Everyday Math?

[PatsGirl]

A friend of mine is having problems helping her 2nd grader with "everday math". Does your school use this method? What's your opinion on it? It seems every 10 years the schools come up with new math programs...I remember Chicago math being an issue many years ago...

 

[MushyMushy]

Everyday Math was the bane of my existence for many years. I don't know why schools continue to buy into this horrid curriculum! Even talking to middle school math teachers, they've said they have to reteach so many concepts just to get the kids up to speed.

Yeah, DH and I had a hard time helping our kids with it, despite being fairly well educated ourselves.

 

[MM27]

My district has used EDM for the past 9 years. There is a student reference book (it's hardcover) that goes along with the series that explains all of the concepts. I encourage my students to bring the book home nightly, even if they think they will be okay, because if they need help from their parents it makes it easier for mom or dad.

My feelings about EDM? I like some parts. I think some parts are lacking and as a teacher I need to find outside things to help meet the standards. EDM is made for the average to above average student. For example, we just finished the unit on Division. They expect that students will catch on and if they don't they will eventually when they see the skills again. I think division is too important to just fly by and hope that eventually they get it, so I spend a bit longer on things that I feel my students are not getting.

 

[Mickey'snewestfan]

Everyday Math and Chicago Math are the same thing - EDM comes from the University of Chicago.

The school I teach at switched to EDM a couple of years ago, and our test scores shot up. It's an incredibly challenging program to teach well, but if you do it right, kids end up with much more fluency, flexibility, and deep understanding than regular programs. However, it's also very language intensive which makes it hard for kids who are learning English or have Special Needs. It's also spiral, which makes it harder to differentiate.

We find that it's worth the effort and serves our students very well. My 10 year old is also in a different EDM school and I've been pleased with what he's learning there as well.

 

[ncmickeyluvr]

I did the happy dance when our school chunked Every Day Math last year

Every day it was such a chore having to convince DH not to try and teach the kids math "the right way".....arrggghhh!

 

[jme829]

I HATE everday math. Both my younger ones do it. DD is ok because she is in 5th grade and had already learned the basics at a different school before she started at her current one. DS is a whole 'nother ball game. He is struggling because they don't learn the basics first (the addition/subtraction tables) they just jump right in and then bounce around to different subjects all the time.

One week its geometry, the next its area and perimeter, then its number families, then its something else. They don't get to master what they are learning before they jump to something else.

 

[JVL1018]

My kids have Everyday Math and while sometimes I get very frustrated with it-there are days I am googling to help them with their homework-
I do find that my kids excel in math and concepts seem to come easily to them. I don't know if it is Everyday Math or not, but it doesn't seem to hurt them at all.

 

[freckles and boo]

I have heard Everyday Math called Chicago Math. I think it is the same program, developed by the U of Chicago. There are parts of it I like very much. I like that they introduce concepts early and build on them, but it can be a problem for a child who is coming into the system a little bit older. This is the only math program my older daughter has ever used and she is doing very well. One big gap with Everyday Math is that good old fashion math facts aren't emphasized but her school is addressing that. I would strongly encourage parents to keep the Family Letter for each unit. It is definitely a different way of learning than I was used to.

My younger daughter has autism so they are using Saxon Math with her. It is a lot less "wordy".

 

[DisneyBamaFan]

I teach my children at least 3 different approaches to math at every level. That will have to stop when they get to Trig, but it allows them to double check their work. IMO, EDM is harder for bright kids, but easier for kids who struggle with the basic concepts...

 

[PatsGirl]

Thanks everyone for your responses! I thought it sounded like Chicago math when she was explaining it. My (her) concern is that they can't help the kids with it because they don't understand the concepts.

 

[Where'sPiglet?]

My district has used EDM for the past 9 years. There is a student reference book (it's hardcover) that goes along with the series that explains all of the concepts. I encourage my students to bring the book home nightly, even if they think they will be okay, because if they need help from their parents it makes it easier for mom or dad.

My feelings about EDM? I like some parts. I think some parts are lacking and as a teacher I need to find outside things to help meet the standards. EDM is made for the average to above average student. For example, we just finished the unit on Division. They expect that students will catch on and if they don't they will eventually when they see the skills again. I think division is too important to just fly by and hope that eventually they get it, so I spend a bit longer on things that I feel my students are not getting.

The school I teach at switched to EDM a couple of years ago, and our test scores shot up. It's an incredibly challenging program to teach well, but if you do it right, kids end up with much more fluency, flexibility, and deep understanding than regular programs. However, it's also very language intensive which makes it hard for kids who are learning English or have Special Needs. It's also spiral, which makes it harder to differentiate.

I have heard Everyday Math called Chicago Math. I think it is the same program, developed by the U of Chicago. There are parts of it I like very much. I like that they introduce concepts early and build on them, but it can be a problem for a child who is coming into the system a little bit older. This is the only math program my older daughter has ever used and she is doing very well. One big gap with Everyday Math is that good old fashion math facts aren't emphasized but her school is addressing that. I would strongly encourage parents to keep the Family Letter for each unit. It is definitely a different way of learning than I was used to.

I agree with all of this. I taught EDM for four years. I supplemented it A LOT with basic facts and other activities to build "number sense" so that the students had the basic math facts to do the critical thinking and higher level math that EDM seems to focus on.

