Former first grade teacher here: When did the school group them? I'm appalled that they would track them with different teachers so early--the kids pick up things at different paces--but to lock them in so early is disturbing to me.

Anonymous wrote:we use ixl. we tried kumon and although we saw progress our kids hated it. ixl has a similar approach - repetition - so the results are similar, but something about not seeing a full page of problems keeps them going

IXL and Kumon are helpful for basic memory skills and also time management for future tests. Have you tried using other websites? One website that I found that helped my students a lot was Beestar. Beestar had a lot of worksheets where my students could pace themselves. Also, I can track their progress online to help them on their weakness. It is also free of charge which really helps us when it comes to school budgets. The students also became more confident from seeing their name on the honor roll and wanted to start learning more.

Help him learn basic addition, subtraction, multiplication and division facts by heart. It sounds old fashioned but it makes a huge difference in speed and accuracy throughout the years.

Agree. With all this talk about "critical thinking" in math(and FWIW I do think that is important) people forget that sometimes it is easier to "understand" something from the "back door".

In first and second, the schools are very focused on math facts. It's not a bad idea to get a few Kumon workbooks to help with math facts.

I wouldn't do it to move math groups (although this might be the result) but because the kids need to get fast and fluent on facts and calculation. My guess at this age is that the kids in the higher math groups have had some work on calculation.

You might also occasionally try a few simple story problems to be sure your child understands jow to apply calculation skills.

there are many different way you can help him. you should try as any as possible. the more repetition the better. dont rush him it is not a race it is a slow walk. kids need to be comfortable with the concept before you move forward. when introducing new content do it using manipulative (ie marbles). then move to pictures (ie draw dots on paper) only then move to numeric problems ( 35-29=6) then move to the word problems. when u work with him (one on one) it will be much more effective than school working with a him and a group of other kids. you have to be his champion and coach !

We use the Splash Math app.

My DS is in 2nd grade now, and I can't tell which level math group he is in, but in 1st grade he was in the middle group all year. We put him in Kumon, and yes it is repetitive, but if we hadn't none it, he would never remember his addition and subtraction facts. I think doing the Kumon workbooks at home is a good idea, too, but I don't have the discipline to do it myself.
We are in FFX county.

Help him learn basic addition, subtraction, multiplication and division facts by heart. It sounds old fashioned but it makes a huge difference in speed and accuracy throughout the years.

We do Kumon workbooks at home and have seen a HUGE improvement in DD's math ability. She just seems to 'get' it more. There is a ton of repetition which I think has been very helpful. She only does 5-10 minutes a day, so nothing too intense. Mostly, I wanted to make it so that she would be more confident in her math ability and it has served that purpose.

DD is only in second grade though, so not sure what we'll do as she gets older.

Which school district are you in OP?

Based on some kind of assessment or assessments. The letter home said kids might move groups, so maybe they're allowing for kid improvement or that the assessment doesn't assess all that well.

wow are kids really getting grouped this early for math? School has only been in session for a month, what's the basis for grouping the children?

we use ixl. we tried kumon and although we saw progress our kids hated it. ixl has a similar approach - repetition - so the results are similar, but something about not seeing a full page of problems keeps them going

I have never done it (my kids resist "enrichment") but I've heard good things about IXL online.

My kid's school groups kids into 3 groups (all with diff teachers) for math. The school told us it was according to strengths and learning styles, but apparently my son's teacher told him it was "easy, hard, and in-the-middle classes." Aside from the fact that the teacher should have *never* said this to the kids.....I'm wondering if I should try to give my kid extra help with math (e.g., apps or things he will happily/willingly do) so that he can move to the higher group.

Please, no flames. I know that not every kid will be in the 'high' group and maybe math just isn't my kid's thing. BUT if there's anything I can do to help him in these early years that will make it easier for him when he's older, I want to do it. There have been stories recently on NPR (based on Dweck's research) that math is something that people can improve in and that it's not innate. I of course don't want to push to hard or do anything to make him think I'm disappointed, or anything that will make him hate math.