1st Grade Math Curriculum Comparison | First Grade Math With Confidence vs. Math U See Alpha
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- čas přidán 11. 04. 2023
- In this video, I'll share a detailed walkthrough of these two first grade math curriculums. I'll talk about the manipulatives or supplies that you'll need for each, and show you what to expect from the inside of the Teacher Guides as well as the Student Workbooks.
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We just started math with confidence last week and have been LOVING it! I'm using preschool math at home, level K and 2 grade and I'm so happy I switched to it. I love all the picture books suggested as well so far.
Aww, I'm so happy that you made the switch and are loving it!
I love your nerdy homeschool videos! This was a great comparison of two wonderful math programs!!
Thanks so much!
I now realize I very much love detailed instructor guides. It gives me the confidence to teach everything. We are using math with confidence K and we love it so far.
I have definitely appreciated the detail in the MWC Teacher Guides!
This review was great! Thank you for flipping through each work book. I was going to go with Math U See until I saw your review and MWC seems like a better fit for us. 😄
Glad it was helpful!
Thank you this video was so helpful! Thanks for including your take on including the books with MWC!
Glad that was helpful!!
Thank you for this video! I have been going back and forth between these two companies, but for an up and coming third grader, and really felt this comparison helped.
So glad that the comparison was helpful! I also find it helpful to see different curriculum options side by side!
For the picture books that I can't find at my library, there is usually some kind of read aloud on CZcams for it!
Yes, CZcams read alouds are a great option in a pinch!
My son is enjoying KMWC and he will definitely love and appreciate the front and back worksheet with the FMWC haha
I love that it includes the why behind the concept! Thank you for sharing! love the nerdy homeschool videos🙌🏻
hahaha, yes, 1st grade offers a little MORE worksheet, which I think it perfect at this next level.
Love this, I’m deciding between these two for my upcoming first grader. We used math with confidence and primer for Kinder. I’ve also used primer thru epsilon with my older and kids and enjoy it. But math with confidence has been great too. Nice to see a side by side. Thanks!
Glad it was helpful!
Brilliant, thank you for this. It helped me decide to go for MWC.
Glad I could help!
I like the math confidence games. Same few games over and over. It takes a lot of time to learn new games.
Yes, that's a very good point! When curriculums constantly use new games, there's a lot of wasted time figuring out how to play the game. I like that you use the same handful of games or play the same games with alterations.
Thank you so much for this! I ordered MWC 🎉
Oh, I'm glad this was helpful!
Thank you for this video! I just am finishing MUS Primer with my son and want to add Math With Confidence for 1st grade. Helpful comparison!
Glad it was helpful!
Planning to use mwc for 2nd grade next year. Can’t wait!!
That's awesome!
I’m currently using 1st grade math with confidence and loving it! I started checking out the books from the library, but sometimes I would forget. Which lead me to check for the books on CZcams. And that’s been a great option. No searching for books or buying more books. It also gives me a moment to check work or get the next subject set up!
I also read the picture book several times a week. Not just on the 5th day.
Yes, for sure, read alouds on CZcams are a great option in a pinch! And we have read and re-read the math picture books that we do have...one of the addition picture books I have probably read no less than 50 times as it's a favorite bedtime read for my oldest...and there's a newer subtraction one that he asks for repeatedly, as well. :)
I love math u see. Excited to be starting math with confidence preschool
I'm excited to be using it again with the 3 year old soon!
That was really helpful. I’m leaning more towards MWC.
That's the one I lean on more in my homeschool thus far--it's worked very well for our family!
This makes me excited for First Grade of MWC! We are halfway through K now, and have absolutely loved it so far. We are fortunate to have a amazing library system and most of the scheduled pictures have been available.
haha, making this video got me excited for MWC first grade! That's awesome that you've been able to pick up the picture books from the library!
I have been waiting to see this video and as I thought it would be, it was very helpful. We have been using Math U See for the last couple of years and I was toying with the idea of switching to math with confidence. However I am really leaning towards that I better not fix what is not broken. Math U See has worked great for our family. I am thinking that I could use the list of picture books from Kate Snow to supplement with those throughout the year. Thank you for the great comparison.
