Math Homework

A ten frame is like those manipulative blocks we had, just drawn out. So one long stick is 10 and then we had individual squares. Does no one else remember that? (Like this https://www.schooloutfitters.com/catalog/product_info/pfa...)

Here is the tens frame used for subtraction:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8msVj6bwWs

So I would make the frames reflect 16, with each having a maximum of 10, and count the ones you had to add to get 16 from 9. Or cross out the 9 and count the remainder.

Ah, Welcome to Common Core math! None of it makes sense. https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xpa1/v/...

This video does a really nice job of explaining it:

https://learnzillion.com/lessons/2596-subtract-within-20-...

But honestly, if your son doesn't get it, write the teacher a note and let her (or him) know that. His teacher NEEDS to know that he doesn't understand.

Many of the methods in schools are very foreign to adults, as this is not how we learned to add or subtract. But I encourage everyone to try not to get so upset and say, "Stupid Common Core." These methods really, really, really help the students understand numbers and what is going on.

It saddens me to see so many adults be so afraid of math. At least with Common Core this generation has a fighting chance.

ETA - I think I misspoke. Common Core is just a list of standards. It is not a teaching method. Schools/teachers can use many different methods to teach the concept. I'm not even sure what "new math" is, as parents were complaining about "new math" when I was in high school and I'm in my 40's.

I teach remedial math, so I work with the students who have never felt successful at math. Many of my students have no "number sense." They do not grasp the concept of what 3 + 5 means. Many of them cannot tell you that 3 + 5 = 8. They would have to use their calculators to get the answer.

The method in this post is designed to help kids understand how numbers work. If they understand why things work the way the work, they will be successful in math. If, instead, they rely on memorizing, then they will be memorizing until the cows come home. Math cannot be learned through memorization. There are just too many things that can factor into answering a question. Those who understand why things work the way they work are the ones who are successful at mathematics.

B, I feel unbelievably sad for you that you don't realize the best thing we can do for our kids is teach them many ways to do the same problem. It is through learning multiple methods that the kids gain true understanding. They can memorize 3 + 5 = 8, or in this case16 - 9 = 7. But if they use manipulatives or "10 frames" they will "see" if you have 16 jelly beans and eat 9 jelly beans you will have 7 jelly beans left.

Send it back to school with the kid. Do not do your child's homework. That's your child's homework, not yours.

Mama, homework is a tool for the teacher to determine if kiddo is learning the curriculum in class and can do the work on his own. If he doesn't know how to do the work, the teacher needs to know. I'd put a kind note on the work, "We gave kiddo 30 minutes to try to work through this problem and he does not know how to do the work. I think he needs some further instruction on this type of math. Thank you for all you do!"

Have a good night!

Actually I don't hate math.
What I hate is a Rube Goldberg approach to it.

You and I know the answer should be some version of 7.
But the kid has to draw/color a bunch of boxes to get to the 'correct' answer and will be marked wrong unless he jumps though these hoops to get there.

"These methods really, really, really help the students understand numbers and what is going on.".

Horse manure.

You think India is doing anything with Common Core?
No - they are too busy turning out 5 million college graduates per year.

Our approach to education can NOT compete in the world market.
We just re-create the wheel with a 'new math' approach every few years so the education PhDs can feel like they are creating an illusion of progress.

'New Math'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIKGV2cTgqA

Additional:

♣Gidget♣ - Feel sad for me all you want - you're entitled to your opinion.
With our son, he was telling me "Mom the answer is seven. Why can't I just put that down? I hate all this coloring stuff.".
You work with kids who need extra help to 'get it' and it's fine you try one method and then another until they do.
But all these different methods for the kids who understand it quickly - it really IS just busy work.
The hard work for the gifted kids is slogging through all the boring stuff over and over again while trying to stay interested in school.
Our son is in 10th grade now and getting straight A's in trig and in all his classes.

Did you ask your child to show you what a "ten frame" is?

I don't mean asking your child to do the specific problem. I mean just asking, "OK, what does a ten frame look like and how do you use it?"

If your child can't explain or draw the ten frame, that's the issue -- you are focusing on getting the solution to this problem and your child doesn't know the tool for solving it. Tool first; specific application second. If your child isn't getting how to use the tools, e-mail the teacher about that today and ask for extra time for your kid after school to go over the tools and how to apply them.

Most teachers are very willing to meet with individual kids as needed to explain things and most teachers welcome being kept informed that a child seems to be struggling! This is fixable and that's why the teacher is there.

