Math Mania 2006 Takes
Hold At Wexford Elementary School

How do you get students excited and engaged into math especially when it comes to geometry and making measurements? Wexford Elementary teachers and staff think they’ve found the secret. They hosted Math Mania on Friday, Nov. 17, 2006.

From 9 a.m. until 3 p.m., students focused on sharpening their geometry and measurement skills. These two skills are just some of the skills students are required to master on the math portion of the PSSAs.

Each grade level spent about an hour at two stations doing fun, yet challenging math activities. One station encourage dstudents to create fish out of shapes from tangram sets. A tangram puzzle consists of seven pieces, called tans, which fit together to form a square. The objective is to form a specific shape with seven pieces.

 

The other station challenged students to compare sizes of whales by measuring rope that would be equal in length to different whales.

Dr. Yvonne Hawkins, Wexford Elementary School principal, says this initiative was part of the partnership that Pine-Richland has with the SRU Professional Development School (PDS) and was a great way to link curriculum and to bring aspiring teachers together.

“The student teachers and intern planned together and problem solved together,” said Dr. Hawkins.

Student intern Nick DeSanzo, who is from the Duquesne University, helped organize the project as the Math Mania Project Lead coordinator.

Other student teachers helping with the efforts included: Katie McCurry from Duquesne University and Slippery Rock student teachers Jennifer Kaminski, Stephanie Ruch, Raymond Fischer, Hilary Gent, Jennifer Consolo, Jeff Wastchak, Maggie Hayhurst and Lauren Zivic.

DeSanzo says that students took home math questions that related to a fundraiser prior to Math Mania to work on with their families.

"This is a school wide math project that encouraged students to engage in problem solving and higher order thinking skills during the hands on activities at Math Mania as well as working with their families at home,” DeSanzo said.

The Slippery Rock University Professional Development School Network is a collaboration including 11 schools representing four school districts in Western Pennsylvania.  The interrelated goals of our network are to improve pre-service teacher education, further ongoing faculty development, enhance student learning, and engage in continuous inquiry.