Singapore Math Ins and Outs

So over the years we have done several different versions of Singapore Math starting with US Edition, then Thinking Skills US edition and now Math in Focus.

First, I suggest using their placement tests as a guide but not the end all be all.  There is a placement guide as well.  While my children had been used to the format of public school math, the placement test for Singapore Math is formatted like Singapore Math.  If your student is unfamiliar with Singapore Math, then it is a given they will not test as well as their true math knowledge.  I used the placement tests and we spent around 2 years doing math the Singapore Way that my children knew how to do already.  We essentially did 2 years of math again even though my children were proficient already in what those levels of Singapore Math covered b/c they had done poorly on the Singapore placement test.  We were stagnant in math because of this fact.

Singapore Placement Guide

Second, buy everything that is meant to teach your chosen type of Singapore Math.  That HIG may very well be the thing that saves you from junking Singapore Math this year.  It is intended that you have both the textbook and workbook for Singapore Math levels.  If you are doing 1a & 1b, then you want to get Textbook and Workbooks for 1a and 1b totaling to 4 books.  The HIG is optional, but I have found it helps me to understand when we should know all our facts by and when not to move on if say my son doesn’t know how to add by memory to +8.  Those type of things are in the HIG.  I personally like the sets that Sonlight sells for Singapore US Edition.

Sonlight Singapore Kits

Lastly, make sure you do your homework.  Singapore Math is not traditional US Math.  There is a method to the madness and just teaching the way you learned is not going to accomplish the mental math awareness that the Singapore Method will achieve.

Singapore Handbook for Primary Mathematics Teachers

Singapore Handbook for Secondary Mathematics Teachers

We are currently using Math in Focus through Calvert for my son.  We are utilizing their Verticy Academy.  I am super impressed with Math in Focus.  The hardback textbooks are so much nicer than the paperback ones with the US Edition.  I definitely like this version better than when we used US Edition for 3a & 3b when we first started homeschooling.

This is what my son received with Verticy’s Math in Focus 3.  He also got a balance that is not pictured.

This is an example of Math in Focus teaching multiplication without regrouping in the Textbook of 3A.  This one textbook page was so much more helpful than the agonizing I went through trying to understand and teach it from the 3a HIG for US Edition. 

This is an example of the Workbook for 3A.

If you are worried about the common core stamp on the books.  Don’t be.  There is a small appendix in the back of the books with a total of 4 common core focus lessons.  Math in Focus did not change any other content.

No matter which version I have used here are some things that I find absolutely invaluable.

This is my Singapore Manipulatives folder that is great for 1A and 1B. I did have an HIG guide but I believe that I got all of these as printables from the Singapore Math yahoo group in the files section.

Singapore Math Yahoo Group

This is also essential to 1A-1B for us. It is a laminated number bond diagram and I also have laminated numbers to use when working on number bonds.

I consider a large base ten set to be essential once you get to 3a-3b as a multiplication visual aid.

This is a great little kit that I got a few years ago when purchasing a Houghton Mifflin 1st grade math text. It has a small base ten set, Unifix cubes, play money and bean counters. This stays at my students’ desk when they are in the younger years of math.

This is some of the extras that I keep put up to use as needed. Here is another base 10 set, a unifix cube set, wooden geometric shapes, pattern tiles, game spinner, and counter chips.