Thursday, February 1, 2007 Older Editions

Surviving math, having fun

By April Guilmet

Principal Stephen Jankauskas called it "a magically mathematical morning." Last Thursday, students at Sanborn Elementary School were treated to the school's first-ever Math Survivor Day, a spinoff of the popular reality TV show Survivor, with a mathematical twist.

Students in each classroom, from kindergarten to fifth grade, were in on the fun. Each class was divided into three "tribes," and the children competed in a series of math challenges, said parent volunteer Mina Patel. Using math worksheets, the students worked both individually and in groups to determine the correct answers. Patel, who is in her fourth year volunteering at Sanborn, is the mother of second-grader Maya Patel.

"How many do you think are in here?" Patel asked a group of second graders as she held up a large, clear glass brimming with gummy bugs and jelly beans.

"I think there's 60 in there," guessed Darsie Person, a student in Maureen Wittbold's class. Other estimates ranged from 15 to 100. Darsie and her classmates then took the next challenge: eating very realistic looking candy caterpillars.

The guessing game was used as a final tie-breaker to determine the winning tribe in in Wittbold's class.

"They're having a blast," said classroom assistant Ellen Maltzman. "It definitely helps get kids interested in math. This is more hands-on."

Volunteer Celia Oppedisano, whose sons, Michael and Brian, attend fourth and second grade at Sanborn, agreed.

"The way they're teaching them to add and divide now seems different than when I was in school." Oppedisano said.

Many of the children wore costumes to correspond with their tribes, with names such as the Math Magicians, the Dividing Dominoes, the Dominating Decimals, the Angry Angles, the Addition Apes and the Counting Cats. Each tribe marched into the school cafeteria, with winners announced by a Hawaiian-shirt-clad Jankauskas.

With many of the school's approximately 200 parent volunteers present, the event was a testament to the school's motto, "Together We Can."