jinkies, DD doesn't have a physical math book. Everything is online and her science/math teacher is actually 100% paperless which just blows my mind. I'm so happy the tutor is a good fit and I hope your DD starts making leaps and bounds in the progress department.
Post by pinkpeony08 on Jan 9, 2024 16:13:00 GMT -5
If you are looking for ways to encourage practicing the multiplication facts that kids find fun, my kids loved these math workbooks that were Star Wars themed from Barnes and Noble as well as these color by number sheets that you have to do the math fact to get the color. They were free online.
Oh it sounds like you found a great resource in that teacher/tutor! How does your daughter like her?
I'm sorry she's struggling in her current classroom, is virtual a reasonable option for her? She may be able to do it in another room (the media center?) or with headphones if she can work independently. It just doesn't sound like she's getting a lot out of that class period right now, and something is better than nothing. Obviously ignore all that if she's a kid who would suffer in a virtual environment, I know it is rarely ideal.
Also- if her multiplication/division facts are her biggest challenge- you may want to try one of the mnemonic or song methods of memorizing them. I know Times Tales is pretty popular in the dyslexia crowd (and there's free stuff on Youtube to try), but there are lots of different methods for memorization of math facts out there (besides the more typical flash cards/drill).
I am so glad that you have another person on your team and that she is a solid resource to support your daughter's goals. I hope in a few months you can come back with a great update on her progress!
I think karinothing has a wonderful idea. Next year's teachers will probably be more than happy to offer some guidance/suggestions so your child enters their classroom better prepared.
You should be so proud of yourself for working through this. She's lucky to have you as a mom!
We homeschool, but I'm always shocked when I hear that textbooks are rarely used. My sister used to buy used copies of textbooks so she had a spare set at her home. It made helping her children with homework a lot easier. They could also point back to exactly which lesson was taught that day - and better explain their struggles.
DS goes through phases of wanting me to re-teach a topic when he's needing reinforcement, and wanting to review the textbook on his own.
I hope she sails smoothly through the remainder of the school year, and feels more equipped / comfortable with her math placement next year.
jinkies , DD doesn't have a physical math book. Everything is online and her science/math teacher is actually 100% paperless which just blows my mind. I'm so happy the tutor is a good fit and I hope your DD starts making leaps and bounds in the progress department.
Are there adequate resources online (school portal?) for seeing which unit / topic is being covered, and examples of how equations and such are being worked out? Every math curriculum is so different, that I couldn't imagine a world without a textbook for homework help.
jinkies , DD doesn't have a physical math book. Everything is online and her science/math teacher is actually 100% paperless which just blows my mind. I'm so happy the tutor is a good fit and I hope your DD starts making leaps and bounds in the progress department.
Are there adequate resources online (school portal?) for seeing which unit / topic is being covered, and examples of how equations and such are being worked out? Every math curriculum is so different, that I couldn't imagine a world without a textbook for homework help.
I'm not sure. I know they use study sync. DD excels at math so it is the one subject that I tend to not worry or pay attention to. I have an IEP meeting coming up and I will ask to see what the science and math online stuff looks like.
Just to clarify a point as I'm coming to terms with it: at the tutor's request, I asked DD's teacher what chapter/unit they were working on so that we could best help DD at home. After a week, I finally got a response that special ed learning is goal-based, not curriculum based, but that what DD was doing in class could be found in Chapter 1 of the 5th grade math book.
For those following along at home, that means that we are over 1/3 of the way through 6th grade, and DD has not completed the FIRST CHAPTER of 5th grade math. She is nowhere remotely close to attempting a mainstream class EVEN AT THE 5th GRADE LEVEL, and never will be without drastic intervention.
I am choosing to focus on the good news, which is:
1. Now I know. I had received no communication, no tests home, no homework, no feedback or update at all about what they were doing in class until the first trimester report card in mid-December. And even that gave me no frame of reference, or context, into where that placed her compared to peers. I had no reason to believe that she would be THAT far behind, especially since I DID see her fifth grade homework and tests, and know that she worked on all this content last year. I had mistakenly assumed that they would be working through the curriculum at a relatively normal pace, just with extra help/use of resources.