This will come up again and again. I know a lot of parents (not you, not here, just talking in general!) who like to rail about this or that change to how things are taught, but if we try to make kids do things "our way" or show them "the way we did it when WE were kids" it's only going to confuse them; their teachers will grade them on whether the kids apply the techniques the teachers are required to use. So we need to either understand those techniques ourselves, if we are going to check over our kids' work, or we need simply to be aware of when our kids are struggling so we can alert the teacher promptly.

My husband has a degree in math, and even he has not seen some of the techniques now in use in elementary math, though he figures them out pretty much instantly (I don't!). They do all make sense; they are different approaches but not wrong ones. And no, he has never done our child's homework FOR her but he and I checked over her math homework through elementary school, because though she can do it, it's certainly doesn't come readily to her. We pointed out where she might want to try again, but never gave answers; or my husband would devise some sample problems different from the homework but using the same techniques, for practice. It made a difference -- now she's in middle school honors math and though it still does not come easily to her, she is no longer shy about asking teachers for extra help or about asking him to explain a technique. And we no longer check her homework, by the way.

Just send it back with a note that your child could not do it, and that you didn't even understand what was being asked.
The end.

The teacher needs to know what the students need more instruction/practice on. This is the new "new math". Grrr..

A ten frame is just a group of 10.
So, how many tens make 16? (one plus a partial, yes). So draw that out. Then cross out 9 of the blocks in the 10 frame. And see how many blocks are left.

All this said, if you can explain how to use the 10 frames to your daughter, great. But if she doesn't understand, it's better to just put a note on the homework saying your daughter tried, but she needs more help to understand. Because the math will build on this concept and using 10 frames will come up again and again. My son still has lessons using them in multiplication and division in 4th grade.

I'd send it back unfinished. I don't help the kids with their homework. If they can't do it then obviously the teacher isn't getting the knowledge into their heads and they need to know it's not working.

what's a ten frame?? :-)

What you are experiencing is "common core math". More accurately, math that meets common core standards. This is not the math you grew up with if you find yourself baffled. And please know that you are not the only intelligent parent pulling their hair out right now. Its a new set of terminology, and many methods you did not grow up with.

There is a lot of good about c.c. math. But here is one downside I'm convinced of: it makes it near impossible for parents to be that extra one-on-one kids sometimes need to be successful and learn. There is a lot of advice on here to send it back to the teacher with a note and put the responsibility back on her to teach it. This sadly is something I have resorted to as well. But better if you can pop in early or stay after and ask the teacher to show you.

But why so many parents are not more outraged at this trend and dynamic to make parents irrelevant in the teaching process scares me. I understand that many parents are of the attitude that the responsibility lies squarely with the teacher to teach. But I don't see it that way at all. Teachers have a lot of students, who sometimes need extra one-on-one. The teacher can only spend so much time with "your" child. I personally want to be the back up teacher when my kids needs extra one-on-one help. Don't you all?

S., I told the teacher in all seriousness that I intend to purchase a teachers manual, because I will not be rendered useless and irrelevant to helping my daughter learn.

Part of the criticism of c.c. math is that it requires skilled educators to teach it properly. As a parent then, you have to put your trust and faith in the system they are in. Frankly, this infuriates me. I should be able to help my first grader in math, but often times, like you, I cannot.

You are not the first to bring this up and poo poo on parents who assume or suggest you are "doing the homework for her". You have to understand it to teach it. Why wouldn't parents be working to understand the math so they can help with homework? Geez.

what the hell is a "ten frame?" I HATE math! When my GD would bring this stuff home, it went back to school with a big question mark on it. It would be so much more helpful if there were some detailed instruction in the books, but there aren't.

Guess I should get back to kinder, at 63!

Haha! I faced the exact same dilemma with my son and ten frames. Try Googling ten-frame first grade math and there should be a bunch of references and even tutorials on Youtube for it. That's how I figured it out and thus was able to help my son complete his homework. Good luck!

don't feel bad. I'm the same with my kids, why can't math be the way it was when we were in school!?!?!
If you have the teachers email address, I would email her/him.
I made the mistake of showing my daughter how to solve a problem showing her work, ALTHOUGH it was not the same way the teacher was showing them so she got a zero even though the end result was correct.

And to answer your question, Sorry I have NO IDEA LOL
I would contact the teacher directly.

Haha. This question literally made me laugh out loud! I too have no idea sometimes what they teach in Elementary mathematics. Its confusing! I say Google it.

Well, I believe you would use the 9 to show what 10 - 9 is and then the blank would be used to show the 6. With my duaghter, we would use the ten frames to get teh nubmer we want. So the first 10 frame was shaded in, then 6 more shaded on the second to get 16. Then we draw 9 circles in the first ten frame and she counts the shaded spots to see what is left.
We are now using rows of ten, like blocks, and single squares for ones. Sometimes I really think some of this common core just makes things harder.