Sanford Middle School

Mr. Stevens Wins

MathMovesU Math Hero Award

Sanford Middle’s Mathematics teacher, Mr. Jim Stevens, received the MathMovesU Math Hero Award presented by the Ratheon Corporation.  The award is presented to teachers who demonstrate a passion for teaching math; teachers who truly inspire and motivate students to learn.  A true Math Hero is dedicated to improving math education and encouraging participation in math related programs.

There are 8 total awards presented each year nationwide.  Mr. Stevens was nominated by the president of the Maryland Association of the Gifted, and won.  He was recognized for the outstanding work he completes by receiving two grants.  The first grant was awarded to Mr. Stevens for $2,500.00, and matching grant of the same amount was donated to the Sanford Middle School MathCounts competition team, which Mr. Stevens coaches.

Competition Mathematics

SMS offers three different competition math clubs:

1.  MathCounts for any grade level mathematician.
2.  Algebra Mu Alpha Theta – for students enrolled in Algebra I
3.  Geometry Mu Alpha Theta – for students enrolled in Geometry

• The MathCounts club meets every Wednesday from 3:00 to 4:00.
• Algebra Mu Alpha Theta meets Mondays from 4:00 to 5:00
• Geometry Mu Alpha Theta meets Fridays from 4:00 to 5:00

Monday’s club meeting is open to Geometry students who cannot attend on Fridays and Friday’s Geometry club meeting is open to Algebra students who cannot attend on Mondays.  Qualified students can attend both Mu Alpha Theta and MathCounts club meetings if they wish to compete in both divisions.

Club meetings are used to develop teamwork as well as individual math skills.  While competition level mathematics involves concepts similar to those learned in the core classroom; the level of difficulty can be significantly more challenging.

What is really cool is that there is no application process for competition mathematics.   Because participation naturally improves students’ performance in core math courses, everyone is invited to attend.

Mu Alpha Theta competitions begin in December of each year with the Delegates Fund Raiser contest, to be held in 2011 at Hagerty High School.  From January through March there will be one regional and one invitational competition each month.  This school year the math teams will travel to Vero Beach, Tampa and Gainesville for invitational contests. Teams from across the state of Florida participate in the invitational competitions.  Regional competitions are held at local high schools.  The schedule for the 2011-2012 Mu Alpha Theta competition is as follows:

December 3^rd, Delegates competition at Hagerty High School
January 7^th, Invitational at Vero Beach High School
January 21^st, Regional contest at Oviedo High School
February 4^th, Regional contest at Hagerty High School
February 18^th, Invitational in Tampa
March 3^rd, Regional at Seminole High School
March 17^th, Invitational in Gainesville

The Chapter MathCounts competition is usually held in February. The MathCounts team of four students, along with seven individual competitors (to include at least four 6^th graders) will represent SMS at this competition.   In April, the MathCounts Team of four plus an alternate will have the opportunity to compete at the state level contest.  A national contest is held for the top four (overall) students at the state competition.  Besides the chance to “make” the team, 6^th grade students participating in the Wednesday MathCounts club will participate in a detailed curriculum to help prepare them for Algebra I Honors (and the associated Mu Alpha Theta competitions).

Parent support and participation are keys to the success of the program.  We encourage parents to join us at the competitions not only to applaud the efforts of the students involved but to help with managing the 50 plus students who typically attend Mu Alpha Theta competitions.  Parents who wish to participate will need to go the SCPS home web page and sign up as Dividends.

Sincerely,

Jim Stevens, NBCT
Competition Math Coach/Sponsor

 Marjorie Dilmore,  Sponsor
Tricia Panarello, Sponsor
Elaine Lin, MathCounts Coach

MathCounts Competition

Led by Kyle Gettig and Andrew Kwon, Sanford Middle again took first place at the annual MathCounts Chapter Competition on February 19th, Kyle finished first place overall and Andrew finished in 4th place. The rest of the team excelled as well with Sunash Sharma taking 11th place and Aradhya Kasera finishing in 13th place. The competition involved 39 middle schools and over 300 students. Next up for the MathCounts team will be the state competition to be held in Orlando at the Altamonte Hilton Hotel on March 25th.

Oviedo Regional Math Competition

SMS enjoyed another very successful day at the Oviedo High School regional competition on February 12th. The Algebra team placed 12 students and the Geometry team again placed 8 students in the top 15 of their respective division. SMS teams again took both first and second place in the algebra and geometry divisions. Top winners included Kyle Gettig who, again, took first place in the geometry division and Aradhya Kasera who took 2nd place in the algebra division. For the first time, ever, the Algebra team placed first in the state for the competition. In the E Off competition, a test to see how many digits of the irrational number "e" students can remember, Bobek Manesh took third place by correctly naming the first 148 digits.