Math plans for Kindergarten 2013/2014

Edited: I think we'll begin with this now.  As we get to the end of Essential Math B, I'm finding that I'm dragging her along and that she is just getting frustrated and not really absorbing all that much.  So I think I'll start with this plan as of tomorrow.

I've been putting a lot of thought into what we should do for Kindergarten math next year.  Lydia will be done, or almost done with the Singapore Essential Math program by then, and originally my plan was to move on into Math Mammoth 1a, which is technically a first grade program.  However, I'm finding that she is only absorbing about 50% of the concepts that I'm teaching her and I feel like there would be some great value in stepping back and solidifying her number sense before moving on.  Because she's only be barely 5, I think that now is a great time to pause and really get these concepts down solid.

How to approach this, however, is a little more complicated.  I've thought that maybe we should stick with doing Miquon Orange/Red as our primary math program.  I've also thought about just using a list of concepts and teaching them myself in whatever way makes sense.  I do feel very comfortable teaching at this level, and the latter is a tempting solution.

So after thinking about it, I think we'll do a combination of things.  I plan on using Kitchen Table Math as a sort of guide or check list to make sure she is honestly grasping what I'm talking about.  Rather than worksheets or lesson plans, the book lists the incremintal steps that a child should learn about numbers.  For each little step, it gives some suggestions or ideas on how to teach it.  Up until now, I've mostly been using it as a backup for more ideas if Lydia got stuck somewhere, but I think it will be a great program to follow on its own.

Along with Kitchen Table Math, I plan on using some of the ideas from Education Unboxed.  EU is similar to KTM in that it doesn't have worksheets or lesson plans, but is concept focused.  It is a website with videos of how to use Cuisenaire Rods to teach various math concepts.  We love c-rods at our house, so this is a great resource.

I do plan on continuing with Miquon Orange/Red as I feel like.  Knowing me, it is going to be difficult to not try to finish the program, but as of right now, it is definitely secondary.

Some of the concepts that I am going to focus on with Lydia for Kindergarten are:

• counting to 100
• skip counting by 2s, 5s, 10s
• place value to 10s, maybe 100s
• counting "on" (I say 5, she says 6, 7, 8...)
• counting "back" (I say 5, she says 4, 3, 2...)
• greater than/less than, more/less, bigger/smaller
• ordering things by size
• patterns

That list isn't exhaustive, but if she can get there, we'll move on to more formal math, like Math Mammoth and Miquon.  I'm just not sure she's ready yet.