I am a strong supporter of "don't fix what's not broken" - and yes, you can find all of the math picture book lists on Kate Snow's website. Also, We discovered that we've really enjoyed the "MathStart" book series.
I honestly like MWC but I should have just added her math facts that stick with MUS.
I skipped all the picture books for level K but definitely want to get them for our level 2. Great review. I really have loved MWC for my kindergarten student, she's really grasping math well. We're going to work on math facts this summer as that's something that's still holding my 3rd grader back a bit. How have you worked on math facts...if at all? I think Kate Snow recommends having them down in first grade?
Level 1... not 2. Thanks!
I haven't worked on math facts with my son yet, given his age. In the past, I've done lots and lots of old-school flashcard drilling with my younger siblings or students...usually with physical activity involved for the fun of it.
Kate Snow has Math facts that stick books for addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. I bought the multiplication one but haven't used it yet. I also have learning wrap ups as well, and my kids like those.
This was so helpful! I think you used math u see primer and kindergarten math with confidence? How did you integrate both? I’m thinking of doing this with my son 🤔 did you do one curriculum one day and then do one the other? Thanks!😊
For us, we just did both every day--MUS Primer took maybe 5 minutes for my son to do a worksheet, and then MWC Kindergarten took more like 15ish minutes for the lesson (warm up, teaching activity, workbook). The concepts being practiced don't 'line up' exactly, so you're not working on the same thing in both curriculums at the same time...but I saw that as a benefit. MUS gave him a lot of extra practice with writing numbers.
I’m considering both of these for my prek baby in the future. I just can’t decide, they both look so good! I know I still have time to decide 😅. My question is how do you use both of these during the school year? Do you use one of them as a supplement? Or do you find that it is simple to incorporate both without overwhelming your child?
What I have done this year and plan to continue doing is that I teach the full MWC lesson--review activity, teaching activity, and then workbook...and then I give him a MUS worksheet for more of independent practice. MUS tends to only introduce one incremental new skill per lesson (and a lesson lasts roughly a week or a little more) and give repeated practice, so there's not as much burden on the teacher, and it's easy to use as a quick worksheet--it'll probably take my son 5ish minutes to get through the front and back of a MUS Alpha page.
As always great review! My question is my little one is finishing MWC and I'm thinking with going Math u see.
Do you think she'll be confused since she didn't do the math u see primer?
Mwc was a struggle for me with teacher intensive (Prep) and manipulatives were so distracting.
No, I don't think she'd be confused with the switch. The Alpha level moves along consistently and that really lends itself to the child being able to work with it fairly independently, since they know what to expect.
@SevenInAll Great, thank you! We are about 15 lessons to finish MWC. I ended up buying Abeka level K math as a supplement, but I felt like MWC gave her a solid foundation, and instead of moving forward systematically, she was getting bored with abeka K.
So I will save that curriculum for my other child and move the kindergartener right along to first grade using math U See :)
OMG🤦♀️ I use MWC and even through its in the teacher book. I totally forgot about the books!! 😂 mom of 7... I'm going to look through and order some now!
My boys have loved listening to the picture books...I only got a handful, but they've been great. There are a few addition and subtraction books I have read them dozens of times--they're funny and engaging!
When you supplement with the MUS worksheet, will you choose ones that line up with MWC? Or you just plan to go in sequential order and teach him the MUS topic on the fly if needed?
No, I don't try to line them up at all...if anything in MUS is new I will teach that.
I LOVE that box you're using for MWC. Do you mind sharing what kind of box you're using?
It looks like the IKEA Glis box with lid.
It's a random organizing box my husband picked up from our local supermarket when I said I needed a box to organize the math manipulatives. It has worked perfectly but I don't think it's any special brand--Lotus's (the supermarket brand)
Thanks to the both of you! I appreciate it
Thanks for the comparison! We are enjoying the math with confidence track. We had been given the math u see blocks, is there any reason to hold on to them/ are they useful with math with confidence?
