Parcc math test is more about English and understanding English than it is about math. It's a frustrating test and needs to be practiced. I'm very surprised that my own DC did well on Parcc in elementary school. I took a practice test, available online for free, and missed 30%. English is not my first language, but I'm very good at math.
DC came to my rescue and fixed the 30% for me. He had learned to take the test somehow, and his English is much better than mine which helped. So, again, it's just as much about language if not more than it is about math. If your children speak a language other than English at home, they might not be as good at English as kids in other schools. It's a combination of language and math. I would show them test and practice it often to make them feel at ease when they have to take it.
My very first job, a grocery store clerk in SU, required the use of abacus. I don't remember how to use it nearly 30 years later, but I might look into it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:the bead frame is used to teach base ten numbers in montessori. it’s color coded and easy for my 5 year old to understand. she can skip count and now has a good foundation in number sense, not just wrote learning.

That is fine but I do not know how to use a bead frame or an abacus, and we are not using a bead frame at all. I think it is unreasonable to expect parents to be the ones to teach children how to use archaic equipment.

the Montessori method is pretty tactile in general -- I get the point in using the various equipment they use because of their understanding of how kids learn. I don't profess to understand Montessori methods fully, but I think it's just that you make a choice when you enroll your kids, that they will be using these methods and techniques.

Anonymous wrote:the bead frame is used to teach base ten numbers in montessori. it’s color coded and easy for my 5 year old to understand. she can skip count and now has a good foundation in number sense, not just wrote learning.

That is fine but I do not know how to use a bead frame or an abacus, and we are not using a bead frame at all. I think it is unreasonable to expect parents to be the ones to teach children how to use archaic equipment.

I'm at LAMB and ordered the abacus they recommended in the email. The problem is I have to learn to use it, so I can teach it. I guess since it's the end of July I'm doing a poor job here. It might be a great teaching tool, who knows.

At any rate, the original point about the abacus was that how the kids at LAMB are being taught math may not immediately translate to PARCC test-taking.

the bead frame is used to teach base ten numbers in montessori. it’s color coded and easy for my 5 year old to understand. she can skip count and now has a good foundation in number sense, not just wrote learning.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well they told us to spend the summer having our kids to learn how to use an abacus, so take that as you will.

I do not know how to use an abacus. Sometimes they have the most ridiculous requests for things which I am supposed to teach my child. I am the first to admit that I am not an expert in early childhood education. I do not know what makes them think we are all competent in abacus.

A literal f%&*n abacus

An abacus or a Montessori bead frame?

Wait so there is a montessori tool but we are not using that? What is going on?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well they told us to spend the summer having our kids to learn how to use an abacus, so take that as you will.

I do not know how to use an abacus. Sometimes they have the most ridiculous requests for things which I am supposed to teach my child. I am the first to admit that I am not an expert in early childhood education. I do not know what makes them think we are all competent in abacus.

A literal f%&*n abacus

An abacus or a Montessori bead frame?

Abacus.

Not defending LAMB--my kids don't go there and I could care less about their math program. But, an abacus is actually a great math teaching tool. I used my childhood abacus to teach my kids about how the counting system works (1s, 10s, 100s, etc.). It's visual and tactile but not complicated. As someone who studied math in college, it is also a great tool for understanding non-base-10 number systems, once you get to that level.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well they told us to spend the summer having our kids to learn how to use an abacus, so take that as you will.

I do not know how to use an abacus. Sometimes they have the most ridiculous requests for things which I am supposed to teach my child. I am the first to admit that I am not an expert in early childhood education. I do not know what makes them think we are all competent in abacus.

A literal f%&*n abacus

An abacus or a Montessori bead frame?

Abacus.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well they told us to spend the summer having our kids to learn how to use an abacus, so take that as you will.

I do not know how to use an abacus. Sometimes they have the most ridiculous requests for things which I am supposed to teach my child. I am the first to admit that I am not an expert in early childhood education. I do not know what makes them think we are all competent in abacus.

A literal f%&*n abacus

An abacus or a Montessori bead frame?

Anonymous wrote:Well they told us to spend the summer having our kids to learn how to use an abacus, so take that as you will.

I do not know how to use an abacus. Sometimes they have the most ridiculous requests for things which I am supposed to teach my child. I am the first to admit that I am not an expert in early childhood education. I do not know what makes them think we are all competent in abacus.

A literal f%&*n abacus

Yes it is concerning. LAMB is good enough that we ignore.

PARCC Math is done VERY differently than math is taught at LAMB. This past year they introduced a bunch of non-Montessori math stuff which I didn't love. I imagine that was geared at getting those scores up.

Any Montessori kid will need to be taught PARCC style math in order for them to ace that test. In the past, there were extra lessons to practice for the test at those grades, so kids would not be completely baffled. It's a tough balance to strike and personally I'd rather have my kid excel at Montessori math than PARCC, but here we are.

I noticed but we just supplement (kid is pre-PARCC). I have learned that in DC, you just have to view school as not complete and to step in where necessary.

Well they told us to spend the summer having our kids to learn how to use an abacus, so take that as you will.

Looking at the most recent PARCC results I could find, the math results are not very good. White students at LAMB are actually below DC-wide averages. Are parents concerned about that?