A calculator is on the school supply list I have one that is just simple easy to use for myself and for others if needed.But for school work what happened to the no calculator rule for doing school work??This is a must ask the teacher question & i'll do that on the meet n greet night,but for my own good for now can you tell me if it's on your list and if it was really necessary to have your 3rd grader rely on it for math homework?
I don't need the I can't do it without my calculator argument here.I know he is capable of understanding his work heck he has no issues at school he is helping others since he was in 1st grade on their work I just hope that it's not something teachers will push on their students I don't like the idea of learning it on a calculator,you have to get the concept down before the use of a calculator but when you have learned that you won't need a calculator till later on,when math becomes more complicated...
They are learning more and more before the next year of school.Fisrt grade addition subtraction, low grade Algebra, fractions for 2nd grade then division some mulitplication then there was partial sums algorithium in second,review over fractions.Whatever happened to teaching double digits addition/subtraction and carrying over it was taught a few times but not how I learned to do it now they are in place value 100s place this year i'm sure it'll be 1000s.Thanks for your thoughts mamas...Oh the changes from when we went to school
As a math teacher, I am COMPLETELY opposed to the regular use of a calculator for any class under the level of Algebra I. It creates reliance on the calculator and decreases the child's repetition of basic facts and they get slower at them. I had 8th graders who (when I told them they weren't allowed to use calculators) went back to adding on their fingers. RIDICULOUS.
Yeah, I feel that way too.
I think that they want to introduce students to how calculators work. I know that unless a kid learns how to work a calculator before high school, it makes it really hard to do higher level math that needs to be done with a calculator.
However, I think that it's too easy for kids to get hooked on using it and not be able to do it without the calculator. I would recommend that you put the calculator up at home and only allow judicious use of it.
If you end up having this problem with your child, see if you can find the Wishbone episode where the boy can't do his math homework without his calculator. He makes up excuse after excuse, but it isn't until the neighbor who is having a yard sale hires him and offers a PERCENTAGE of sales, with NO calculator to figure it, that he finally learns how to do the math. Then he actually understands the concept behind it.
The point is that kids need to understand the math before doing it on a calculator. Hopefully you can determine that before allowing her to routinely use it for basic math.
Dawn
I've been in the elementary classroom for quite some time and there are calculators provided by the school to be used ONLY to check work.
In High School (9th-10th) daughter needed a scientific calculator and in Sr. High (11th-12th) she has a TI calculator ( a $150 one) used for advanced classes.
We bought what was suggested by the teachers at the time. Daughter is heading to 12th grade this year and still uses the TI one for some things as in ACT prep, etc.
They are needed to teach kids how to use them. They are also used to check their work. When the kids are learning how to add/subtract larger numbers, it is helpful to have calculators to check. I have also seen teachers use them in math stations/centers for various games.
A calculator was on my dd's 4th grade list. Not sure why yet.
I do think it's wrong to use calculators in elementary school. I have my dd in Kumon for math because they require that they learn their math facts and my dd does (she's one of the few at school that really has them memorized)
When the math gets more complicated, I can understand using calculators, but there is real value in knowing these things off the top of your head.
In our school, no calculators till algebra in middle school.
Elementary school didn't allow using them.
If I recall. the calculators are not used till the end of the school year. By then they are supposed to know their multiplications in 3rd grade.
Our daughter started using the Fancy $150. calculators for Algebra in 7th grade.
They learn so much more and so much earlier than we did.
The math levels in my kids' school are ahead what they were when I was in school. For example, I didn't do algebra until 9th grade, and now they start that in 5th grade. My 7th grader needs a scientific calculator this year. Again, not something I used until high school.
I'm eternally grateful that my kids are really good with math, because the older one is doing things that I don't understand!