My family has been using Math U See since the 90s and the blocks are a beloved manipulative/toy (often used for making 'cakes' ?? or any variety of patterns and constructions...that said, while you may be able to sub-in the ones, tens, or hundreds units into MWC (I have), the 2, 3, 4, etc. blocks won't really fit with MWC teaching approach.
@@SevenInAll thank you! I may offer them for play and pass them on if not taken to. :-)
The hard part for me about MWC is it only will go through 5th grade I believe. She recommends you switch to MUS or similar math later. Might as well start off with Math u see so your child is well rounded and doesn’t miss anything.
If you want to stick with just one math curriculum K-12, then yes, Math U See is a good option. Math With Confidence will go through 6th grade. I would say, in my experience, Math U See is a bit of an 'easier' high school math, so it's not what I would lean towards for very "math-y" kids who need more of a challenge, but it's a solid option that works well for many.
Which one would you recommend for a parent who was terrible at math and a child who is easily distracted? I like the idea of the blocks, but also the games lol. So different parts of each.
I would lean toward Math U See...because of the instructional videos as a help to the parent, and the fact that there is nothing really to get distracted by, because the lessons are so very focused. The games in MWC can be a little distracting...my son sometimes gets caught up and wants to play them repeatedly or wants to adapt a game to play it in a different way...I'm okay with that because it's all great math practice, but it definitely can be a distraction.
I also use two math programs at the same time and am considering swapping out a few. (Will you keep up this approach or will you end up following just one?)
I think it'll just depend...Math U See has typically been easy to implement as a 'extra practice worksheet' type of program. My sister (middle and high school) use Math U See with Life of Fred, when they were in elementary they used Math U See with Abeka.
Hi, can you please explain a little bit about how you plan to implement both curriculums with your 1st grader? We are currently using Math U See Alpha. What additional benefits would you say Math with Confidence brings to the table? Thanks for the tips!
For me, the additional benefits of MWC is that it involves more interaction between teacher and student and more playing with numbers. MUS is very easy to do with less teacher involvement--here's your paper, explain anything new, and the student does the paper. MWC involves the teacher for a larger part of the lesson in playing games or demonstrating activities. I'd say there's more variety--my brain appreciates variety even though I value MUS's consistency.
The way I have done in this year with Kindergarten/Primer is that we do the entire MWC lesson (warm up/review activity, teaching activity, workbook page) and then later, my son will do the Primer lesson pg 22C or whatever it is during a time when he's working through workbooks mainly independently. Both lessons are short, but MWC takes more time than MUS.
I value your feedback and advice! Thanks for taking the time to help me understand your process!
Would you say MWC is more of a mastery or spiral approach? I really like the look of it, but my kids do not do well with a mastery approach
I think it does seek to offer mastery but also has a lot of spiral. Each week has a theme i.e. "Take apart subtraction" and you spend a week on that, but the warm-up games all review skills and topics that have already been introduced.
We just started MWC first grade coming from Right Start then MUS. We are really enjoying it.
So glad to hear that!! My son was just recently looking through the 1st grade MWC book and getting excited that he'll be ready to start soon!
How would you compare Right Start and MWC? Trying to decide between the two and curious which you prefer after having used both?
@@LittleBlessings3 i’m not sure who your question is directed to, but I can tell you for me personally right start was too much spiral and all over the place for my preference. I also did not enjoy the games for the most part and found the directions extremely hard to navigate, which is a very common complaint of them.
@Dreblueskies sorry, it was supposed to be directed to you. Thank you so much for your input! I have come across that a few times regarding it feeling a little all over the place and directions not as clear. That might have been with the 1st edition though? Was your experience with the 1st or 2nd edition? So the games in MWC are more fun than those in RS then? Again, thank you so much for comparing the 2!
@@LittleBlessings3
Mine was the second edition and my little student didn’t have any issues with it. It was more bothersome for me, but we both enjoy the simple games with MWC much more.
Picking a math curriculum is such a beast!