My personal opinion is that it makes a good supplement to a basic skills math program, which is essentially what I ended up using it as. Some of the activities are great, but I had to do a LOT of work setting up a mathematical foundation with my kids before I could do the EDM activities.

 

[MM27]

It helps when students have only been exposed to EDM. When my district started with the program, they asked for teachers to volunteer to pilot the program, which I did. The problem was that I teach 4th grade and the other 4th grade math teacher did not pilot it that year. The next year when everyone was using it, there were some kids that were seeing it for the first time, some that had it the year before and it was the same way for the teachers. It would have made sense for them to start in the prek/k classes and add a grade each year.

 

[bamagirl@hrt]

Our elementary school adopted EDM when my daughter was in 2nd grade. She's now in 6th grade and the intermediate school she attends does not use EDM. She is a very bright student with an exceptional fluency in math, so she had no problems with EDM. She tends to use more traditional methods now that she's using "regular" math. My son is now in 2nd grade and doing EDM. He, too, doesn't have problems.

This is my second year as a teaching assistant in the same elementary school, working with 4th grade. So, I have observations about EDM from both a parent and a teaching perspective.

The good:
- I like that it teaches more than one method of solving a problem. While some seem "weird" to those of us taught traditional methods, kids learn differently. A child who may struggle with the traditional method may "get it" with a different method.

- I LOVE that word problems are introduced very early! I remember my first word problems in 8th grade algebra class. I was lost! These kids get very comfortable converting word problems into workable equations.

- I also love that children get exposure to variables, order of operation, and geometric concepts at an early age. It makes those things not be so foreign when they are introduced in later grades. I have a degree in engineering, so I think it's great for children to be comfortable with problem solving as well as computation.

- The curriculum builds on itself and reviews often.


- The Home Links that accompany each unit help explain the concepts to parents.


The bad:
- My biggest gripe with EDM is that it introduces a concept quickly and moves on. As a PP mentioned, that can be hard for children who perform at a lower level in math.

- Some methods are very time-consuming to perform. That can be to a child's disadvantage if he/she chooses to use that method of problem solving on a timed test.


So this is so long. These are just my opinions/views of EDM. Hope this helps!

 

[Where'sPiglet?]

I teach my children at least 3 different approaches to math at every level. That will have to stop when they get to Trig, but it allows them to double check their work. IMO, EDM is harder for bright kids, but easier for kids who struggle with the basic concepts...

Interesting. I found the opposite to be true, at least at the first grade level.

I know at the upper grades, they teach some alternative ways to solving multiplication that are less well-known, and many kids find success with those.

 

[MM27]

I teach my children at least 3 different approaches to math at every level. That will have to stop when they get to Trig, but it allows them to double check their work. IMO, EDM is harder for bright kids, but easier for kids who struggle with the basic concepts...

That's interesting, because I find it to be the exact opposite. Unless the brighter kids already have a foundation in the concept being taught and it is difficult for them to think about it in a different way. I find that my higher kids breeze through things in EDM and catch on right away and my lower ones need constant reinforcement, many times not through EDM content.

 

[DisneyBamaFan]

That's interesting, because I find it to be the exact opposite. Unless the brighter kids already have a foundation in the concept being taught and it is difficult for them to think about it in a different way. I find that my higher kids breeze through things in EDM and catch on right away and my lower ones need constant reinforcement, many times not through EDM content.

My oldest son had mathematical concepts down before he could properly express them. He also understood spatial and mechanical things that had never been explained to him. So I taught him a great deal before he ever went to school. EDM slowed him down because he could just do the math in his head. The concepts were not difficult for him to understand as much as they bored him.

My younger son, who is not as academically inclined, had no math background before school and handles EDM better than the other concepts, but I force him to learn them anyway. So I am making his life more difficult now, not the school, but I think that learning to problem solve in many different ways is more important than following a school's program...

 

[Eeyores Butterfly]

I don't have experience with Everyday Math, but the spiraling part sounds a lot like the program we used at the two schools I taught in -Saxon Math. I suppose it's fine for neurotypical students, but I taught students with Learning Disabilities. Like one poster said, literally every day is a different concept. They don't give you a chance to cement the concept before moving on. Maybe 10 lessons later they come back to it.

This was horrible for my learners. They need a lot of repetition, and instead. of giving that to them, they figured they would remember the one exposure they had to a concept before they spiralled back. I absolutely hated it. It just is not a good program for kids who need that repetition and that in depth.

 

[XYSRUS]

OK...I'm going to say it. EM s****s! I want to know what bird brain developed it and who he/she had to pay off to get it bought by our district. It's beyond comprehension how ridiculous this program is. You sit there listening to all the educators and experts selling it to you how great it is and I'm thinking... they're letting the drunks run the bar! UGH!!! Double UGH!!! Carry on!

 

[My2Cinderellas]

unfortunately someone high up in my district drank the koolaid last year and we now have this horrible nasty piece of crap math program. It's been a nightmare year. Luckily, it's only in the elementaries and I am sooooo glad my oldest missed it by a year, and my youngest will only have 2 years of it before going back to a decent math curriculum. We are supplementing at home to make sure she stays on track. I have absolutely no faith what so ever in Everyday Math.

It would be one thing to use some of the ideas as one of several math tools, but my district doesn't do anything by half and swings wildly from one extreme to the other instead of taking the best from each approach and meeting in the middle.