Is this maths level typical for senior infants, or needs differentiating?

[Noramcf]

Hey all! Trying to get a sense check on this- I’m trying to get my son (senior infants) differentiated maths work and the school is pushing back, saying he doesn’t need it. In this age group, how ‘normal’ would it be for a kid to be comfortable with the problem:
2x + y= 10. What could x and y equal? Give three examples, including both positive and negative numbers
my argument is that they’re holding him back based on comfort with problems like this, they’re saying he’s very happy with the standard maths work… is this within the normal range of senior infants? Am I being a tiger mum in pushing for differentiated work, or am I right to make a thing of it? (He can also do multi-step word problems and arithmetic 3 years ahead)

Can you explain what senior infants is? Is that Year 2?

It’s kindergarten/ the year before year 1

No, as I’m sure you’re aware that’s not normal for a year 2 (Age 6-7) to be able to solve. Algebra is introduced in y6 but including negative numbers would push it above in to secondary level.

however, good luck getting them to give him harder work. Are they saying he needs to consolidate y2 level work? Or acknowledging that he is capable, and saying they do provide challenge (usually with a vague promise of some ‘reasoning’ questions)?

Schools aren’t really supposed to push children on to later years’ content these days. It’s very frustrating.

ETA now you’ve updated and mentioned kindergarten I’m assuming you’re not england? In England the year before y1 is called reception and is for age 4/5, and I’ve never heard it called senior infants before - infants is y1-2 (age 5-7) hence my assumption he was y2 (age 6/7). In a different country you may have more luck getting a differentiated curriculum, I’m not sure. I doubt if that level of maths is commonly taught anywhere before age 8 or 9 though!

Senior infants in Ireland you mean? Y1 then. No not the norm but I’d have a chat with the teacher

Let the school do their job, find a different school or homeschool. Stop being an arse. You do not get to dictate what work your child is set.

If he's content in completing the work set within class and happy at the school why the need to push him to complete more complex algebra equations?

There's plenty of other ways you can stretch his love of numbers than introducing more complex maths.

Don’t push him along the curriculum much faster than his peers. All that setting him up for is years of boredom. You need to differentiate at home if he’s that advanced and support the school. How able in stem are you?

Yep! They said that participating in classroom conversations in maths is helping his reasoning skills, but differentiated work is against the school ethos. I don’t want to get in a fight with the school, but I feel like they’re not being reasonable

We don’t push him- he learns maths on his own, he loves it, we haven’t really taught him anything. he learns it from watching YouTube videos (we don’t expose him to these, he finds them himself)

You're letting your 6 year old have unsupervised access to YouTube?

Was that in response to me?

@Noramcf I’m assuming you mean y2? In my experience of being a school governor, your child should be given work in greater depth. This means the curriculum is followed but the teacher should set him much more challenging work within each topic. Have you actually explored this concept with the school? It’s perfectly possible to teach to greater depth within each topic if teachers are skilled. Racing ahead is ok at home. Schools want to see much greater depth so I would maybe ask to see the maths coordinator and get a better understanding of what they teach and how.

My son is very into his maths and reading and our school have not been helpful at all in furthering his interest so we’ve just stuck with doing extra learning at home :( Even in his report he was just described as ‘meeting standards’ 🤷🏻‍♀️ I feel sorry for him as he tells me he’s bored at school but there’s nothing I can do about it :(

As a side note, is algebra in year 1 and 2 not normal? We were taught it in the way the OP described when I was at school 🧐 Was my school just weird?

I mean, if your son is working so far ahead (although I'm still not clear how old he actually is, because kindergarten makes it sound like he is only four or five) then the school may not have the resources available that would meet his ability. If the rest of his year group is still mastering the basics of addition and subtraction (or whatever) the school probably doesn't have the capacity to work individually with your son on algebra and negative numbers.

I think you really are best off getting your son some tuition or working with him at home, if you want to encourage this ability. But it's not really reasonable in my opinion to expect the school to devote significant extra resources to a boy who is thriving, when their greater concern is going to be the children who are really struggling with maths.

No. Algebra at age 5 is not usual. Securing basic addition and subtraction is usual. Maybe a bit of counting in 2s, 5s and 10s.

I think it’s worth considering why you want differentiated work for him. Is it because he’s bored with class work? Fair enough. Or is it because you want him to? Unreasonable.

FWIW, there is a large move towards verbal reasoning and “word problems” in Maths precisely because certain children coached at home to carry out procedures don’t really understand what they are doing. I’m not saying this is your son, but there are certain phrases etc that different curricula want them to use.

I would look at word problems as pp said, mine is ahead (not as ahead as yours) but it’s definitely a weakness she has, the maths is fine but put it into a word problem and she struggles. The puzzle aspect may be more fun, try non verbal reasoning as well (DD really loves these, she likes doing crossword puzzles too). Look for logic and puzzle books to stretch in a more global way.

DD’s best friend is probably more like yours and her teacher is basically happy with “well she can do the work so don’t worry”. Her mum is just doing extra maths at home with her, this kid genuinely loves playing with numbers so she’s not being forced. Honestly the only option if your child enjoys maths is to do it at home, my friend has found her school to be extremely resistant to stretching her DD.

Tbf to OP, the kind of work her child will be set in school if he can do basic algebra will be barely worth doing for him. The school should be giving him something different, he’s probably already bored to be honest.

OP if he’s self taught and school aren’t going to help look at something like “beast maths” or a similar maths programme, if he enjoys maths that much he’ll probably really like it. Best wishes, he sounds like an extremely able child and it’s always important to encourage your children if they have found a love of something whether it’s football or maths.

Everyone can ask their schools for the curriculum! It’s pretty clear about what’s covered. The important issue is depth. Teachers should be able teach greater depth and explain what this means for the dc. It’s not unusual to have bright dc!

You let a 5 or 6 year old watch you tube and find videos himself?

It’s not clear which country you are in or how old your son is.

in the U.K. algebra at this age is generally done through missing box style problems rather than using letters.

in other countries letter are used - eg China.

Eg of uk style sheets:

https://www.mental-arithmetic.co.uk/Missing-Number-Addition-Worksheet-5.pdf

some schools in the uk run a mastery style approach to maths where the focus is in deeper exploration of a topic rather than different work and a focus on word problems and explaining reasoning is often part of that.

Hmm… ok. Just another odd thing about my school then I guess 😆 We also had singing and dancing lessons, another thing I considered totally normal until I was told otherwise.

I think you might get more helpful replies if you said how old he is. The year before year 1 in England and Wales is reception, so 4 and 5 year olds.

School won't differentiate to the extent it sounds like you expect. What do you actually want them to do? Lob a text book at him or have a teacher taken away from the class just for him? The former is more realistic! My advice would be to round him, get him writing stories, playing instruments, learning a language, drawing, catching a ball, having play dates to build social skills whatever you think will fill gaps, it's rare a kid is good at everything and honestly you'll be glad as he gets older. I don't think a spiky profile helps children. He doesn't need help with maths, he's doing that all by himself. Just encouragement.

How old is he?
and how is he ‘finding you tube videos’ by himself?
The kind of maths you’ve put in your op is taught in year 6 in England. So at age 10.