We Play Math!

Free for your child: The American Math Challenge Oct. 12 and 13

2011-09-27T05:01:00.000-07:00

Free online competition to practice math safely in competition with students from all over the United States. Practice begins Oct. 3rd.

All new grade level activities and games to help your child with Math http://www.hmheducation.com/singaporemath/helping-your-child.php

2011-09-27T04:46:00.000-07:00

Apangea i2 Challenge: Indiana defeats Idaho and Warsaw students play a major part

2011-03-30T02:58:00.000-07:00

Claypool Elementary: Math and Munchies

2011-03-30T02:41:00.000-07:00

March 30th at 9:00. Bring an appetite for Math and Muffins!

Apangea Nation: Warsaw Comm. Schools have 3 of the top 10 schools in the North Region

2011-02-19T07:51:00.000-08:00

Enter your child in World Math Day!

2011-02-03T05:24:00.000-08:00

Free math fun and fluency. Compete against students from all over the world in mini math games. Levels available for ages 4-119. Sign up now and enjoy a month of free practice. World Math Day is March 1st and the contest is during the 48 hours that it is March 1st somewhere on Earth. Great geography builder, too. Don't wait. Students love this. Go to www.worldmathday.com and look for the "Register" tab.

Three Upcoming Opportunities for Parents to Learn about Math in Focus

2011-01-23T16:49:00.000-08:00

Harrison Family Math Night: Tuesday, January 25th 7:00- 8:00 p.m.

Jefferson Math and Munchies in the Morning: Wednesday, January 26th 9:00 - 10:00 a.m.

Eisenhower Family Math Night: Thursday, January 26th 6:30 - 7:30 p.m.

Math in Focus: study shows over triple the average growth for a school system in New Jersey

2011-01-19T03:54:00.000-08:00

Old Bridge, New Jersey began the implementation of Math in Focus about 6 months before Warsaw. A control group of students grew 3.5 points while the Math in Focus students grew 12.4 points.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/41133976

Study Finds Houghton Mifflin Harcourt's Singapore Math Program Raises Student Achievement in the U.S. Students in New Jersey more than triple average gains when utilizing Math in Focus: Singapore Math by Marshall Cavendish
Business Wire
| 18 Jan 2011 | 10:00 AM ET
BOSTON, Jan 18, 2011 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Global education leader Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH) today announced the results of a study that praises the effectiveness of Math in Focus, the U.S. Edition of Singapore's most widely used program, exclusively provided in the U.S. by HMH. Test scores of Math in Focus students improved by an average of 12.4 points from year to year, more than three times the average improvement that occurred across the remaining students in the comparison group. The results serve as evidence that the program works in the U.S., as local students are also benefitting from the internationally acclaimed program.

At the onset of the 2009-2010 academic year, school administrators in Old Bridge, New Jersey began piloting the Math in Focus program in hopes that it would help boost students' overall aptitude in math. In December 2010, independent evaluation firm Educational Research Institute of America (ERIA) conducted a study on the instructional effectiveness of the Math in Focus pilot program, which yielded significant results.

ERIA reviewed students' mathematics scores from the New Jersey Assessment of Skills and Knowledge (ASK) in order to determine the effect of the program on standardized test scores and overall competency. Analysis of data showed implementing Math in Focus to fourth graders was associated with a significant increase in student math performance. When ERIA compared students' 2009 NJ ASK scores, researchers found no difference between students test scores prior to using the program. However, in 2010 when ERIA examined NJ ASK scores after one year of using Math in Focus, students exposed to the program had a 12.4 point increase in average test performance while the rest of the students in the district only increased by 3.5 points.

"This study is the proof in the pudding that Math in Focus is working for our students," said Donna Kibbler, Director of Elementary Education in Old Bridge, NJ. "Partnering with Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for professional development has allowed our teachers to move from being just comfortable teaching math to reaching a new level of confidence in their math teaching ability. The students, teachers, and parents in our district truly see the benefits of Singapore math." Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, the exclusive provider of Math in Focus to the United States, first introduced the program in April 2009. It is the U.S. version of Singapore's most widely used program, My Pals Are Here! Maths for K--5, which offers an intuitive progression of instructions that focus on fewer topics in greater depth to allow students to gain a better understanding of critical math topics. HMH is now working with Marshall Cavendish-Singapore to extend the series to grades 6-8 available in Fall 2011 and 2012.

"We are very pleased to have validated what educators around the world have been telling us," said Mike Lavelle, President, HMH Education Group. "Programs such as Math in Focus take proven methods and implement them into classrooms. These methods have a considerable, measureable effect on students' learning capabilities, and help prepare them to thrive in the 21st century." Math in Focus: Singapore Math by Marshall Cavendish is a partnership between Marshall Cavendish Education-Singapore and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. To learn more about Math in Focus, visit www.hmheducation.com/mathinfocus.