2. The tutor showed me how to access the 5th grade math book online. I looked ahead, and I know from her homework last year that she did cover at least 7 of the 10 chapters last year. So if I work with her nightly and pay attention to the areas that she is struggling, I think we can start moving her much more quickly through the material. What I don't know is where she will fit in with math instruction at school. From what I can tell, there are kids doing 6th grade math (at least 3 levels, plus kids who get extra help on 6th grade math from the special ed classroom as needed), and then there is special education math, where they seem to be keeping all the kids working at the same pace/level. Like all 8 kids in that class are still doing Chapter 1, 5th grade math, together. So when she moves on and is able to attempt Chapter 2, 3, and beyond, I don't know where that leaves her? I guess with full instruction by me/the tutor. Also: one of her primary complaints is how slow they are going, how repetitive it is, and how even when she does have a question, the teacher does not have the bandwidth to help her. The additional information that I've learned this week strongly supports DD's version of what's happening in that classroom.
3. I can now manage all of our expectations. I honestly don't know if 7th grade mainstreaming is a realistic goal for her, which breaks my heart. She wants out of special ed SO BAD. That's part of what the tutor is looking into. She thinks that DD will have needed to do at least *some* work in a mainstream class in order to be allowed into the lowest 7th grade classroom. She said that she has put kids into grade level just for the last two units of the year, in order for them to be eligible. But I'm truly not sure if we can get through all of 5th grade math and then up to speed for 6th grade by the end of the year. I think our best hope may be to have her starting 6th grade math by the end of the year, keep working on it through the summer, with the hope that she can start out with 7th grade math in the special ed room. Then if she holds her own with that, bump her into a main stream class later.
For her part, DD is framing this in her head as "sticking it to the man" and proving to her teacher that DD doesn't need her. Which... look, if that's a motivating way for her to look at it, then I'm going to let her do that.
jinkies, that is really not the right placement for your daughter as far as I can tell. I am sorry! I personally, as I said before, would get her into mainstream 5th ASAP and do 6th over the summer with the tutor. The tutor can get her caught up in 5th as much as she can. There is no "cure" for dycalculia and reptition does not help. She probably won't get A's but that does not matter, as long as she can pass, she is fine.
I would suggest (and talk to the tutor as well), that she gets placed in a resource room during that period and not special Ed math. It does not sound productive for her and doesnβt give her any help to get back on track.
I donβt know if this is possible, but in my sons 6th grade resource room his Teacher of record gave him some extra stuff to work on (he was just in there to be exempt from a crazy PE class). Iβm thinking if the tutor and you can give her assignments from the 5th grade math book, she could work through them in resource room and maybe do some extra math work on an app or something? I think this could help you all increase the pace of her learning to get through 5th grade this school year. Or the tutor could be selective on what she needs to learn out of the 5th grade curriculum to have the knowledge to get into 6th grade level during the summer?
I'm really puzzled why your DD isn't receiving help in a resource room. It seems like that would be a much better fit for her. Does her school not have a resource room/teacher?
I'm so glad you found a tutor! I hope it's a great fit and help to your DD.
Post by imojoebunny on Jan 15, 2024 0:38:14 GMT -5
I know I am late to this thread, but I am dyslexic and so is my child, who has now been accepted at all, but one University she applied to. She failed math last year, but that was because she missed 3 months of school due to severe health issues, zero school support, a teacher who was being counseled out, and she was taking a class that is supposed to be college level. They never thought she could do what she has done when she was your child's age. Math facts were a nightmare. She tested into higher math in 9th grade, and in 10th grade, she took 2 maths, a AP Stats and the 10th grade math and did great.
