OMG Second grade math homework

[Liberty Belle]

I don't know why I'm surprised because I actually helped teach this last year, but, man...this is tough!

He brought home six pages and here's one of the problems:

Mr. Denver builds three toy houses for his children.
Melvin's house is 15 centimeters taller than Betty's house.
Betty's house is 25 centimeter's taller than Serene's house.
The total height of the three houses is 125 cm.
What is the height of Serene's house?

Here's another:

For every 5 meters that Ben swims up a river, he drifts 3 meters back down the river. Ben travels 12 meters up the river. How many meters does Ben swim?

I mean, yeah, they're doable, but second grade!

 

[Mrs. Darcy]

Yikes those don't sound like 2nd grade math problems to me!

 

[Liberty Belle]

Yikes those don't sound like 2nd grade math problems to me!

I know it! It's Math in Focus (Singapore Math) and he's in the highest group, but still!

 

[njmom47]

Yikes those don't sound like 2nd grade math problems to me!

Agreed!

 

[JDX4]

In Saxon Math, those would be 4th grade problems. Those sound pretty tough for a second grader to do without help.

 

[tchrrx]

Good grief! I teach 4th, and those seem difficult to me!

 

[kathyk2]

I think I solved the first one. You have to use algebra. Serene's house equals x Betty's house is x plus 25 and Melvin's house is x plus 40. 3x + 65 = 125 If you subtract 65 from 125 you get 60. Divide 60 by 3 = 20 so x is twenty. This looks like a problem I had in Jr. High not fourth grade.

 

[debster812]

I think I solved the first one. You have to use algebra. Serene's house equals x Betty's house is x plus 25 and Melvin's house is x plus 40. 3x + 65 = 125 If you subtract 65 from 125 you get 60. Divide 60 by 3 = 20 so x is twenty. This looks like a problem I had in Jr. High not fourth grade.

I was just going to say that. It's very basic algebra. DS is in 8th grade, and I can remember him coming home with similar problems in 2nd grade, and at the next parent teacher conference I asked his teacher, and she told me, that yes, it's very basic algebra. Thank goodness my mom is a retired math teacher.

 

[Magpie]

I used Singapore Math with my children, when I was homeschooling. It's a different way of teaching, but actually if a child has been using it from the beginning, these problems aren't hard at all. The foundations for Algebra are built from the very beginning as children learn how numbers and functions relate to each other.

My daughter wouldn't have consciously used Algebra, she would have drawn a picture.

Mr. Denver builds three toy houses for his children.
Melvin's house is 15 centimeters taller than Betty's house.
Betty's house is 25 centimeter's taller than Serene's house.
The total height of the three houses is 125 cm.
What is the height of Serene's house?

First, draw a picture of Serene's house. Then draw Betty's house, make it taller and write "plus 25" in the top bit. Then draw Melvin's and make it taller than Betty's and write "plus 25, plus 15".

Now all you have to do is subtract "25+25+15" from 125, and then divide the remaining number (60) between all three houses to find the height of Serene's house. Which is 20 cm!

I love Singapore Math! It was easy to teach, and I like how thoroughly it prepared my kids for higher math. The word problems were especially awesome, because they not only taught math, they taught reading comprehension, attention to detail and thinking outside the box.

For every 5 meters that Ben swims up a river, he drifts 3 meters back down the river. Ben travels 12 meters up the river. How many meters does Ben swim?

For this one you should use a number line. Just start on the line and hop forward 5. Then hop back 3. Then forward 5. Keep going until you get to twelve, then go back and count up all your steps. Easy!

This is very appropriate math for a 2nd grader, assuming they've been using the program all along and understand how to approach the problems.

 

[JDX4]

I used Singapore Math with my children, when I was homeschooling. It's a different way of teaching, but actually if a child has been using it from the beginning, these problems aren't hard at all. The foundations for Algebra are built from the very beginning as children learn how numbers and functions relate to each other.

My daughter wouldn't have consciously used Algebra, she would have drawn a picture.

