Math Is Cool

The three Nine Mile Falls Elementary fifth graders who competed.

As part of an after school club, fifth grade students in our District practiced their mathematical acumen for Math Is Cool competitions. Teams competed in open-ended problem sets, relays, pressure rounds, and college bowl rounds. Students who competed in the individual rounds faced multiple choice and open-ended problem sets. In addition to Spokane, Regional Math Is Cool competitions are held in Moses Lake and Seattle.

The Regional fifth grade Math is Cool was held April 25th, at Mt. Spokane High School. Ms. Dawn Toelken was the coach for a combined team of students from Lake Spokane and Nine Mile Falls Elementary. Two students had attended Nine Mile last year and happily came back to the school to help their friends. For the team, one of the Lake Spokane students earned the honor of “Top Scorer.” Ms. Toelken stated, “These kids did an incredible job, especially since we had such an erratic practice schedule. Special thanks to Lake Spokane’s PTN for treating the team to a pizza dinner, complete with table decorations!”

Mrs. Melissa Fuller (one of LSE’s coaches) shared Ms. Toelken’s appreciation stating, “We also would like to thank the Lake Spokane Elementary Parent Teacher Network for their generous contribution of snacks and pizza at the competition, as well as for engraving our plaques. The students felt so honored when they saw their tables decorated with tablecloths and balloons, and they are very excited to see their names forever recorded on our trophies! We are also incredibly appreciative of the many parent volunteers who donated their time to helping at practices and at the competitions: Mrs. Agather, Mrs. Aleto, Mrs. Johnson, Mrs. Roth, Mrs. Scarborough, Mrs. Schueler, Mrs. Staudenraus, and Mrs. Waters. We couldn’t have done it without their help!”

Lake Spokane Elementary sent four teams of four students and an alternate to the fifth grade Math is Cool Competition. In the team competition, the top score from all four teams in each round was recorded. Then these scores were combined to reach the final school score. Therefore, Lake Spokane Elementary Fifth Grades placed Third out of over thirty schools competing.

“Math is my favorite subject,” explained one fifth grader. “It’s awesome to go to a competition in your favorite subject and to go with your friends.” Another young lady stated, “I learned a lot! I learned more math, plus I understand math more.” One young man added, “It’s fun to be with your friends. We learned a lot of stuff working together. You learn stuff from other people, and they learn from you. Plus, you get to earn trophies and awards!”

The State Master’s Competition for all grades was May 17, also at Mt. Spokane High School. From Nine Mile Falls Elementary, one student competed as an individual, as he had earned Fifth Place on the Individual Test in the Fourth Grade Math Is Cool Regional competition in March. Lake Spokane sent one team to compete in the Fourth Grade and one team to the Fifth Grade Masters. These students were one of the sixteen top math teams from across the state. “This year’s Math Club group has been really fun to work with, and many of them showed tremendous dedication to learning some very difficult concepts,” stated Mrs. Fuller. “They sure accomplished some incredible feats! We took a smaller group to the 4th grade competition than in the past, and several of our 5th graders went home ill, so that makes their wins even more amazing. Our school and District just keep doing better and better at the Math is Cool competition. It testifies to the incredible instruction that these students are receiving throughout their elementary years, and I’m so proud to be part of that. I’m also grateful to have had the help of Mrs. Torgerson as the assistant coach. We had about 35 students participate, so breaking them up into smaller groups allowed us to get more done.”