Singapore Math: Number Sense and Computational Strategies

Singapore Math takes number sense to the next level. It integrates number sense into every computation by building a solid foundation on concrete, pictorial, and abstract number sense activities. This lesson explores Singapore's number sense instruction in detail.

Ready to learn how Singapore Math brings place value instruction to life? Place value instruction shows how a number can occupy different places in an equation and represent different quantities in doing so. If your students love games, you're sure to enjoy this concrete way of learning about place value.

Addition is such a basic part of math, but surprisingly, many students struggle with this operation. In this lesson, you will learn three impressive Singapore Math addition strategies and use place value mats and disks to complete all of your addition problems.

Imagine that your students have been working with mats and disks for a while, and they're ready for more advanced addition strategies. That's when you will be glad you know about branching, left-to-right addition, and vertical addition, the three strategies you will meet in this lesson.

Once students are comfortable doing addition, it's time to move on to subtraction. It may come as no surprise that this lesson starts with subtraction on your place value mats. As you did with addition, you will start with single-digit problems that don't require regrouping.

This lesson introduces more advanced subtraction strategies. You will practice subtraction with branching and with the traditional algorithm. You will build on previous knowledge of how branching builds on the work you laid with the mats.

Now that you have mastered two operations using Singaporean computational strategies, it's time to turn your attention to multiplication strategies that double the learning. You guessed it—you will begin by using your place value mats to complete simple multiplication problems.

While the place value mats are a great start with multiplication, they aren't the only strategy. In this lesson, you will meet model drawing, multiplication through the distributive property, and area model multiplication, three inventive strategies for looking at multiplication.

Are you ready to tackle division? Often considered the hardest of the four core mathematical operations, division sometimes gets the short end of the stick. There are a number of ways that you can make this operation click for the struggling learner, so this lesson starts with place value mats and disks.

This lesson is all about computational strategies, so you will take your division skills to the next level. You will see the distributive property in action, partial quotient division, and short division. Each of these strategies has a Singaporean twist that makes it particularly powerful and innovative.

Now that you these new computational strategies at your disposal, you may be wondering how you bring this together in the classroom. This lesson will answer this question. You will create a portable toolkit you can use to share Singapore Math with your students and other teachers at your school.