😊
Hello, I have started using Math with Confidence grade 1 (because of your reviews) which we have been enjoying. I was wondering, for my younger daughter I was going to start GR Ready to Read....which I think you have used. This ptogram has math in their curriculum ...do you think adding the kindergarten Math with Confidence would be too much or confusing.? Thank you!
I don't think so--Kindergarten Math with Confidence is definitely not heavy or long lessons. Ready to read has a very 'bite sized' amount of math practice, typically 1 very short workbook pg per lesson, in it, it wouldn't hurt at all to have the extra conceptual math practice that KMWC gives.
@SevenInAll Thank you so much! I love Math with Confidence grade 1 with my oldest, and although she is doing great with it, I kind of wish she had started with the kindergarten. So this should work out well with my youngest. Enjoy your summer!
Hi! Thanks for the video! Do you think it is a good option to do them together or are you only doing that because your child really likes math? I am really torn between these two curriculum 🤷🏼♀️
I do think it's a good idea to do them together...and yes, I do extra math because my child really loves math (that particular child also does Beast Academy and Life of Fred at this point...he doesn't really have a math limit, lol). So, yes to both questions. I plan to do both with my younger son as well--in reality, especially at this level, Alpha is so short and simple, it can take about 5 minutes a day if you're just doing one front-and-back worksheet. But it gives great repeated practice. MWC has significantly more variety and more games, and does a lot of work with mental math in the reviews and games. I love the combo for the stability and repetition of MUS's simple worksheets, and the variety and strong mental math in MWC. ;)
Thank you so much!! I was driving myself crazy trying to figure out what to do for math!!
Thanks to your videos, I am starting Math at home, All About Reading and Bookshark for my 3.5 year old. My question is, we already know several letters, counting to 10 and numerals 1-4. Bookshark doesn't start letters and numbers until week 10. Do I start Preschool Math at Home and All About Reading now, or do I wait and do it when Bookshark starts them?
I'd go ahead and start--that's assuming it's All About Reading Pre-Reading, right? For me, I don't ever worry about "lining things up" to coordinate...I think it's good practice to bump up into Bookshark working on a letter or number you've already learned about, etc. Makes for good review and practice.
@@SevenInAll Ok!! Thank you so much. Yes, it's the pre-reading.
I don’t know if it’s been asked, but where did I get the bin for the Math with Confidence supplies?
I just bought it at my local supermarket in my country and it's their store brand - it's just a plastic container with dividers inside--but very handy!
I should get that googul one! My kids are very hooked on googul and googulplex. I often have to say, "no you can't have a googul of that." 😂
I think such numbers are often very fascinating to children!
Do you feel that math u see would be better for a child struggling with math? We did MWC k and are working to finish level 1.....but we are stuck. My daughter just cannot get her addition and subtraction facts down. I mean she breaks down super easily over it and i feel so defeated.
I do think that Math U See is a great option for children who struggle with math--it sticks to the fundamentals, stays focused, and offers so much review that MUS is known to be very successful with kids who don't have a natural knack for math. Also, I know Kate Snow has products that are specifically targeted toward mastering addition facts and subtraction facts, and lots of people take breaks from the main curriculum to spend 6 weeks or so really mastering the facts. They're called "addition facts that stick" and "subtraction facts that stick"
Can you show or explain what the black line master is at the back of the teacher book?
"Black line Masters" are just a handful of black-and-white charts that you can copy for your convenience for different activities--i.e. a 10-frame, 100 number chart, pattern block shapes in case you don't have actual pattern blocks, etc. They recommend copying them and laminating them. I haven't had to do that yet because I have wooden pattern blocks and because the Morning Binder that we use (from G+C Press) already has pages with 10 frames that we use again and again when required.
@@SevenInAll thank you!
I saw in one of your other videos that you’ve chosen to move onto math with confidence, is there a reason why you’ve chosen to do that instead of sticking with math u see? how are you finding using so many manipulatives with math with confidence? I have a self sufficient child, a child who needs quite a lot of attention and help and a preschooler and I was wondering how long the lessons are with math with confidence compared to math u see?
