Covering 3rd grade math in 3 months?

[oceanbaby]

Ds1 just turned 9, and as I have mentioned here many times, has requested to go to school this fall. He will be in 4th grade. We were pretty much unschooling, so we are working on getting him up to grade level by Sept. He's working with an English tutor one day a week, as his writing is really behind, and that is going well (reading is fine).

We have been working through Singapore, but are barely done with 2nd grade. He gets the bigger picture of grade level concepts, but can't apply it on paper. He can talk about fractions when we're dividing a pizza, for instance, but write out 1/4 + 1/2 and he has no idea. He gets basic multiplication and division, but we haven't done anything past single digits.

I have third grade Singapore, but can't imagine we can get through it by Aug 24. Any ideas of good "crash courses" to get him up to speed?

[LauraLoo]

You may have already done this, but have you compared Singapore's level 3 to what your school district expects for grade 3?

I think Singapore is a robust program, which is why I like it, but from our experience the levels are more advanced & cover more than what our local districts expect to cover in a given year.

[elizawill]

i probably wouldn't worry about it at all in your shoes honestly. if i were to do something though, i'd probably buy summer bridge. it is very popular with public schools and helps the student work on concepts over the summer and bridge them into the next grade. here's a link for the 3/4 book...
http://www.amazon.com/Summer-Bridge-.../dp/1600224520

another thought is to simply buy a standardized test prep book for grade 3 (from spectrum or something). it will cover the basic concepts your son should know.

anyway, i'd go this route in lieu of a full curriculum.

hth.

[AAK]

Originally Posted by oceanbaby

We have been working through Singapore, but are barely done with 2nd grade. He gets the bigger picture of grade level concepts, but can't apply it on paper. He can talk about fractions when we're dividing a pizza, for instance, but write out 1/4 + 1/2 and he has no idea. He gets basic multiplication and division, but we haven't done anything past single digits.

In our school district, third graders wouldn't be doing that problem.

As pp mentioned, Singapore third grade is more like fourth grade math here. Here is a link to our public school "frameworks" for third grade. I find math to be pretty lame (esp. compared to the Singapore math).

http://www.cvsd.org/documents/Learni...Frameworks.pdf

ETA: I just read through the rest of the frameworks. The child isn't expected to rewrite fractions so that they have a common denominator until FIFTH grade!


Amy

[oceanbaby]

The third grade Singapore "CA standards" seems to align with the samples of the 3rd grade STAR test that I saw. I don't know if that means that's what all third grade classrooms are doing.

Maybe I'll ask around here what third graders are doing - although, it seems like those kinds of questions bring out the most genius kids, and I end up freaking out!

ETA: Here's a link to the third grade STAR test. I'd say ds1 could do about half of these. Does this look like what your third graders are expected to know?

ETA again: You know, after looking at the STAR test again, I think ds1 could do more than half of those. If we just moved into multiple digit multiplication and division, he'd be fine.

[Tassy]

Consider contacting your local school district and asking if you can access the star test this spring.... I would think they are so happy to have you coming that they would be happy to oblige. You might be surprised how little you have to worry about...If the star test is the measure. Remember there is no writing on that test. Also, 9 is a magical time especially for boys...if you feel that he is behind...he could be gearing up for a leap. My DS is about to turn 9 and started writing really in the last couple of months....when they start later they often catch up well or excel...

We can access STAR testing over the internet on the district's site....it doesn't take very long....maybe it is worth a phone call??

GL!
Tassy

[beanma]

for multiplication check out www.bigbrainz.com multiplication video game. they have a free version which is quite good.

i agree that 1/4 + 1/2 seems a teeny bit much. Can you show him pictures? In my schooled 3rd graders class they had a lot of diagrams of geometric shapes divided into fractions, so you might have a square divided into 4 pieces with 1 of the 4 pieces shaded for 1/4 and 2 of the 4 pieces shaded for 1/2. It's easy to see it that way.

[laurata]

We did grade 3 math in 3 months, but not Singapore- we just did a Skill Sharpeners workbook through Evan-Moor.