Russian Math: Grades 1-2 A (Mondays, In-Person)

Your child learns math the way the top schools in Russia and Israel teach it — through Peterson's Activity Method. The teacher's job is not to hand out answers or drill procedures. It is to set up situations where a first- or second-grader discovers the mathematical idea through their own thinking.

How the classroom actually works

• When your child answers — right or wrong — the teacher asks "Why?" or "How did you decide?" before saying anything about correctness. Reasoning matters more than the answer.
• Wrong answer? The teacher asks your child to describe their own steps first, out loud. Children almost always catch their own error this way. It's the opposite of "let me show you the right way."
• New ideas are always grounded in real objects before symbols — counting apples comes before the "+" sign.
• One idea at a time. Short sentences. Warm tone. Praise for effort and noticing, not just correctness.

What your child will learn

Confident counting and place value to 100 · Adding and subtracting within 100 without finger-counting · Early multiplication and division through equal groups · Word problems that ask for thinking, not just computation · The habit of explaining why an answer works.

Class format

Up to 8 students. 90 minutes weekly, in-person at our Bernal Road classroom in South San Jose. Your first evaluation lesson is free — see the room, meet the teacher, and check that the level fits before you commit.