My Review of Dimensions Math PK-5

It isn’t everyday that you find a math program so awesome your five year old son asks to do it each day before he’s even out of his pajamas!

But, that’s exactly what we found with Dimensions Math PK-5 from Singapore Math, Inc.

I’d heard plenty about Singapore Math when I was a teacher at Columbia Virtual Academy. It was a popular math curriculum among my students.

I love that it follows a concrete – pictorial – abstract method of teaching math. Students work with concrete manipulatives (like counters or objects) first. Then, they move into picture based learning. Finally, symbols are introduced. This is the abstract level.

It’s a great way to build actual mastery instead of just memorizing of facts. Singapore Math Inc. is a great program!

The problem?

Their Primary Mathematics series wasn’t written for a US audience. This meant that money and measurements weren’t lining up with what most parents wanted to teach their kids.

Dimensions Math PK-5

Dimensions Math to the rescue! This new series is an updated and refreshed version of Primary Mathematics.

And best of all?

It’s written for a US audience!

When given the chance to review this product, I was so excited! I hadn’t yet found a math program for my new kindergartner. I needed one that would keep his attention and provide several hands-on components.

So I selected KA as my level to review. With Singapore Math, the first level in a grade is A and the second is B. So KA is the first semester of Kindergarten.

My son, Simon, was so excited when the Teacher’s Book, Workbook, and Textbook came in the mail!

He wanted to get started right away, so after I spent some time reading the Teacher’s Manual, we got started. I think he would have done ten pages that day if we hadn’t needed to cook lunch.

What We Received

As I mentioned, we received all three components required to use this program. Those were the Workbook, the Textbook, and the corresponding Teacher’s Book. We also had access to the Blackline Masters on the company website, and some videos of songs.

The Teacher’s Book really explains everything well and offers plenty of instructional tips. It’s really an integral part of the curriculum. I appreciate how easy it is to use!

However, it was written for a classroom perspective, so I found many activities are geared at small or large groups. Thankfully I have my own group here at home and most of the other kids were willing to “play school” with Simon.

You can also feel free to skip over these activities or adapt them to fit your situation. That’s the beauty of homeschooling!

The lessons are fairly short (less than fifteen minutes for kindergarten).

The Student Books

The Textbook is designed to be written in, so it’s a consumable product. My son loved being able to write in his book.

The Workbook offers additional practice. There’s a workbook page for almost every textbook page. You’ll know when to do them because there will be a pencil logo with the corresponding page number.

Within the three books, there are plenty of suggestions for hands on activities and games. The picture at the top shows my son gluing paper button pieces onto a page. We cut those out together and he had to sort them in different ways.

He could sort by color. Or shape. Or the number of holes.

It was fun to play with the buttons before gluing, just to see what he came up with.

The website has plenty of blackline masters available, which was nice for repeated printing. I love how easy the site is to navigate. You just click on the level you need, and then have easy access to everything.

What I Thought

As you probably concluded, I really like this math program. It was a really good fit for my active son. And I think we will stick with this one for a while. He’s learning and enjoying!

You will need some basic math manipulatives to complete the program. But, you can always make your own or substitute for what you have instead of feeling like you HAVE to stick with what is recommended.

I was one of 27 reviewers. To see what other families thought of the KA (and different levels) of Dimensions Math PK-5, please click on the banner below.