No material from the Primary Math US edition was removed for the Standards Edition (SE), only rearranged between levels. A few units have been added primarily in probability and data analysis, negative numbers and coordinate graphing. A glossary of terms was added to each of the textbooks. In levels 2A through 5B there is now a cumulative review after every unit in both the textbook and the workbook. Many of the units have a few pages that have been added in order to “reteach” a concept from an earlier level. There is some material that had been removed from the 2^nd edition that has been added back in -- some of the reteaching pages, additional pages on fractions and mental math learning tasks, along with some problems added to the reviews. Levels 3A through 5B are now in color. Students completing US ed. levels 1A and 1B can switch into the SE without difficulty. In levels 3A through 5B, the student will need to complete the B books for the level before switching into the next level of the SE.

As in the 3^rd ed., you need both the textbook and the workbook. The textbook contains the learning tasks along with the practices and reviews that are to be done in class. The workbook contains the independent work. The SE only goes through Level 5B. A middle school series to follow Primary Math 5B SE is being planned by the publisher. Until that is available, students completing 5B SE can continue in Primary Math US ed. 6A & 6B, though there will be a slight overlap in material. The US ed. Teacher’s Guides and Home Instructor’s Guides and Answer Key Booklets cannot be used interchangeably with the Standards Edition material.

Both the Teachers Guides and the Home Instructor Guides include answers to the Textbook and Workbook problems. Both of these publications help teachers understand the course material and provide suggestions to help you introduce concepts. As a general rule, the Teacher Guides are more oriented to the classroom while the Home Instructor Guides are more geared to working one-on-one with a student. However, both provide detailed lesson plans. The Teacher Guides have daily lesson plans while the Home Instructor Guides provide teaching segments indicating the number of weeks to spend per unit. A significant difference between the two is that the Home Instructor Guides have a sidebar column that shows assignments complete with answers. Assignments in the Teacher Guides are listed within the lesson plans and all answers are in the back of the book. Both include lists of suggested manipulatives and materials and included in the appendix of each are mental math worksheets and some teaching helps.

Extra Practice books provide additional problems for A and B books at each level. ~ Janice