Math Coach Briana Tanner help students to explore math concepts

MADISON – Despite facing a challenging, timed tournament with complex problems, Heritage Math Team earned top honors at the Perennial Math Competition at the University of Alabama in Huntsville on Dec. 13.

“The problems were tricky. Students were competing against strong mathematicians from both public and private schools,” teacher coach Madeline ‘Maddie’ Sexton said.

“This tournament was such a good opportunity for our students to challenge themselves, work as a team and show what they know. I’m especially proud of our third-graders for trying something new and all our students for their hard work, perseverance and fantastic results,” Sexton said. Thirteen schools entered the competition, including private schools like Randolph School and Westminster Christian Academy. Overall, 136 students and 30 teams participated across grades 3-8.

“From Heritage, we had 13 students compete, chosen from our 25-member school math team. (All students were invited to compete; however, some were unavailable.),” Sexton said. Heritage students are in grades 3-5, although Perennial allowed students through grade 8.

These students are members of Heritage Math Team:

• Third grade — Jeffrey Hodges and Joanna Chacko.

• Fourth grade – Hunter Morris, Tucker Shelley, Sohith Suru, Emile Viola and Kohya Yura.

• Fifth grade — Chelsea Fu, Hannah Kim, Milan Malak, Alex Scott and Nyla Tate.

Heritage Math Team meets every other Wednesday. “We start each year with tryouts. I love having returning students, too,” Sexton said.

During meetings, Sexton has students focusing on brainteasers and higher-level math problems. “But I try to turn everything into games so students can see that math can be fun,” she said.

“I really want them to love math as much as I do! We work collaboratively, talk through problems together and help each other learn new strategies,” Sexton said.

For example, in this year’s first meeting, students received 12 popsicle sticks for creating squares using all sticks. “They needed to make anywhere from 1 to 16 squares, working in groups of four,” Sexton said. “It was a great way to get students think outside the box, practice geometry and get to know each other.”

Heritage mathematicians returned to Madison with awards:

• Individual Awards, Fourth Grade Kohya Yura, first place (the ONLY perfect score in the entire competition); and Hunter Morris, third place.

• Individual Awards, Fifth Grade — Milan Malak, second; and Vivian Hodges, third.

• Team Results, Fifth Grade Team Chelsea Fu, Vivian Hodges, Milan Malak and Alex Scott, first place overall.

• Team Results, Fifth Grade Team Hannah Kim, Hunter Morris, Nyla Tate and Kohya Yura, second place overall (Two of these students are fourth-graders.).

“The test was not multiple choice, which makes these results even more impressive! Every question required students to show their work and explain their thinking,” Sexton said.

An example on the test: A theater has 26 rows of seats from A through Z. Row A has 10 seats. After the first row, each row has two more seats than the previous row. What is the total number of seats in the theater?

“Students earned individual awards by having one of the top three scores in their grade level. Since the test was all free-response, they were judged not just on getting the answer right but also on showing clear reasoning, organization and problem- solving skills,” Sexton said.

Perennial “was a big deal for our third-graders, since it was their first competition, and they did a fantastic job stepping up!” Sexton said.

“Another challenge comes with knowing when to guess. Some competitions penalize wrong answers, so students need to decide when to trust their work and write an answer and when to leave it blank,” Sexton said. “While this tournament encouraged guessing, most of our students were careful. We work on these strategies in math team so they can make smart, confident decisions.”

“It’s a joy to watch them learn, grow and develop a love for math,” Sexton said. “I love getting to have students year after year and see their progress both inside my classroom and on the math team!”

In February, Horizon will enter the James Clemens Math Tournament, which has both team and individual events. “It will be another great opportunity for students to challenge themselves and work together,” Sexton said.