Drew Campbell, Dean at New England Classical Academy
Our teachers have been very impressed with the materials and are eager to teach the program - even those who would tell you that they're "not math people." Please thank Dr. Cotter and everyone for making this program available. It will be a great blessing to our students.Melissa Magyar, First/Second Grade Teacher, Eldridge School, Hayward, CA
Dear RightStart Math,I am forwarding a thank you letter I wrote to the Hayward Education Foundation for a $2000.00 grant that was awarded to my school last year. We spent that money to expand the Right Start Math Program from my second grade class to two first grade classes and two kindergarten classes. The two first grade classes are now enthusiastically integrating Right Start Math with our District provided Houghton Mifflin Math.
More teachers are showing interest in using your program because of the extraordinary success my students have had. While looping with my class from kindergarten to second grade, I used abacuses and your first and second grade materials. At the end of second grade, my students took the California STAR test. 90% of the class were proficient or advanced. Of the two remaining students, one, who has had severe math difficulties since kindergarten, score basic. The other student, who had been in the United States for five months, scored below basic. I am extremely pleased with all of these scores and believe that your program is responsible.
I want to thank Joan Cotter for presenting her program at Asilimar in Pacific Grove many years ago. It was there that I first met Mrs. Cotter and my teaching will never be the same. I am trying my best to inspire other teachers to join me in using your fantastic program.
Thank you so much for developing and sharing this program with me.
(Letter that was attached)
Thank you so much for your generous donation of nearly $2,000.00 to the teachers of Eldridge School. This money was spent to enlarge the Right Start Math program in our primary grades and we have seen wonderful results with both students and staff. While the program of visualizing math with the use of abacuses is not being used in Kindergarten as planned, it has been adopted and adapted for use in all four First Grade classes along with my Second Grade Class. We have many more teachers who are interested in our techniques but are unable to utilize the program due to a lack of abacuses and manuals for each class. Some are currently sharing supplies between classes each day. I view this not as a negative factor but as a compliment to the effectiveness of this truly teacher and student friendly program.
As you know, the hardworking teachers of Hayward often go without the supplies necessary to achieve academic success in this time of rigorous standards and tightening budgets. The children who make up the most vulnerable portion of our society are left with increasingly crowded and transient classrooms stocked with the basic supplies the state deems necessary but which, on average, have created a proficient and advanced success rate of 59% in second grade STAR Math results for the state and 50% for Hayward Unified. After following the Right Start Math Program for two years, my class of 20 students had 18 students score proficient or advanced. This was a 90% passing rate. While I believe myself to be a hardworking teacher, I am in no way talented enough to claim these successes as a result of my personal teaching style. These results can be attributed directly to an incredible program and effective manipulatives that any teacher and class can replicate given the funds to purchase these reusable materials.
With the generous support of the Hayward Education Foundation, we, at Eldridge, have been able to help many children not only to meet essential daily needs in math, but to truly understand basic math concepts that we hope will lead to a more successful future.
Thank you again, and we look forward to your continued support.
Louine EK, Kindergarten, Master's Academy, Vero Beach, FL
I am a kindergarten teacher at Master’s Academy in Vero Beach, FL; this is my 2nd year of teaching RightStart™ math. I have enjoyed it much more than the traditional workbook curriculums I have taught in the past.The students respond very well to the program, and look forward to using the AL Abacus and other manipulatives. They love to play all the card games. I set up the ground rules for using the abacus and other manipulatives on the first day they are introduced; I take it away the first time a student misuses it. I almost never have a repeat misuse because they want to use the tools so much.
I had a parent conference last night with a Mom who couldn’t say enough about the program. She wishes she had learned math the way we are teaching her daughter. They play games each night just before bedtime, and if she forgets her daughter is quick to remind her.
Mrs. Meg Walton, Kindergarten, Bethel Prep, Sewell NJ
RightStart Mathematics,I have taught lower elementary for 7 years, and for the last three I have been using your Kindergarten curriculum. The visual learning with the abacus is second to none!
I appreciate all the games and singing. It is what children at this stage of learning spend their time doing, therefore teaching with RightStart flows naturally.
In my classroom you have accomplished your mission of "...helping children to understand, apply and ENJOY mathematics."
Thank you!
Hillary Webster, Principal and Teacher, Breckenridge Mountain School, Breckenridge, CO
I would like to say how privileged and impressed I have been with your staff and the whole Right Start program! We are a small "professionally led homeschool" in Breckenridge, Colorado. Ms. Hameloth was gracious enough to spend a couple of days with our school and our families. Her expertise, sincerity and gift for teaching were truly inspiring. Since her visit, she has written to us and called to see how things are going. We so appreciate her concern and dedication. In fact, we hope to have her come back out in the Fall for another visit! Likewise, we have really enjoyed the "Right Start" Math program. I wish that I had been exposed to this program when I taught in the public school system. It is far more meaningful and fun than anything I have previously used. My 6th graders particularly enjoy the "warm-ups" with 4 or 5 digits. And, of course, all the kids love the math games. Thank you so much for providing such terrific learning tools.Hilda Hinderer, First Grade Teacher, Flasher Public School
I share weekly with my fellow teachers that I am covering material in math I have never covered before with first graders.I tell them that I feel that I am onan adventure into the unknown with this new math series. I Daily I am amazed at how they seem to grasp the concepts taught in the lessons. Some days I run out of time to play the games. Then I take time and regroup with the class by reviewing the games and set aside a day here and there to play the games. I have sent home with every student the green basic cards with directions on how to play Old Main and Go to the Dump. At Parent/ Teacher Conferences there was much discussion including questions about the math series. I could answer most of the questions. Maybe my enthusiasm for this math is evident as every parent said that their child really liked math. We spent many days making the Cotter Tens Fractal. The Kindergartners hadn't done this activity yet and because the other classes from second grade on up have not started this math series yet, I decided our class of nine would do this entire project alone. As the days went by, I really wondered and doubted how essential this lengthy activity was but the day we assembled the entire pyramid (that's what my students called it) I could tell by their excitement and comments that they understood the repeating tens structure and how the smaller structure was identical to the larger structure. It is displayed in our room and we refer to it often. Today we played the More About Tens Station Game and they loved it. I am excited and yet nervous about where this math series will lead us and I just cannot look too far ahead. I try to be true to the series and prepare my students as best I can. I did take pictures at our Parent Math Night and I have pictures of our pyramid. If you feel you'd like the pictures, just let me know. Thank youDixie Thompson, Hampden DuBose Academy, Zellwood, FL
We introduced Right Start Math into our school six years ago after all our teachers attended a workshop Dr. Cotter was doing in Orlando. In retrospect, we should probably have transitioned with only the primary grades and worked our way up, but we didn't. We began with K5 through sixth grades. The parents of older children took awhile to come on board, if they did at all.Presently, we are thriving in the program--K4 through sixth grade. Our teachers are comfortable with the materials. New students coming in even at fifth/sixth grade are acclimating. The fact that we have combined classrooms is a bonus for these new students.
It has been very helpful to have Kathleen Lawler, Dr. Cotter's daughter, on campus several times. She has observed in the classrooms and interacted personally with our teachers. We still have much to learn.
Motivated by the reasoning skills and mathematical thinking we see in the students, the teachers look forward to gaining even more proficiency.
