Who uses Math U See?

I have used Math U See in a tutoring situation not a classroom. I don’t have much to add with a general comment like this. Use the videos and make sure you really understand everything. Another set of blocks would be very very useful for multiplication.

Be sure to back it up with time for pad on paper calculating. There is very little emphasis on this so you need extra work on it. Don’t bother with their extra books though. Anybody can think up problems or find them for a few dollars at Walgreens or Walmart.

There is a mathusee group on yahoo. Go type it into the search on groups. I don’t know how active it is, but you could always look thru the archives.
If you have a very specific question fire away, I hth.

—des

Jen,
Are you homeschooling or doing group instruction?

Michelle ~ I’m a special ed. teacher; I’m working 1-1 with this student in my resource room. We’re on lesson 8; so far it’s all review and he’s flying through it.

Jenn

I’m using Math U See in my resource room. Most of the kids are in Gamma. I have in the old foundations group. I teach 4-6 resource. I love the program.

Michelle, if you see this, I’m curious, since you began using Math U See, how do you write your IEP objectives? Do you base them on the skills covered in each level, or have you found that you need to supplement in order to meet all their objectives? Also, are you doing all of the lesson and review sheets in each lesson, A-F? So far I’m only doing A and D unless I feel we need to practice it more. BTW, I did lesson 9 today after taking a few days off watching the videos to do some review. We spent Monday practicing counting by 9’s, and when we watched the lesson today he had it down!!! My student was so confident that we went right on and did lesson 10, and he got the multiplying by 9! This is a student who has had an incredibly hard time learing his facts since 4th grade; nothing would stick. I’d love to hear more when you have time ~ thanks!
Jenn

I teach special education at the elementary level. I like the reliance on manipulatives but the down side is that the scope and sequence of the program falls way short in terms covering all of the material required by the state standardized tests (Texas). As a result, if we wanted to use it here we would have to develop a significant amount of addtional material.

Chuck

Right now, my student teacher is taking over this subject. They are going through about 2 lessons per week. SHe starts the lesson by showing the video. The first day they complete A-c. Day two, d, e, and f. Then after two lessons, they are quizzed. This is a lot of review. When its not review, she supplements the full lesson with a group activity. (area/place value).

Most of my students each have 2 math goals on the IEP. One is for computation, usually multiplication. The other is for math facts, usually x or division. Every kid has a math computaion book from Enright that goes through the computation thoroughly. I call this their individual skill. Students come into class and work for part of the period on their individual skill, part math facts, and part of the group lesson. Math U See will not cover all the state standards as Chuck said. But…it is thorough in the teaching of skills. I do have to supplement if the kid as a telling time type objective.

I do like group lessons. With group lessons I do a better job. Just having everyone in a packet doing their own thing is not as good even though it is more individualized from my experience. I have done this before….and I did quick mini lessons. The LD population is a tough bunch. Yes, I could teach all the state standards and do a surface job, but with all the repitition needed I couldn’t do it well enough to make it actually stick. If someone has found a way, do share. My students need a lot of repetition and exposure. They need to really understand the concepts not just be exposed to it if you know what I mean.

With Math U See you will see many lightbulbs. I think teachers often think a kid is getting a concept but it is not done well, it will not stick.

I tell parents at the IEP that I am only going to write a few goals on the IEP to data collect on but I will be doing much more. They have no problem with this. This gives me time to teach, not just write IEPS.
MIchelle

Great insight Michelle. Unfortunately for us, and a lot of other states, our special education students must undergo state standardized testing at the end of the year to determine adequate yearly progress. Thus, they must know the material covered by the test. Although the test differs somewhat from that of the gen ed student it is still a pretty rigourous test. Just for my interest Michelle, must your students past a state sanctioned standardized test at the end of the year to determine adequate yearly progress? I’d love to use a program such as Math-U-See and ensure that my students gain a deep meaning of all of the concepts - unfortunately, the state and time constraints do not permit such a luxury. What I strive for is to ensure I can achieve maximum student learning of all required concepts in the time alloted.

Thanks,

Chuck

Sad commentary when a smattering of incomplete knowledge on numerous topics is more important than grasping essential topics well.

—des