My kids really enjoy Reading Eggs! I purchased a family subscription last year, and four of my children use it almost daily for reading. But, a couple of them also use it for math. Did you know that Reading Eggs has a math component?
It’s called Mathseeds and it’s really a fun way for students to practice essential math skills. Since we were already familiar with this program, I was excited to review one of their math workbooks. After looking at the options, I selected 200 Essential Math Skills for Second Grade. I thought it’d be a good fit for my incoming second grader. And I was right.
What Is This Product?
A soft-covered workbook, 200 Essential Math Skills for Second Grade covers the math skills your second grader needs. It’s a colorful workbook with cheery images and practical problems.
Five strands of math are covered:
- Numbers
- Operations
- Patterns
- Geometry
- Measurement
Within these strands, students will learn and practice a variety of skills. There are fifty different lessons. Each lesson is four pages long, which means there is enough content here for the entire year. This is what my second grader is using for math this year.
The Online Component
Though this is a stand alone workbook, your student will get maximum practice if it’s used in conjunction with the online Mathseeds. In fact, there are “checkpoints” in the book so the student can track their online progress as well.
The image above shows the Mathseeds section for this lesson. Students could color in the circle with 107 to show that they completed the lesson. In Mathseeds, students earn acorns and pets hatch as they progress. Where it says, “Ernest the” the student could write in the name of the pet.
Then there are places for self-monitoring. This is an important skill for children to develop, so it was nice to see.
Here is a screenshot of the quiz my daughter was taking on Mathseeds:
I appreciate how bright and cheerful it is. The kids do this on my phone, and the touchscreen makes it super easy for even my young kids to do independently.
Ideally, students would be on Map 21 when they start this second grade workbook (that’s lesson 101.) My daughter was not quite there yet, so since her checkpoints aren’t lining up, I’m having her skip those sections in the workbook.
How We Used This Math Workbook
Four days a week, I have my daughter complete one page in the book. Since there are four pages in each lesson, this is the perfect pace to complete a lesson each week. It’s a very manageable amount for a second grader.
Depending on how motivated she’s feeling and the type of questions asked, my daughter spent between 5-15 minutes completing her math each day. She really enjoys the variety. It’s not just completing the same type of questions over and over again.
Instead, students are asked to practice the skills with some variety.
In the lesson Moving Shapes (lesson 102), students drew in flip of their own. Then they circled pictures that showed a slide. And color coded slides and flips. Page three had them do some more drawing and tracing to make patterns from moving shapes. And page four was my daughter’s favorite.
She had to cut out sheep and arrows from the appendix and glue them on after she got them in position. She had so much fun trying to move them different ways before finally gluing it down in the correct place.
Since this was the end of the lesson, there was an online checkpoint. But, she’s not on lesson 102 so we skipped that part. I’m contemplating just adjusting the lesson level in Mathseeds so this matches up, but I never took the time to do this during the review period. It is possible, as I’ve changed reading levels for some of my kids. So, if your child doesn’t place into the correct map, you can think about moving it to make them match up.
Or dropping down to the workbook at the prior grade level.
What We Thought of This Math Workbook
My daughter really enjoyed the silly animal pictures and bright colors throughout the book. She said:
I like my new math workbook. I liked flipping sheep. And drawing shapes. There are fun games and projects.
At the beginning of the book, there are several math themed learning activity suggestions. My daughter really wants to do the blob painting listed. It’s a fun way to practice fractions since you fold the paper into different sizes. So, this project is on our to-do list for next week! It’ll be a fun way to practice math without the kids even realizing they’re learning!
I think this math book is a good way for students to practice their essential math skills. There’s not a whole lot of instruction going on though, so if you aren’t doing the online piece, you will need to do some instruction with your child. That way they understand the content and aren’t just practicing incorrectly.
As mentioned above, I liked this workbook well enough that I’m having my daughter use it instead of what we’ve used in the past. She needed something new to help her get interested in math again, and this seems to be working. It’s a lot more fun than her other book, and holds her attention better.
Want to Try Mathseeds or Reading Eggs?
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