A Mountainous Land

Dear Parents,

One thing you may not know about me is that I absolutely love math. I really do. And it is not because it is something I am naturally gifted at. What I enjoy about math is that it affords plenty of opportunities to put my mind to work. I like solving problems — in general, the harder, the better. 

During my first full year teaching Algebra I, I noticed something across my large class of 8th graders. When they encountered a word problem they didn’t know how to solve, they would simply write a question mark. It was a bad habit, for sure, because I had instructed them to write down what was known, what was unknown, and to draw a picture — but the question marks kept showing up. I could relate to the quick response of the question mark because as a student, I also disliked word problems; in fact, I was terrified of them. The question mark enabled a quick getaway.

For my next full-time year at Ambleside, I was assigned to teach 1st grade. The 7th and 8th grade classes were small enough to combine, and I drew the short straw. Little people, here I come.

It was also that year that we switched to using Singapore Math. If my memory serves me correctly, our school was one of the first in the Ambleside network to do so. I dove right in, learning how to teach with this new-to-me approach to math. The first year, we piloted it in 1st grade, and the following year we expanded Singapore Math into grades 2–6.

After a season of teaching 1st grade, an opening in middle school became available and I jumped at the chance. A few years later, I was back teaching 8th grade Algebra I.

But something had changed.

These students had spent years learning through Singapore Math. When they arrived at a word problem they could not solve algebraically — when they could not figure out how to set up the equation — they did not simply put a question mark. Instead, they used strategies like bar modeling that they had learned and practiced years before.

What I noticed then, and continue to see in our students today, is a flexibility in problem solving that enables them to tackle problems that once stopped students in their tracks.

Charlotte Mason once described mathematics as “a mountainous land” — difficult at times, with steep climbs and deep ravines — but also a place where “every step taken is on firm ground.” Students who learn to work in that landscape, she said, become “braced by effort and satisfied with truth.” Over the years, I have seen exactly that in our students.

Ambleside adopted Singapore Math around 2015, and we have not looked back. Recently, we made the decision to update our materials with the latest edition, which includes improved teacher resources and greater rigor for students. Teachers were introduced to the new suite of materials at a recent faculty meeting and will continue receiving in-person coaching from math specialist Beth Curran, whom we have worked with for years.

And I am excited to announce that Beth will also be hosting an hour-long virtual introduction to Singapore Math for parents this fall. More on that to come, but you will finally get a peek behind the curtain of our K–6 math instruction at Ambleside.

Thank you, as always, for entrusting your children to us. It is a joy to watch students learn not only to solve problems, but to approach difficult things with courage, persistence, and confidence.

My best,

Krise