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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I know a lot of people have strong negative feelings about the new math curriculum but I'm not sure it's all bad. Yes it moves like molasses for the kids who have natural abilities in math, but I see the value in teaching things like addition, subtraction, multiplication and division in multiple ways so the children have a really solid foundation of how numbers are represented and how to work with them. I saw that the idea of fractions was introduced in as early as 1st grade although they didn't call it that. It was doubles and the natural extension of that which is halves. I think most but not all parents who complain the curriculum is too easy for their child don't really have a firm grasp of numbers themselves and may see the benefits in the future when their child sails through Algebra because they really understand everything they learned before. Remember a lot of kids who got to this level were really struggling because they had learned rote calculation but have a deep understanding. That's why they updated the curriculum and stopped tracking. I volunteer enough to know that most of the kids, at least at our school, are able to keep up nicely at this pace. I know there are outliers at the other end, the advanced kids, and some of their parents are on this thread. I can understand your frustration as I have a math kid who can work at many years above grade level, but I'm still trying to decide if I share it. DD gets pulled out every other week with a few other kids for enrichment and she can complete that extra work in a snap while the others find it more of a challenge. But she hasn't complained at all. I guess I might have a different perspective if she was upset about it.[/quote]
This is not a view that is expressed much on this forum.  What you describe is very reassuring.  Math in particular is a subject that needs to be taught at a level and pace that is appropriate for most of the kids.  How wonderful if most kids are truly going to be ready for Algebra because they have "number sense".  I think many people have forgotten how scorching the assessment of Math experts was a few years ago when they reviewed the pre C2.0 Math instruction.  I remember reading about teachers from the Blair magnet complaining about how kids who came into the program while naturally gifted, just did not have basic computational skills.  The feeling was that these kids , who learn really fast, had been accelerated too quickly and had not spent enough time on the basics.  
Do you remember this article in the Washington Post about the Blair experience?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/29/AR2008072902646.html
The challenge when you slow things down and try to be thorough is that some children feel bored.  They need to have many more enrichment opportunities for the top 20% of students.  They should have more tracking so these kids are grouped with their peers.  [/quote]

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