What Is Singapore Math?
You may be wondering what Singapore Math is all about, and with good reason. This is a totally new kind of math for you and your child. 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 o be capable problem solvers who think mathematically with ease. Wouldn't it be nice if your child could enjoy the same success with math?
Well, there's good news: We're teaching Singapore Math to your child this year. So let's discover what it's all about and how you can help your child succeed. It all egins with understanding the curriculum and seeing some examples—just what we'll do today.
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 riendlier 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 ord 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 some facts o 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. You'll notice this as you read through this etter. 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 rocess, students learn numerous strategies to work with numbers and build conceptual understanding. ith time and practice, they eventually master the traditional methods and lgorithms.