Actually, with my own son, I've used both Math with Confidence and Math-U-See from the beginning (currently using the levels shown in this video). My mom used Math U See with many of my siblings (because that curriculum has been around for decades), but Math with Confidence is a newer curriculum I wanted to try with my own kids, after using the "Preschool Math at Home" book by the same author and enjoying it.
I keep all the Math With Confidence manipulatives in one box, so it doesn't necessarily feel like a 'lot,' but I do set up everything we need for schoolwork before I call my son for school, and I think that makes a big difference versus trying to do set up at the same time as teaching.
MWC is more teacher intensive and requires more interaction between teacher and student, and MUS is a simpler lesson set-up and easier to for a student to use more independently. For the 1st grade level that we're using right now, doing all of the teaching/lesson activities might take as short as 10 minutes...but often is longer in reality because my son often wants to repeat the games that he enjoys a few times.
We like both. I think the teacher-intensive nature of MWC is a strength in the early years of math instruction, but my son gobbles up math worksheets so he'll fly through the lesson worksheets for both MWC and MUS in a couple minutes each (and if I turn my back he'll race through page after page in the workbooks). When math calculations get longer it'll naturally take more time and I'll re-evaluate whether we want to continue with both.
Thanks for that @@SevenInAll I really appreciate your response.
Have you ever used or reviewed Singapore Math?
I have not. I've heard great things about it!
Yay! 😊
Thanks for watching!
Are you using both of these at once? If so, can you do a video showing how you combine the two?
I have used MUS and MWC with my son this year and plan to continue it for next school year--this year we were doing the Primer and Kindergarten levels. My approach to combining is very simple...we just do both every day. I do the MWC lesson as scripted and then I give my son a MUS workbook page (front and back) to complete in addition to his MWC lesson. The MUS pages at these early levels do not take much time to complete, and if there happens to be anything new that he doesn't know how to do on his MUS page, I just quickly teach it. MUS does come with teaching DVDS or videos, but my family has used MUS for decades, so I'm very familiar with using the blocks and the approach they use, which makes it easy to give any instructions in a minute or two.
@@SevenInAll I love this. What prompted you to use both?
I am using 2 curriculums for my soon to be first grader. ABEKA 1 with Masterbooks 2. She LOVES the stories from Masterbooks and Abeka is very straightforward. She likes all the coloring in ABEKA, but not that there is no story arch. Ha! So we are doing both.
@@rosalindreloj7928 My mom often used two math curriculums when my siblings and I were growing up homeschooled in order to get the benefit of the variety between curriculums. My son really enjoys math, so having two curriculums helps it feel like "enough" to satisfy his math craving without doubling up on lessons or moving ahead faster than I think he's ready for.
@@SevenInAllthen would you recommend buying the full MWC kit and only the workbook of MUS?
The specific manipulatives used in MUS are fantastic, and if you don't have experience using MUS already and teaching using their techniques, you likely will want the teaching videos as well. I don't use the teaching videos because my family has used MUS for decades and I am very familiar with their approach. For MWC - the complete program is the Teacher Guide and the Student Book, you are recommended to put together your own kit of manipulatives using household items like index cards, play money, etc (I use MUS 1, 10s, 100s manipulatives as our counters for MWC). @@peachy_reina
Love alpha omega best curriculum ever
Which one? Horizons or their Life Pacs?
@@denisea.9033 horizons for younger children. It's teacher lead
We never used the math u see tests!!! My older kids find tests scary!!! I often think I can see how they are doing but I’ve found that they can fluke things!!! My older kids have gaps in math and we often need to go down levels and also do the current level as they can do it but don’t know how or why!!! The games sounds awesome and I’ve found all my kids need a visual!!! Idk if my youngest is a visual learner or if it’s her age!!! The checkpoint idea sounds awesome!!! My youngest would enjoy the picture books!!!
I think one of the things that can help with not having tests be a 'scary' experience is to include tests from a young age, but not to make a big scary deal out of them or the results, but treat them as a celebratory summation of knowledge or skill--getting comfortable with tests is definitely a skill I encourage all students to build.