4 different math skills in one classroom

Well, for myself I get books. I use photocopies of very old out-of print books, the ones I learned out of myself. I also use commercial workbooks — the Complete MathSmart have lots of useful exercises with good how-to illustrations (Unlike may other drill workbooks, which simply present the practice with no clue how to do it.). Both approaches are quite inexpensive and very worthwhile.

You could explain the topic to each group while the other works on the assigment from the above.
Or you could decide that all the kids need to learn all the skills sooner or later anyway and that review never hurts, so you teach a particular skill lesson for fifteen minutes to the whole group and then have each student work on individual assignments. This is what I did in a mixed group and it works great; the kids in the earlier stages see the later skills and get used to the idea before meeting it formally, and the more advanced kids review and solidify basic skills.

Here’s what I do.

I do whole group instruction using a program called Math-U-See. Then I also have each student plugged into an Enright Math Series.

http://www.curriculumassociates.com/order/newproduct.asp?title=ENRIGHT

These Enright books have graduated practice with tests every few pages. After the students get the hang of it I let them skip to the test when I feel they are ready. This way everyone can work on their IEP goals but I can do a solid group lesson. In your case I might have to alternate a couple groups. One does practice while the other gets intruction and then flip flop. I also assign the Enright for homework. These are great books becasue they start out basic and move slowing with tons of practice. You cut when needed.

Michelle AZ

Ditto - get materials to work with. I would be asking for a class set of remedial math materials- Michelle mentioned Math-U-See/Enright. You shouldn’t have to scrounge the book storage for books that are not written for remedial students. District has an obligation to provide appropriate materials.

ditto on the combination of group lesson and individualized seatwork. Group lesson or lessons can introduce new ideas or concepts so that you can document that they are moving on while individualized seatwork documents that you provide individualized instruction.

Get the materials you need to teach. Put in writing that you have no materials and attach a purchase order for remedial materials.

I looked at the Enright examples. Oh, my, this is a pure isolated drill program. There are no visual cues, no explanations, no relations to manipulatives, no relations to real-world, and no applications; pure totally isolated drill. I have nothing against drill per se, have my students do regular drills all the time, but the drill has to be attached to a meaningful concept. Especially with fractions where the skill melts away if it is not attached to meaning. When totally isolated drill like this is used, especially if it is what earns the grades, there is an unfortunate tendency to see the drill as being what math is about. I would recommend looking for something with more visuals and more real-world applications *as well as* drill.

I agree-middle school students that can’t subtract with regrouping can’t handle abstract concepts and need concrete examples. I’d be looking for something that involves manipulatives for examples, probably with Cuisenaire rods and blocks. I suspect kids can’t regroup because they don’t really understand place value.

But what works for you and your students needs to be in classroom-there’s no excuse for the school not providing materials. I’m big on concept and estimation and let kids use tables or calculators. some kids will not do great amounts of computation in timed tests as they can’t process and retrieve the information fast enough-for them the memorized facts are torture.

I also agree that a teacher needs to have plenty of concrete lessons with examples.

I use a manipulative based program called Math-U-See as my primary lesson. Students get a deep understanding of math using this program. See www.mathusee.com for more information.

The reality is when you teach at the elementary level you have kids coming and going. You have IEP’s with goals that are tailored to each kid. We know that solid lessons work best, not just the work packet with all the kids on a different page and then the teacher doing a quick “here’s how to do this page” on the fly without manipulatives. I saw a teacher do this in college and it was awful.

(this year our district is doing a huge push on collaboration of general ed textbooks etc)In the past, I had the same problem of the original poster. I had many kids all on a different level in one time slot. How do you do this?

What I do is try to group kids into groups where I can do group lessons. Lessons that are well planned and we follow a pacing chart thoughout the year. I group the kids and do Math U See as my primary program. I also use Math The Fun Way and do 5-10 minutes or less per day of math facts. Each kid self graphs progress and competes against his/her own score. Then I use the Enright program to give them practice on long mulitplication or long division. These books are used as a filler when the Math U See group finishes. They are also used in the general ed room. They don’t look babyish. Some kids do many problems per day, others not as many. The Enright books are there and they always have something to do.

Enright books are graduated practice plain and simple. There are no pictures to distract which I am now finding I like compared to the new math books we have this year. Math U See is also very plain. In Enright, every few pages it gets a bit harder. There are examples. The initial teaching is done with manipulatives or in the Math U See book.

Once the kid can muliply 78 x 3 then they move to 345 x 4 etc and they start out without carrying then it gets harder to practice with carrying etc. These books are not fancy. I find that once I teach them how to multiply I don’t have to give full blown lessons. What they need is practce. Sometimes I do go back. And in the division, they do use manipulatives as needed.

Enright is not a program in and of itself. It is just a nice practice tool to be used to get kids from 6 x 8 all the way to 222 x999. I cut often. There are little tests that have cumulative review also.

When you teach LD resource there are times when the student schedule does not permit you to pull the kid for that exact time block. Enright is great to take back to general ed. The know what to do. The general ed teacher can understand it quickly if the kid gets stuck. The kid has appropriate, independent practice. I have found that it must be familiar because a general ed teacher can’t be doing a 5 minute lesson back there. She needs to focus on her other 32 kids. I need to provide something, and Enright has worked very nicely. I use it in my LD class, as homework, and in general ed when the child goes back early and missed the general ed teacher’s lesson.

I just wanted to post back to explain this a bit. I wouldn’t use Enright as a whole math program. It is just practice and drill.

I also have gone to Home Depot and purchased those shower boards with huge blocks. I have the students who need it do their Enright Practice on dry erase shower board that is huge. They love this and it keeps the columns organized. Then I wean them to the graph paper, then to notebook paper.

Michelle AZ

And when I’ve got *some* time but not a lot (say 20 minutes), I’ll google “worksheet division” and do creative cutting and pasting. There are some good online sources for drill & practice.
However, it takes some time because I’ve got to make sure it is really the drill and p ractice of the skill my student has learned (and that it’s big enough to read if he’s got cataracts :-)). I wail & gnash my teeth when I see some of the shortcuts teachers take, and they stick worksheets in front of students that the student is supposed to figure out :-(

While it is not a comprehensive textbook for kids, if you would like an extremely well organized, visually clear skills book that introduces concepts gradually, check out the “Number Sense” series from Contemporary. I work in an alternative high school, and when I assess students on the way into the program, they are often starting at subtraction, multiplication, and long division. This series goes through fractions, ratios, and percents, and presents the information so clearly that I am able to have 12-15 students (some with serious behavioral issues) working independently in one classroom, calling on me for help as needed. I have had several students with serious math disablilities achieve incredible success with these books, and many students have regained a sense of competence in mathematics using them. There aren’t too many problems per page, and I give them packets of copies, so they really feel like they’re making progress as they go. Whether they’re appropriate for your students, only you know. Good luck, here’s a link (they’re only about $12 w/o the discount (ask for a discount), you’ll need the answer book, and the test books are very useable for assessments).

http://shop.mhcontemporary.com/cgi-bin/contemp/scan/sp=mhc_resultslist.html/va=showimage=/fi=products/tf=related,%20title/sf=related/se=numbersense/su=yes/ml=25