....that an adult with an (in progress) college education could figure out a second grader's homework. But no. Jorden came home with a math workseet yesterday that had me scratching my head and wondering, "What the hell are they learning?" And it wasn't the first time either!
Here's what her homework looked like: The first problem said to use the doubles rule. Well, Jorden naturally isn't going to know that, and there's no examples to follow nor is the "rule" stated on the paper, so how am I supposed to help her with it? So the first number on there was a 3 with lines next to it to what I thought to keep the pattern going. So that would mean 3+3=6, 6+6=12, etc. Right?
The next problem went like this: So-and-so found 1 penny on Monday. She found 2 pennies on Tuesday. She found 4 pennies on Wednesday so that on Wednesday she had a total of 7 pennies. On Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday she found double the amount from the day before. How many pennies did she have total on Sunday?
I know you're scratching you head and saying, "What??" I did the same thing. In fact, I called my friend Michelle (whose daughter Kate is in Jorden's class) and we both wrestled this thing out for about 30 minutes. The answer we got by the way was 127 pennies.
And it's not Jorden that I blame for all this. We've run into many problems with her math. The worksheets that she gets are completely stupid. There's no examples listed, nor are there clear directions on what to do. The cirriculum is called Everyday Math and it does NOT suit Jorden at all. She learns best when she repeatedly does something until she nails it and only then can she move on to something else. This doesn't allow for that. Many times this year I've had to say, "Don't do it that way, do it this way" because the cirriculum teaches everything so ass-backwards.
Yesterday I was at my wit's end with this stupid worksheet that by the time we got to the bottom of the page, where we had subtraction with borrowing (what does that have to do with doubles?) I just let her use a calculator. Let's face it...when she gets older, that's how she's going to be doing math anyway.
The FIT Challenge
15 years ago
2 comments:
My kids do Everyday Math here too. But the teachers (I have a kindergartener and a 3rd grader) send home the WEEKLY ANSWER SHEET...this is SUPPOSED to be sent to the parents so that they can a: UNDERSTAND the worksheets, and b: HELP the child, whilst NOT doing the homework.
You should contact the teacher to see why she is not sending them home. Also, are they giving Jorden the online access? Do they get to go online and do the stuff there? If they have given access codes/login/passwords, you can go on there as well.
The program works, but only if it is utilized in the right way. Sounds like the teacher is only doing half the work.
and hey...I just got an email from my daughter's teacher re-emphasizing www.everydaymathonline.com: "Remember to use this website to find help with homework, play games and much more to support our math series."
So get on Jorden's teacher.
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