The Question:
Our district buys our kinders math workbooks. Our current ones don’t go along with the common core very well so we want something new. Any suggestions?
The Answers:
Melissa
Great question! We have the same exact issue!
Megan
I love enVisionMATH.
Gregg
You are lucky there is money to buy workbooks! NC Has no money for that! We are left out to dry and find materials to teach everything in the new common core!
Tandy
Who produces enVision and why do you like it?
Laurie
There are a few pages from our old workbooks that match up and we send home for homework or use for extra practice, but we have pretty much the same issue. Although I have found a bunch of great stuff on TeachersPayTeachers.com. Some stuff is even free!
Pamela
We have enVision, it is good but some of the topics are not common core.
Pearl
We have enVision as well. It is made by Pearson. However, most people do not like it. I teach third grade and it presents a lot of concepts in a confusing way. I also taught Kindergarten when we first received enVision. I used it for a year before going to third. I didn’t have any issues with it, but I also used supplemental resources (which I think you have to do with any program…not one is perfect).
Shannon
We are creating our own workbooks because we can never find a series that works for is and always end up supplementing anyway–one resource that I used to make the math book is Evan Moor Teacher Filebox (website for annual fee).
Kari
We have GO MATH! and it is CC aligned. It’s really good.
Patricia
No workbooks– have them buy you manipulatives instead! :0)
Debby
We have GO MATH. It has just about everything you need and is aligned to the Common Core.
Linda Keller
Look on TeachersPayTeachers (TpT) for math units that are aligned to the Common Core State Standards.
Denise
Patricia…LIKE times TEN THOUSAND….the brain of the 4-7 year old child learns best by doing, they are ready for abstraction closer to age seven.
Betsy
Look at “Math in Focus” (Singapore Math). It is CC aligned. It has large pictures and is not too visually busy. It comes with a Big Book at Kinder level and student books for older grades and it is based on activities that use manipulatives.
Susan
Our county paid teachers a stipend to create units of study, complete with resources and assessments, for every grade level, in every subject, aligned to common core.
Melissa
We have Go Math and its goes with the core and I love it!
Jennifer
I don’t teach from it but my son has GO Math in k and he is doing awesome with it. As a teacher mom I love it.
Carol
GO Math the CCSS version.
Amanda
Go math is missing some of the CC standards so you will have to supplement.
Jackie
FYI, Pearson homework workbooks are terrible, at least in Kinder. For example, it has pages using a balance scale or using unifix cubes. Who has those supplies at home? Often the directions don’t make sense and parents come back saying they don’t understand. I haven’t understood why they don’t correct all the problems.
Cindy
Thank you Amanda!! We have Go Math too. It’s ok but needs supplements. I use some resources from old math books to help.
Mandy
We use Saxon and have to supplement a lot to match up with GLE’s and CC. We had wanted Go Math! but we purchased the series K-12 of Saxon so that we all use the same.
Wendi
Has anyone used Stepping Stones from Origo?
Rita
Has anyone tried Stepping Stones?
Melody
Melody, do you like Math Expressions? I did not. There were way too many problems on a workbook page. I did not feel that it was developmentally appropriate for Kindergarten at all. Not enough manipulatives and all the independent work was at symbolic level.
Melanie
Trisha
We have enVision and I can’t stand it. The smartboard lessons at not in sync with the voice speaking, so when he counts it is contrary to the animation. The huge placemat worksheets are hard for kids to manipulate. They have very few problems in them and the homework didn’t make much sense. We had Scott Foresman before that and Pearson took it over. Why my school would buy the same exact thing when nobody liked it, I will never know… Sorry to be so negative, but I think by doing the program as written is a disservice to my kindergartners. They need manipulative activities and hands-on learning!
Diana
Erin
We use go math and I love it!
Megan
I think I love enVision so much because I make it my own. I provide ample activities to go along with it. Yes, it takes planning in advance, but my students love it!
Megan
Our school system also created lessons for us to make up for the missing common core lessons.
Kristen
Go math!!!
Erica
No matter how good or bad the workbook, manipulatives and supplemental activities are always a must! Thanks for all the feedback, ladies!
Mary
Let me suggest respectfully that workbooks are not developmentally appropriate for K students and are not representative of best practice in early childhood. The money spent every year on low level consumables would be better spent on high quality manipulatives.
Elizabeth
Use them for kindling?
Sarah
The Everyday Math workbooks are completely useless.
Karla
We use math in focus also. I do use the workbooks. Some pages and even lessons are a little funky, I pick and choose what pages I use. I do a LOT of manipulatives as well.
Miss Bindergarten's Classroom 
I am the math specialist for a district that has purchased Origo’s Stepping Stones for our K-2 math curriculum and plan to adopt it in 3-5 for the upcoming school year. We have been very pleased with the program. It was completely designed with the common core in mind. The lessons are very engaging with an abundance of teaching materials and professional development at your fingertips. The philosophies behind Stepping Stones work hand and hand with the Cognitively Guided Instruction stategies that we are implementing. I would definitely recommend spending the time to check it out.
Thank you for your thoughtful comment. I’m sure it will help people choose the best option.
You have the wrong link for Stepping Stones, here is the correct one. http://www.origoeducation.com/steppingstones/
This is the US version which is not correlated to the CCSS it was written for the CCSS. So it isn’t an old program with rearranged ideas, it is an entirely new approach.
Thanks for the correction, Stephanie! I will add your updated link to the post.
I am an elementary principal and mother of a kindergartner, our district has adopted Origo’s Stepping Stones for our Common Core math curriculum. I am loving it as an educator and parent. It is well aligned to the CCSS and has a wonderful focus on the math practices. The interactive lessons keep students engaged while they are learning. The embedded professional development is phenomenal! I would recommend looking at this program to meet your math and Common Core needs.
We have enVision combined with Investigations. It’s kind of confusing to flip back and forth, but Investigations provides the hands on while enVision is much more “old school” with paper and pencil.