+OK 3979 octets Received: from smtp3.nwnexus.com (smtp3.nwnexus.com [206.63.63.41]) by mail1.halcyon.com (8.8.8/8.8.8) with ESMTP id UAA17498 for ; Sat, 24 Oct 1998 20:23:08 -0700 (PDT) Received: from mail-gw1adm.rcsntx.swbell.net (mail-gw1adm.rcsntx.swbell.net [151.164.60.101]) by smtp3.nwnexus.com (8.8.8/8.8.8) with ESMTP id UAA32082 for ; Sat, 24 Oct 1998 20:23:06 -0700 (PDT) Received: from default (ppp-207-193-15-206.hstntx.swbell.net [207.193.15.206]) by mail-gw1adm.rcsntx.swbell.net (8.8.5/8.8.5) with SMTP id WAA00006; Sat, 24 Oct 1998 22:18:21 -0500 (CDT) Message-Id: <199810250318.WAA00006@mail-gw1adm.rcsntx.swbell.net> X-Sender: jimmyk5@mail.swbell.net X-Mailer: QUALCOMM Windows Eudora Pro Version 4.0 Date: Sat, 24 Oct 1998 22:18:22 +0000 To: jimmyk5@swbell.net From: Gloria Hoffman (by way of Jimmy Kilpatrick ) Subject: Math Central/Houghton Mifflin Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Status: Our school district purchased Math Central last year to use with the children in grades K-5. Parents seemed to like the book when it was introduced last year. I was skeptical of the book because it contained too many pictures and not enough actual math work. The first grade book is ridiculously easy. The children do one problem as an example with the teacher than do two more problems on the other side of the paper. The only time the children complete more than three problems is on a calculator page. The childre use a calculator to complete about ten problems. The children will never learn the basic facts in addition or subtraction at this rate. Some of the parents started to complain about the upper grades at the PTO meeting last week. Our principal told the parents to hire tutors for the children and supplement at home. The parents wanted the principal to clarify what it meant for the children to guess and than check their addition problems. I think the students are told to guess the answer and then complete the problem to determine if their guess answer is correct. The fourth graders were given a test to determine placement for math grouping. The teacher's answer sheet provided incorrect answers and it was not until some of the parents pointed it out to the teachers that corrections were made. Parents fear that the fourth graders are not ever going to get to long division because too much time is devoted to addition and subtraction in the book. I just keep telling them they should have insisted on Saxon. The book does not have pretty pictures, but my daughter is doing long division and learning about triangles and using a protractor. I took her along to the PTO meeting because it was held after school. Since she attends parochial school she is out of school an hour before the public school kids. She was showing off her new math skills to some of her public school friends...The principal looked very nervous as she drew a picture of a protractor and was explaining it to her friends and then showed them a long division problem. Parents would like to know the importance of estimating....Are other districts spending large amounts of time on estimating? Our district claims it is because it is on the state assessment tests. Our teachers have an estimating jar on their desks. The children are allowed to fill it with any item. The children then have to guess the amount of items in the jar. Gloria Hoffman ============================================= Material forwarded by: Jimmy Kilpatrick http://www.readbygrade3.com http://www.k-12science.org ============================================= For a free daily up-date of education news, research articles and commentaries published in major newspapers, magazines and journals, please forward email address to Jimmy Kilpatrick jimmyk5@swbell.net .