanced in a math at his Montessori and can reason through multiplication in his head. Yet now he is confused and upset.

Is this going to get better???

My kids were in private and public. They both excelled at math but, switching up the way to learn hampered the confidence of one. I had them do Singapore Math and had a physics student help that student over the hurdles. We also reviewed the entire math curriculum the summer before the grade they entered. (They refused it to that after 7th grade.) Stay on top of where other students in other countries are, keep the, at that level if possible and you'll be fine.

[Anonymous]

Why dose this make you so angry?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
You should not need to help your kid with homework in 4th grade. If she doesn’t get it, teach her to talk to the teacher to get help.


Are you in MCPS??

My kids’ homework is never checked for accuracy. Only completion.

This X1000. While I prefer Singapore math, Eureka is not bad. It is far better than the mess that MCPS created. I agree that Khan academy is a good resource.

Math in MCPS is so screwed up that you really need to not trust it. I know so many people that left for private or moved to another county or state and were shocked when their advanced straight A MCPS math students bombed their placement tests and needed tutoring to catch up. The only kids that are solid in math within MCPS are the ones supplementing through outside or on line programs.

Math requires conceptual understanding AND pragmatic skills. MCPS is producing some kids that understand the concepts but they can't rely apply it because the questions and assessments under 2.0 were so easy. Smart kids would immediately figure out the answer in their head through some other mechanism and then regurgitate whatever nonsense the teacher expected them to write for their "explanation". The methods that MCPS chooses to teach are so laborious that few kids would ever actually use them to find the answer. Kids that were not supplementing would come up with others ways to solve the problem in their head and never learned methods to deal with more difficult problems.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Who starts counting with their pinky finger????

I think I figured it out! Make a fist with your hand. Extend only your pinky - 1! Now extend your ring finger also -2! Middle finger - 3. Then 4, then 5. Now make a fist again. Extend your thumb first this time - 1! Now your index finger-2! Keep going. You will get stuck on finger number 4. Your hand can show 4 fingers in a row much better if you start with your pinky.

Remember, the kindergarten curriculum has to accommodate children who might never have been in preschool. It accommodates children who are new to this country. I have a kindergartener also. She knows that she can count in different ways. I don't think she would have a problem counting starting with her pinky.

Your explanation was incorrect. You get to 5 if you start with your pinky or your thumb. The "problem" is when you start with your index finger. But kids really can figure all this out. One way of counting on your fingers isn't better than another way because the point is to stop counting on your fingers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Who starts counting with their pinky finger????

One way of counting on your fingers isn't better than another way because the point is to stop counting on your fingers.

I do not agree with this. Yes, the point is to stop counting on your fingers. But when you start with your fists closed in front of you, with the curled fingers facing away from your body, and you start counting with the pinky on the left hand and count up towards your left thumb (as 5), and then pick up with your right thumb as six and end with your right pinky as 10 (I agree it's a little tricky to manipulate your hand when you are at your right-hand ring finger!), in addition to counting, you are also counting in a way that is consistent with the number line that is or will be taught. As we move to the right with the counting, the numbers increase, just like with the number line. That's the sort of thing that leads to more intuitive math.

And c'mon DCUM, we all know that math is not something US excels at. If other countries that excel at math are teaching something in a particular way, it's ok to learn their way, even when it's not what we were taught as kids.

[Anonymous]

Oh Lordie...
Have we really gone down to the level of not knowing how to count our fingers in a different order than we're used to?

Please tell me you're joking.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You should not need to help your kid with homework in 4th grade. If she doesn’t get it, teach her to talk to the teacher to get help.

Are you in MCPS??

My kids’ homework is never checked for accuracy. Only completion.

Yup

Same with promethium busy work. They throwbit in a pile never to be seen again. LOL