Q&A - P3 Math

[phantom]

lizawa:

I follow through my children's text books and look at some of the guide books. Take a while to get used to. The modelling method that they use for Primary Mathematics is very visual. So your child needs to be able to visualize in order to draw the model and solve the problem. It's just another way of solving problems.


Liz

Wow, looks like a lot of right brain training here. I will start looking at my niece textbook to prepare myself. Thanks for the info!

[lizawa]

Hello phantom,


no need to start preparation so early. saw in another thread that your kid will only be in P1 3 years' time. MOE is revising the Maths syllabus already. Starting from next year P5, calculators are allowed for PSLE maths. Which means that instead of 1 paper now, the students have to sit for 2 papers for MAths, 1 with calculator and the other without calculator. :shock:

So not sure if it's good news or bad news.

[phantom]

lizawa:

Hello phantom,


no need to start preparation so early. saw in another thread that your kid will only be in P1 3 years' time. MOE is revising the Maths syllabus already. Starting from next year P5, calculators are allowed for PSLE maths. Which means that instead of 1 paper now, the students have to sit for 2 papers for MAths, 1 with calculator and the other without calculator. :shock:

So not sure if it's good news or bad news.

Thanks for the cue. Seems like MoE has been changing syllabus very frequently these years, hard to catch up.

I suppose allowing calculator just means the paper will be more difficult. I remember the time when I have open book exam and what it just mean is you can hardly find the answer in the book.

[ChiefKiasu]

Here’s another one, this time from Catholic High Primary 3 SA1:


Gregory and Timothy has 192 stickers together. After Timothy gave 30 stickers to Gregory, Timothy had thrice as many sticker as Gregory. How many stickers did Gregory have at first?

Again… no algebra please.

[lizawa]

Hi ChiefKiasu,


Draw the model after Timothy gave 30 stickers to Greg.

Timothy : 3 units
Greg : 1 unit

Remember, total number of stickers remain the same, ie. 192.

4 units -> 192
1 unit -> 48.

So Greg has 48 stickers after Timothy gave him 30.
At first, he had : 48 - 30 = 18 stickers.

[ChiefKiasu]

Heheh... somehow I knew liz would be the first to come up with the right answer!


Are you as good with Primary science as in math? Check out my question in the other http://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/forum/viewtopic.php?t=180!

[lizawa]

ChiefKiasu,


Guess you must be helping your son preparing for SA1 now. So tough being parents nowadays. Don't remember my parents had to coach us for exam when we were young.

For working parents, need to apply leave during exam period also :roll:

[ChiefKiasu]

Yeah... it's the bane of modern parents. Blessed are today's children with a stay home parent.


No... when I was in primary school I knew more than both my parents combined when it comes to academic work. They only knew a splattering of chinese words. So I never expected them to help me out... which means that if I don't do it myself, I'm screwed. Perhaps that's why I still don't know the parts of the hibiscus that I had to study in P3! :? It wasn't exactly easy for us during that time, either.

Our generation's sense of self-preservation and survival is much stronger than kids these days... so much so that I'm worried for our country moving into the next 50 years.

[ChiefKiasu]

OK… here’s a new one… hot off the press from my son’s P3 SA1. It goes something like this:


"There are 20 pigs and chickens in a farm. There are a total of 66 legs in the farm. How many pigs and chickens are there?"

Again, avoid the urge to use algebra or solve simultaneous equations.

[lizawa]

this is a very common type of question. For P3, it is expected for the child to use "guess and check" process skill. But there is another method that I can share with you. 100% correct, no need to do guessing, especially for large numbers. Let’s see if any other parents want to attempt the question first, then I will share the "solution".