By Any Calculation These Kids are Mathletes

The team winner of the Pottstown Math Olympiad came from Lincoln Elementary School.

Blogger's Note: The following was provided by John Armato:

On May 19, Fourth Grade students from all four Pottstown Elementary Schools competed with each other in the second annual Math Olympiad.

More than  30 students competed as individuals and as teams to complete complex mathematics problem solving questions.

Individual Pottstown Math Olympiad winner
Makenna Franey.

In each timed round students were given 10 mathematical problems to solve.

Round one was an individual round, and round two a team round.

Team scores were a combination of the individual and team rounds.




The team winner was from Lincoln Elementary and consisted of Austin Sundstrom, Dominic DiPietro, Ariana Careme, Eric Strickland, Devon Smith.

Individual Winner was Makenna Franey from Franklin Elementary

The Goals of Math Olympiad:
To stimulate enthusiasm and a love for Mathematics
To introduce important Mathematical concepts
To teach major strategies for problem solving
To develop Mathematical flexibility in solving problems
To strengthen Mathematical intuition
To foster Mathematical creativity and ingenuity
To provide for the satisfaction, joy, and thrill of meeting challenges

Special Thanks To: Tri-County Federal Credit Union for sponsoring the event!

Education By the Numbers

Photos Courtesy of John Armato

Members of the Franklin Elementary School Math Olympiad team work on a problem.

Blogger's Note: The following was provided by Pottstown School District .

Fourth Grade students from all four Pottstown Elementary Schools competed again in each other in the first annual Math Olympiad on Thursday, May 21. 

The Rupert Elementary Math Olympiad team puts their
math knowledge to work.

More than 30 students competed as individuals and as teams to complete complex mathematics problem solving questions. 

In each timed round students were given 10 mathematical problems to solve. Round one was an individual round, and round two a team round. 

Team scores were a combination of the individual and team rounds. 

"I am excited to see our students so enthusiastic about this event," said Rupert Elementary Principal Matthew Moyer. "Competitive academic events like this, challenge the students and will lead to excellence in the classroom."

 The Goals of Math Olympiad:

• To stimulate enthusiasm and a love for Mathematics 

  

  The winning team was Franklin Elementary School.

• To introduce important Mathematical
  concepts 
• To teach major strategies for problem solving 
• To develop
  Mathematical flexibility in solving problems 
• To strengthen Mathematical intuition 
• To foster Mathematical creativity and ingenuity 
• To provide for the satisfaction, joy, and thrill of meeting challenges

The Results:

Team Winner: Franklin Elementary School

Individual Winners:

1st Place winner Abby Eagle

1st Place - Abby Eagle from Rupert Elementary School

2nd Place winner

Lily Fetterman

2nd Place - Lily Fetterman from Barth Elementary School

Special Thanks To: Tri-County Federal Credit Union for sponsoring the event!

Our Pottstown Staff for their help and involvement:

Barth- Kathy Eagle, Coleen Blute, Cara McGuffin, Nikki Alutius, Rachel Pollock

Lincoln - Mandi Wampole, Denise Schleicher

Franklin- Karen Confino, Darla Stout, Bridget Baldwin

Rupert- Allen Ferster, Diana Dotterer, Nicole Valenti, Jamie Fazekas, Lauren Crean, Del Ferster

On Excellent Teachers and Zero-Tax Budgets

Inadequate photo by Evan Brandt

From left, Pottstown School Board President Judyth Zahora, high school social studies teacher Maureen Rieger, Franklin Elementary teacher Jane Hospador and Superintendent Jeff Sparagana.

As much as this is the season of spring concerts, graduations and field days, it is also the time of the school year when excellence in teaching is recognized.

Some of that recognition occurred at Thursday night's school board meeting.

The first teacher to be honored was Jane Hospador, who teaches at Franklin Elementary School and was a finalist for the Montgomery County-wide Voices of Inspiration Award.

Here is a short video with Superintendent Jeff Sparagana reading why Hospador was recognized.




After Hospador, it was Pottstown High School social studies teacher Maureen Reiger's turn.

She was recognized by the Philadelphia Chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution as one of the teachers the organization recognizes each year "as an extraordinary educator."

It is presented to "a teacher whose instruction on the era from 1750 to 1800 demonstrates education efforts in the classroom that exceed and excel above the current, accepted curriculum requirements.

Rieger will not compete at the state and possibly national levels.

Here is a short video of the ceremony in her honor Thursday.



Of course that wasn't the only newsworthy thing that happened Thursday night.

There was also the small matter of a $57 million proposed budget that was adopted unanimously and will not raise taxes in the coming year.

But we both know that will get splashed all over the front page of The Mercury, so I thought it would be nice to lead off with the teachers since, to be honest, that will likely not make the paper.

And that's why The Digital Notebook's motto is "All the News That Doesn't Fit Into Print."

Speaking of non-print news, here are the Tweets from Thursday night's meeting.

(Be sure to scroll your way through to the bottom to see lots of photos from the district's first Elementary Math Olympiad, held at Rupert Elementary, as well as photos of students helping to establish a new community garden at Charlotte and Walnut streets.)