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Post a message or simply read what others have written and answered. Rachel, a RightStart™ Math user and one of our customer care people, will be monitoring this forum. She will respond to your questions as needed.

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RS A 1st edition lesson 18

Why are we supposed to teach the formation of the number 5 with one stroke? I taught our previous 10 kids to "go down, then around, and put a 'hat' on top," even though level B probably said to teach it in one stroke.

This is our first time using level A, and I only got it due to this student's disabilities. Please convince me that 5 should be formed with one stroke. :)

Thanks!

Re: RS A 1st edition lesson 18

Hi, Marti!

I don't know that there is a right way or a wrong way to teach how to write the number '5'. The benefit of the method taught in RightStart Math is to show the consistency of all numbers being written in one stroke. In the song, 'Writing Numbers', Dr. Cotter teaches that some of the numbers (when writing) start on the right, some on the left and some in the middle. When my children struggled with flipping their numbers around (like the 2 and the 5), this song was very helpful to them.

I believe many would argue the same with the number '8'. Some people write the 'curly' portion of the number eight first and then completes the number by drawing a backwards diagonal from top right to the bottom left.

Others, include writing a dash through the numbers '7' and '0'.

If you do choose to use the song to help your children learn how to write their numbers, it would probably be helpful to them to write '5' in one stroke.

I hope that helps! If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to repost your comments here or email RightStart Math directly at info@rightstartmath.com.

Have a great day!
Rachel