Keep pushing your child to do math now. Enroll her in online summer math programs or set her up in Kahn Academy for 6th graders, if they are giving her 5th grade math, and she can do better. My daughters 504 allows a calculator for most test, and that is a game changer for math fluency. If your child can do the math with a calculator or a spread sheet, keep pushing. Math fluency is not being able to recall multiplication, it is being able to understand algebra and set up equations, to understand how dollars and cents work. I got kicked out of the little smarty kid math in 7th grade, and it pissed me off, like your daughter, "sticking it to the man", I spent my holiday break doing every problem in the math book, so when I came back after break, I just goofed off in class. I had already done all the homework for the whole year. The teacher called me out, and I dumped that notebook with every single problem for the rest of the year on his desk. I am terrible at basic math, but when I worked, I did billion dollar budgets, and could see every contingency and line item in my head, when I built the spread sheets. Being able to add, subtract, multiply, and divide is a $1 problem. Literally solved by buying a basic calculator at the dollar store. Real math is a language all of it's own, and is much more logic, and very little calculator in todays world. I wouldn't be surprised if you child kicked ass at real world math. Don't let her think that being a $1 calculator is the slightest bit important.
I know I am late to this thread, but I am dyslexic and so is my child, who has now been accepted at all, but one University she applied to. She failed math last year, but that was because she missed 3 months of school due to severe health issues, zero school support, a teacher who was being counseled out, and she was taking a class that is supposed to be college level. They never thought she could do what she has done when she was your child's age. Math facts were a nightmare. She tested into higher math in 9th grade, and in 10th grade, she took 2 maths, a AP Stats and the 10th grade math and did great.
Keep pushing your child to do math now. Enroll her in online summer math programs or set her up in Kahn Academy for 6th graders, if they are giving her 5th grade math, and she can do better. My daughters 504 allows a calculator for most test, and that is a game changer for math fluency. If your child can do the math with a calculator or a spread sheet, keep pushing. Math fluency is not being able to recall multiplication, it is being able to understand algebra and set up equations, to understand how dollars and cents work. I got kicked out of the little smarty kid math in 7th grade, and it pissed me off, like your daughter, "sticking it to the man", I spent my holiday break doing every problem in the math book, so when I came back after break, I just goofed off in class. I had already done all the homework for the whole year. The teacher called me out, and I dumped that notebook with every single problem for the rest of the year on his desk. I am terrible at basic math, but when I worked, I did billion dollar budgets, and could see every contingency and line item in my head, when I built the spread sheets. Being able to add, subtract, multiply, and divide is a $1 problem. Literally solved by buying a basic calculator at the dollar store. Real math is a language all of it's own, and is much more logic, and very little calculator in todays world. I wouldn't be surprised if you child kicked ass at real world math. Don't let her think that being a $1 calculator is the slightest bit important.
Thank you for this. My head has been spinning since I got the context about her placement last week. She has an average IQ and learns in a mainstream class for everything else. I was shocked to learn where she was in math compared to her peers, and I am struggling with whether I should push her, or whether I am just being delusional and need to accept that she has a severe math disability and will never be able to understand math. Because that seems to be what the school believes based on her placement and progress.
I am also so upset with the school. They let me sit in our conference in December and tell them that I want to get her up to grade level and potentially mainstream. It should have been abundantly clear that I did not understand her current placement or math level. And instead of helping me understand, or giving me any context at all, they just said "OK, well, I'll note that in the IEP". It makes me feel like they don't see me as a partner in her education, and instead just as someone they need to "manage".
I apologized to DD that I didn't act on her complaints about her class earlier. I went over with her IEP with her, and explained to her the goals and what we need to prove to the school to get her up to at least 6th grade special ed math. These are all things that I know that she learned last year, but she did not retain the steps and needs a refresher (memory is an issue for her, this is not surprising). It may not have been the most mature of me, but I told her that I was really angry at the school for not believing in her, and that she doesn't belong in her current class. And that I need her to believe in herself, and we are going to prove the school wrong.
I have an email drafted to her special ed teacher, but I am stalling on sending until I am less angry and can edit it more neutrally. I know that I need to maintain a productive relationship with the school if I want her to succeed.
Post by pinkpeony08 on Jan 15, 2024 22:18:27 GMT -5
Awesome plan. You are an awesome mom and she's lucky to have you advocating for her.
No idea if it's helpful with how she learns, but my kids learned math in Montessori school and it is so much more hands on - you use the materials to really see what is happening with the math concepts. Then as they learn the concepts, they step away from the tools but retain the general understanding of the math concepts. It made so much more sense to me than how I learned. You could discuss if your tutor has a familiarity if you're interested.