Session A4 K-1 Math

National Conference on Singapore Math Strategies Las Vegas
PCF Kindergarten Telok Blangah Singapore
Session A4
Teaching Kindergarten
and First Grade Math
Yeap Ban Har
banhar.yeap@pathlight.org.sg
Slides are available at www.banhar.blogspot.com
Princess Elizabeth Primary School Singapore

In Singapore, formal education starts at Primary 1 (Grade 1). Compulsory education is for the first six grades.

overview
Theories Behind Singapore Math
Jerome Bruner
Zoltan Dienes
Richard Skemp
Big Ideas in Early Mathematics
Number Bonds & Basic Facts
Visualization
Connections
Communication

introduction
PART 2

The formal education system in Singapore is uniform with only public schools, a national curriculum, and a single teacher-training institute.
The gaps among children in the first year of primary school are large depending on the kindergarten education they have received. Some children have not attended kindergartens.
St Anthony’s Canossian Primary School, Singapore

Conscious effort not to put the disadvantage children in a position of greater disadvantage. Textbooks are written for learners of the language, yet challenging for advanced learners.
My Pals Are Here! Mathematics 1

Textbooks are also written simply so that non-specialist teachers can understand the mathematics they are teaching. Hopefully, it is not complicated to put the less educated parents off helping their kids. Children bring their books home every day.

Since 2005, Grade 1 and Grade 2 teachers have been asked to adopt the SEED Approach. SEED is the acronym for Strategies for Effective Engagement and Development.
More holistic assessment approaches are favored over written tests.
Hands-on learning have been given added emphasis.
Catholic High School (Primary), Singapore

Further efforts to strengthen primary education is evident. A high-profile committee reviewed primary education in Singapore and made suggestions this stage of education can be further improved.
It recommended, among other things, pedagogies that engage students better.
Learning by Doing
Learning through Inquiry
Learning by Collaborating
Learning by Reflecting
Learning in and about the Real World

big ideas in early mathematicsin kindergarten through grade one
PART 2

Number Bonds
Number Bonds is emphasized prior to the learning of addition.
Children are given, say, 5 unifix cubes and guided to see that 1 and 4 make 5, for example. Others may say that 3 and 2 make 5 or 4 and 1 make 5. Yet others may say that 5 and 0 make 5.
Earlybird Kindergarten Mathematics

One duck is big.
Six ducklings are small.

Number Bonds continues to receive attention in Grade 1.

concrete  pictorial  abstractBRUNER’S THEORY
PART 2

Addition Facts
Addition Facts are given emphasis in the first six months of grade one.
The children learn it in stages as the textbooks distinguished between Numbers to 10, Numbers to 20, Numbers to 40 and Numbers to 100.
Count On and Count All are used in Numbers to 10.
Kindergarten Textbook

Addition Facts &Number Sense
While Count On and Count All are used in Numbers to 10, Make Ten is given emphasis in Numbers to 20.
Princess Elizabeth Primary School

mathematical variationDIENES’ THEORY
PART 2

perceptual variationDIENES’ THEORY
PART 2

Example on Place Value

Example on Number Bonds

Why are the illustrations in three consecutive tasks are as such?

spiral approach
PART 2

An Example
Study how students get to revisit ideas of number bonds as the deal with number bonds for 6 through 9.

spiral approach
PART 2

Between Grades: Division
Primary 1
without symbol
Primary 2
with symbol, no remainder
Primary 3
with symbol, with remainder
long division to 3-digit
Primary 4
long division to 4-digit
Primary 5
include continuous quantities

Within Grade: Whole Numbers
Number to 10
Numbers to 20
Numbers to 40
Numbers to 100
Within each unit, numbers, place value, comparing, adding and subtracting are dealt with.
This allows students to review materials as they learn new ideas.

spiral approach
PART 2

Whole Numbers in Grade 1
Basic Review
Children count shapes in the unit on Shapes
Review to Extend Knowledge
Children learn another use of whole numbers in the unit on Ordinal Numbers
Pre-requisite
Children apply counting, comparing, addingand subtracting in the unit on Picture Graphs

conceptual understandingSKEMP’S THEORY
PART 2

17 + 19
Number Sense
16 + 20

Connections
Looking for Patterns is introduced through exploration with Shapes. Subsequently, this is done using numbers – in a more abstract context.
MakeConnections to Generalize

Visualization
In the learning of Numbers to 10, children use square tiles to form patterns of 3 and patterns of 4, for instance.
Illustrations in textbooks were also carefully varied to develop this competency.

Connections

Communication
Articulating one’s thoughts orally, at first, and in written forms using words, pictures, diagrams and symbols is important.
Maris Stella High (Primary) School

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Session A4 K-1 Math

by Jimmy Keng on Jul 17, 2010

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