Teacher Dan Meyer talks about creating patient problem solvers

2011-01-18T06:48:00.000-08:00

"Math Class needs a Makeover" explains why patient problem solving is so important and contrasts this patience with our Two and a Half Men type problems where the answer comes easily without planning.
Building math stamina, the resilience to overcome setbacks can be coached.

http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2010/05/dan-meyer-math-class-needs-makeover.html

Model Drawing to solve SAT mathematics problem from www.singaporemathsource.com

2010-12-03T12:49:00.000-08:00

Solving SAT problems using the model method

From national Singapore Math trainer, Cassy Turner at http://www.singaporemaths.com/:

David Marin over at MathNotations has been periodically tweeting an SAT problem of the day via @dmarain. A recent series of tweets asked:

A 42 oz mix of nuts is 6 parts peanuts to 1 part cashews. How many ounces of cashews must be added to make a make the mixture 2 parts cashews to 1 part peanuts? Does Singapore (bar) model method work here?

Sure it can! Here’s one solution.
First model the beginning mixture at 6:1.

Next, we can figure out how many units need to be added to the cashews to make the cashews to peanuts ratio 2:1.

Since there are 11 additional units and the value of each unit is 6 oz, we can find the value of the added cashews.

66 ounces of cashews must be added to the peanuts to make the mixture 2:1.
"Content from http://SingaporeMathSource.com (c) Cassandra Turner reproduced courtesy of the Author."

Model Drawing

2010-11-29T19:33:00.000-08:00

Two great sites for help and practice are
http://www.thinkingblocks.com/ and www.thesingaporemaths.com/index.html.
Both have guided overviews and offer ways to improve solving math
situations using the Model Drawing strategy. Try them out and share your
experience and your questions.

Math in Focus Resources

2010-11-24T05:50:00.000-08:00

http://www.hmhelearning.com/Math/Math_in_Focus/index.html

Study on the Effect of Singapore Mathematics on Student Proficiency in a Massachusetts School District

2010-11-04T08:18:00.000-07:00

This information is published in many places, but the information below comes from a blog entitled,
"Parents for a Quality Math Education" (PQME).
"In October 2009 Gabriella and Paul Rosenbaum Foundation released a report entitled The Effect of Singapore Mathematics on Student Proficiency in a Massachusetts School District: a Longitudinal Statistical Examination. It shows that the longer students had Singapore Mathematics as their curriculum the better they performed on Massachusetts’s tests."

The Pentagon Framework for Singapore Mathematics

2010-11-01T09:22:00.001-07:00

Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study 2003

2010-10-30T14:09:00.001-07:00

Why Singapore ?

In 2003, some 46 countries participated in TIMSS, at either the fourth- or eighth-grade level, or both.
Table 1. Average mathematics scale scores of fourth-grade students, by country: 2003

What is Singapore Math? by Anni Stipek, Singapore Math trainer

2010-10-30T14:04:00.000-07:00

You may be wondering what Singapore Math is all about, and with good reason.

What you may not know is that Singapore has led the world in math mastery for

over a decade; its students become competent and proficient mathematicians at very

early ages. Even better, they grow to be capable problem solvers who think mathematically

with ease. Wouldn’t it be nice if your child could enjoy the same success with math?

First, you need to know that Singapore Math takes a slightly different mathematical

approach than what you may be used to. It revolves around several key number‐

sense strategies: (1) building number sense through part‐whole thinking, (2)

understanding place value, and (3) breaking numbers into decomposed parts or

friendlier numbers, ones that are easier to work with in the four operations

(addition, subtraction, multiplication and division).

Second, Singapore Math does something dramatically different when it comes to

word problems. It relies on model drawing, which uses units to visually represent a

word problem. Students learn to visualize what a word problem is saying so they

can understand the meaning and thus how to solve the problem.

Third, we have mental math, which teaches students to calculate in their heads

without using paper and pencil. Sure, your child will still need to commit facts

to memory, but mental math will teach him or her to do calculations using proven

strategies that don’t require pencil and paper.

Fourth, the strategies taught in Singapore are layered upon one another. One

strategy is the foundation for another one. For example, students need prior

knowledge of bonding in order to be successful at strategies they will learn later on

(like vertical addition).

Last, Singapore Math teaches students to understand math in stages,

beginning with concrete (using manipulatives such as counters, number disks, dice, and

so on), then moving to pictorial (solving problems where pictures are involved), and finally

working in the abstract (where numbers represent symbolic values). Through the

process, students learn numerous strategies to work with numbers and build

conceptual understanding.

Welcome!

2010-10-26T22:41:00.000-07:00

Dear parents and community members,

This is the newest development in an ongoing effort to improve communication
and collaboration in our pursuit of excellence for the students of Warsaw Community Schools.
As the K-12 mathematics coach for the corporation, the primary focus of this blog will be growing
young mathematicians. Let's work together so that our children find the joy of solving puzzles, making
connections, and noticing patterns. Let's work together to enable our students to be fluent at skills and adept at solving problems. Thank you for investing your time to learn more about mathematics education.

Respectfully,

Lorinda Kline