How A Little Oral Review Helps a Lot in Singapore Math

How a Little Oral Review Helps in English

My son, Emmett, is in RevtoRev this year. He does well with reading, writing, narrations, poetry, notebooking, projects, experiments - I am so happy with his progress this year as I see him maturing! However, Emmett's hardest subjects remain English and Math. One thing that really has helped him in English is first studying the oral review questions and answers. This kind of 'review' has seemed to help him better retain what he has learned and apply it to his lessons.

How Charlotte Mason Used a Little Oral Review in Narration

Charlotte Mason also advocated reminding oneself what was read yesterday, before continuing on with reading a living book. In fact, in HOD's How to Narrate: Student's List, this is the first reminder: If you are in the middle of a book, briefly remind yourself what was read last time. This has also been very effective with Emmett and his oral narration progress.

One Example of How to Use a Little Oral Review in Singapore Math

So, this past week of math lessons, I decided to give a quick oral recap of our last Singapore lesson. We are working on circumference and area of circles in 6B. So, I began by asking if he remembered how to find the circumference of a circle. He didn't. So, I just said, "Remember we first find the diameter of the circle or the line that goes all the way across. Then, we multiply the diameter times pi. Do you remember what pi is?" He thought it was close to 3. I said, "Yes! Pi is 3.14. So, to find the circumference or distance around a circle, we multiply the diameter by pi or 3.14."

We also learned pi was the same as 22/7. A shortcut is to check if 7 can go into the diameter evenly. If it can, it is much quicker to multiply the diameter by 22/7 than by 3.14. Over the next few days, at the start of our math lessons, I asked him a few quick questions again. This time, he happily answered that to find the circumference of a circle, which was just the outside not the inside of the circle, he would just take pi times the diameter. He'd try 22/7 first if he could use it, but if not, he'd have to multiply it by 3.14.

How a Little Oral Review Helps a Lot!

WOW! I was so encouraged by this! We have now gone on to find the area of a circle is pi times radius times radius. He needed help remembering the difference between radius and diameter, but now he has down both formulas for a circle's circumference and area! If he can't remember things when I ask him, I just say them briefly and clearly as I jot them on a marker board or point to the formula/picture from a past lesson. I don't do this in an "I can't believe you don't remember this" way. Rather, just as a super quick review to help him. When we start a new section, I'm not planning on reviewing the previous section anymore. Just thought I'd share this less-than-a-minute tip that has helped so much in math for Emmett!

In Christ,
Julie

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