Mr. Denver builds three toy houses for his children.
Melvin's house is 15 centimeters taller than Betty's house.
Betty's house is 25 centimeter's taller than Serene's house.
The total height of the three houses is 125 cm.
What is the height of Serene's house?

First, draw a picture of Serene's house. Then draw Betty's house, make it taller and write "plus 25" in the top bit. Then draw Melvin's and make it taller than Betty's and write "plus 25, plus 15".

Now all you have to do is subtract "25+25+15" from 125, and then divide the remaining number (60) between all three houses to find the height of Serene's house. Which is 20 cm!

I love Singapore Math! It was easy to teach, and I like how thoroughly it prepared my kids for higher math. The word problems were especially awesome, because they not only taught math, they taught reading comprehension, attention to detail and thinking outside the box.

For every 5 meters that Ben swims up a river, he drifts 3 meters back down the river. Ben travels 12 meters up the river. How many meters does Ben swim?

For this one you should use a number line. Just start on the line and hop forward 5. Then hop back 3. Then forward 5. Keep going until you get to twelve, then go back and count up all your steps. Easy!

This is very appropriate math for a 2nd grader, assuming they've been using the program all along and understand how to approach the problems.

I agree that this is how I would show children how to do these problems. We wouldn't use an algebraic formula, but would draw pictures for the first one, and use a table for the second one. I don't know if I would consider these problems easy, but they are doable if explained well.

 

[RangerPooh]

Good God that's rough for a 2nd grader! Here we use Bridges for 2nd grade. Basically it's a year of grouping, sorting, and counting. I don't think that my 2nd grade class from a few years ago could have solved either of those problems.

 

[gottaluvPluto]

I think those problems are on target for 2nd grade math. However, I do homeschool and have a higher standard than the public school. I use a Singapore program and love it!

 

[FlightlessDuck]

You know why I hate how math is taught in school?

When in my day-to-day life am I going to run into a situation where someone tells me these things about Melvin, Betty, and Serine's house? They give me a total and relative differences and want me to come up with the height of each house. Why??? Wouldn't that info already be available? Can't you just measure?

I also have the same problem with imaginary numbers (i, or the square route of -1). To me, imaginary numbers are invalid day-to-day values. Show me the square route of -1 pieces of pie.


If anything, you are going to run more into the situation where you need 2 feet of a wood plank for project X, and 3 more feet for project Y. The store sells 4 foot planks and 10 foot planks. Would it be cheaper to buy two 4 foot planks and cut them to the right lengths, or one 10 foot plank and cut that to the right lengths? THAT'S useful math.

 

[luvmyfam444]

wow - must be gifted! They're not doing word problems like that around here in 2nd grade! and 6 pages - that's RIDICULOUS!

they are busy working on math facts - addition /subtraction - taking timed tests and maybe simple word problems

 

[luvmyfam444]

BTW - its nice to know I'd fail 2nd grade nowadays!

 

[mhsjax]

I used Singapore Math with my children, when I was homeschooling. It's a different way of teaching, but actually if a child has been using it from the beginning, these problems aren't hard at all. The foundations for Algebra are built from the very beginning as children learn how numbers and functions relate to each other.

My daughter wouldn't have consciously used Algebra, she would have drawn a picture.

Mr. Denver builds three toy houses for his children.
Melvin's house is 15 centimeters taller than Betty's house.
Betty's house is 25 centimeter's taller than Serene's house.
The total height of the three houses is 125 cm.
What is the height of Serene's house?

First, draw a picture of Serene's house. Then draw Betty's house, make it taller and write "plus 25" in the top bit. Then draw Melvin's and make it taller than Betty's and write "plus 25, plus 15".

Now all you have to do is subtract "25+25+15" from 125, and then divide the remaining number (60) between all three houses to find the height of Serene's house. Which is 20 cm!

I love Singapore Math! It was easy to teach, and I like how thoroughly it prepared my kids for higher math. The word problems were especially awesome, because they not only taught math, they taught reading comprehension, attention to detail and thinking outside the box.

