MARYSVILLE – Working as a team is key to success in any sport – even math.
Sixteen students at Kellogg Marsh Elementary School have been working since February on team math. They spent a half-hour two days a week working with Math Olympiad coach John Bloom.
It paid off.
One of the school’s three teams placed in the recent state Olympiad. Their competition included about 200 students at Haller Middle School in Arlington. Statewide about 2,000 kids participated.
Ben Marcus said he was a little nervous about all of the people. This is the first time Kellogg Marsh has had a team. “There were a lot of people there. I was a little scared,” he said.
Amber Shelton said she likes the team approach.
“You can do more problems faster,” she said.
Kylie McDonald said, “When you work as a group you can see different ways others do it.”
The problems aren’t easy. Here’s one example:
•Reese is braiding several lengths of colored string together with a repeating pattern of green, blue, red and purple. What will the color of the 47th braid be?
The students said it’s not that hard to figure out whose answer to go with. They double check each other for accuracy.
“You see what strategy they used,” Jessica Dhillon said.
Erik Kristensen said the club is fun. “There’s less talking and you can focus more,” he said.
Helena Kristensen added she also likes it. “It challenges us to learn more.”
Even though they are young, some of the students already are thinking of using math in their careers.
Kylie said she wants to be a scientist or an inventor. “I like to question things and figure it out,” she said.
Aiden Barnett said he is not sure if he wants to use math in a job. “I have a lot of things in mind of what I want or need to do,” he said. “Life is not something you just walk into.”
Chayse Randle agreed with Aiden that if people work hard they can be successful. “If you take the time to think it out you can accomplish anything.”
Aiden added: “You’re not born smart. But if you work hard you can make it.”
Principal Eneille Nelson the team was picked by fourth- and fifth-grade faculty, but a third-grader also made the team. She encouraged Bloom to give it a try even though the squad got a late start. Most teams start practicing in October. She said she was humbled and proud by what they accomplished. “If given the opportunity they showed they can perform as good or better” than others, she said.
Coach Bloom also was proud. “You usually don’t medal your first year.”
Olympiad
In the Washington State Middle School Math Olympiad, teams are rated superior, excellent, very good or good in each of six components: a long-session problem lasting an hour, and five short-session problems lasting 20 minutes each in content areas such as: ratios and proportional relationships, number system, expressions and equations, geometry, statistics and probability.
