All About Primary School Math Enrichment

[Working_Kiasu_Mum]

Personally, I dun really like Kumon cos it’s repetitive and drilling. If the child starts young, then if the child is not the ‘weak’ type, it will come to a point that the child is doing exercises not suitable for her/his age. Eg. my colleague’s gal was attending Kumon since K1, i think. When she was end P1, she was doing add and sub of fractions when she could not even understand. As you know, Kumon dun do much on coaching the kids. Kids do, then they mark and discuss corrections. So the parents will need to teach, but the parents just show how to do add and sub of fractions w/o telling her the meaning of it. Gal understands 1 day and forgets it the next day, then the cycle cont. It’s also quite true that Kumon doesnt do high-order thinking Qs and problem solving. So it will not help the kids in such Qs. BUt MOE is moving to PS and higher-order in increasing % of Qs, hence, you will have to think twice when choosing courses for kids.


My son is attending this course called Livecube, it trains logic, spatial and analytical reasoning. A 1-hour session includes 1/2 hr of cube training, with memory training, forming of 2D and 3D shapes and blocks with different shaped blocks and interlinked cubes. next 1/2 hr on school curriculum that is of higher level that the child is currently in. E.g. My son is in P1 this year, but the written work is based on P1 and P2 syllabus, higher-order Qs are also put into such written work. He is also exposed to Qs relating to volume and related stuff (like those shapes they use in SHICHIDA). So this livecube prog is only available till P4, cos by then they should have learnt till topics in P6. However, class size is a mx of 6 children, so each child learns at his own pace. If you are faster, you speed, if you are slower, you will take some time to digest. It’s good for kids who can move confidently upwards.

[hquek]

Thanks WKM, another lead I can follow up. It’s useful to know on courses other children have attended.


My son will only be in K1 next year. My aim is just to strengthen his understanding on the basics cos we haven’t really started coaching him on maths. Thus far, we’ve only focused on languages and I think it’s time to start on maths.

[Working_Kiasu_Mum]

it’s time to start early. You can start with your own teaching. Call it kiasu, I am that! That’s y I am here! I know the kids need the foundation before they enter P1, it’s a little late if you start at P1. Too much for the kids to cope w/o basics.

[jedamum]

jedamum:

P1 Math Q:

Tom has 12 balls. He divides them equally among his 3 friends. How many balls will each friend get?

Anybody?
i wanna see if your answer is 4 or 3....

[Working_Kiasu_Mum]

jedamum:

jedamum:

P1 Math Q:

Tom has 12 balls. He divides them equally among his 3 friends. How many balls will each friend get?

Anybody?
i wanna see if your answer is 4 or 3....

You asked the right person.My ans is confirmed and absolutely right. Ans is 4. Cos of the word 'among'. This is a tricky Q most teachers like to use, cos of lang.

'among' is not including the subject infront. but if they use 'with' you will need to include the subject infront.

E.g. id the sentence is 'He divides them equally with his 3 friends.' you will need to take 12 divide by 4 (cos includes Tom).

Get it?

[metz]

same answer and explanation as working_Kiasu_Mum.


Another word to look out is "share". If the question uses "share equally with", then the answer is 3.

[metz]

Working_Kiasu_Mum:

'among' is not including the subject infront.

Upon reflection, this may not be true all the time. It depends on how the question is being fashioned. For instance, if the question is phrased as \"He divided the beads among themselves equally\", then the answer would be 3. So, it largely depends on the sentence and not just one word alone.

[jedamum]

thanks Working_Kiasu_Mum and chamonix for the clarifications.


am i correct to say that if the question is…
Tom has 12 sweets. He has 3 younger brothers. He divides them equally among themselves. How many sweets will each boy get?

it is 12 divide by 4?

[Working_Kiasu_Mum]

jedamum:

thanks Working_Kiasu_Mum and chamonix for the clarifications.


am i correct to say that if the question is...
Tom has 12 sweets. He has 3 younger brothers. He divides them equally among themselves. How many sweets will each boy get?

it is 12 divide by 4?

teachers wont use lang. 'among themselves' cos it will not be logically right. If they use that phrase, you will need to approach the school for clarification.

they should only use 'among them' (which is only bros w/o Tom) or 'share equally with them' (Tom and bros).

What is exactly on your Q stated in the paper?

[jedamum]

Working_Kiasu_Mum:

teachers wont use lang. 'among themselves' cos it will not be logically right. If they use that phrase, you will need to approach the school for clarification.

they should only use 'among them' (which is only bros w/o Tom) or 'share equally with them' (Tom and bros).

What is exactly on your Q stated in the paper?

the exact Q is the one stated in my original question.
i am just trying to preempt how the teachers may set similar questions :oops: . A check with dictionary.com on the definition of 'among', they did use the phrase 'among themselves', so i'm a bit confused. i agree it's more of a test of english than math.