For every 5 meters that Ben swims up a river, he drifts 3 meters back down the river. Ben travels 12 meters up the river. How many meters does Ben swim?

For this one you should use a number line. Just start on the line and hop forward 5. Then hop back 3. Then forward 5. Keep going until you get to twelve, then go back and count up all your steps. Easy!

This is very appropriate math for a 2nd grader, assuming they've been using the program all along and understand how to approach the problems.

This sounds like what we call Sunshine math. But we use it in class, maybe one problem a day and the teacher walks the kids through it and explains how to come up with the answer. They work it together.

 

[Liberty Belle]

To clarify, the homework was given on Friday, so he had all weekend, plus Monday and Tuesday to do it.

It was out of the "enrichment" section of the math book, but it was assigned as mandatory homework.

He didn't know how to do it and he's a very bright kid, so I'm pretty sure either he was not shown or he was out of class (for OT, testing, or bathroom, etc) when it was shown to them.

 

[Liberty Belle]

Oops.

 

[Magpie]

To clarify, the homework was given on Friday, so he had all weekend, plus Monday and Tuesday to do it.

It was out of the "enrichment" section of the math book, but it was assigned as mandatory homework.

He didn't know how to do it and he's a very bright kid, so I'm pretty sure either he was not shown or he was out of class (for OT, testing, or bathroom, etc) when it was shown to them.

Were you able to help him? My daughter was doing word problems like these every day with Singapore Math in Grade 2. She had a separate Singapore book full of them - it was her daily challenge.

They get easier, the more of them you do, because the kids get used to thinking through those particular kinds of puzzles. We thought they were actually pretty fun.

If he gets more problems like these, I'd recommend picking up some graph paper and showing him how to draw pictures to find the answers. Even better - if you can find a place to get them, like an educational store - are centimeter blocks and rods. (The ones we have are called Cuisinaire Rods.) Nothing helps make a math problem clear for a young child better than an actual concrete representation.

Plus, they're just fun to play with!

BTW - when the boy I tutor grumbles to me that none of this will ever be useful in the "Real World", I just point out that he's training his brain to recognize similar problems and understand possible solutions. Then when an actual problem comes up in real life, instead of just going, "I don't know. I give up," he'll be able to figure out where to start. Heck, all you have to do is watch any of those "Handyman" reality programs to see what happens when people don't understand basic algebra. It's not pretty.

 

[Liberty Belle]

Were you able to help him? My daughter was doing word problems like these every day with Singapore Math in Grade 2. She had a separate Singapore book full of them - it was her daily challenge.

They get easier, the more of them you do, because the kids get used to thinking through those particular kinds of puzzles. We thought they were actually pretty fun.

If he gets more problems like these, I'd recommend picking up some graph paper and showing him how to draw pictures to find the answers. Even better - if you can find a place to get them, like an educational store - are centimeter blocks and rods. (The ones we have are called Cuisinaire Rods.) Nothing helps make a math problem clear for a young child better than an actual concrete representation.

Plus, they're just fun to play with!

BTW - when the boy I tutor grumbles to me that none of this will ever be useful in the "Real World", I just point out that he's training his brain to recognize similar problems and understand possible solutions. Then when an actual problem comes up in real life, instead of just going, "I don't know. I give up," he'll be able to figure out where to start. Heck, all you have to do is watch any of those "Handyman" reality programs to see what happens when people don't understand basic algebra. It's not pretty.

Yes, I helped him, but not how I was supposed to (with the bars). Like I said, I helped teach this last year, so I was no stranger to it, but I couldn't remember how the teaching manual said to do it. I found it much easier to think of it as M= S+40, B=S+15, S=S and then we went from there.

He did understand it my way, but I hope I didn't cause any problems showing him the way I did (and I didn't do it for him, he did all the calculations and tried to figure out what steps to take, though he did miss one and I had to help him). Like I said, he's a pretty bright boy, so if the teacher corrects his procedures, I think he'd catch on right away (that is if he's not being too stubborn to listen to her - that's another post )