STUDENTS ENJOY TESTING MATH SKILL

SIKESTON -- While some Southwest elementary students are more interested in concentrating on the next recess period, there are those who'd much rather spend their time solving mathematical word problems and concepts.

On April 29 Adrienne Angelos and Andrew Wallace will travel to Columbia where they will compete at the state competition.

The students are members of the Competition Club created for fourth and fifth graders with high math test scores and others teachers have recommended. The idea was to form a group of mathematical thinkers who were interested in competition.

"I wanted to be in it because it was a chance to do something I'd never done before," said 11-year-old Angelos. "I'm good in math. I like it all, but concepts are hard. I have a little bit of trouble remembering things. Being in this club was a way to really make Southwest look good, even better than it already does."

"We have some really good mathematical thinkers in Sikeston Public Schools, this is what they enjoy doing," Beth Gaines, elementary math coordinator, said. "We are so proud of them, obviously. They are hard workers and they represent our school district well."

Club members had the opportunity to demonstrate their abilities in February when they were given a test and the top three scores from the fourth grade and top three from the fifth grade qualified to go to the regional competition April 1 in Cape Girardeau.

The students had extra help preparing thanks to Gayle Baker's Senior High Math Club. The high school club spent time tutoring the Competition Club students going on to regionals.

"The elementary mathematical thinkers really enjoyed being tutored by the older kids and the fact that they thought it was difficult made them realize it's not about speed, it's about mathematical thinking," Gaines said.

"Thirty percent of our population are abstract thinkers and are challenged by entering competitions like this," she said.

"The high school students had to work out the problems too, and even they said the problems were hard," said Gaines.

"I practiced a bunch but I was amazed that I did so well," said Angelos, who won second place in problem solving.

Students had 30 minutes to answer 10 concepts questions and another 30 minutes to answer 10 questions on problem solving.

An example of a concept the students were to work is to find out the sum of the tenth odd number and the tenth even number.

A problem they had to solve was similar to find out the largest number of pizza pieces you can get if you cut a round pizza with four straight lines. However, the pieces do not have to be the same size.

"It was pretty neat but there was some stuff on it we never even talked about before," said Wallace, 10, who won first place in concepts and honorable mention in problem solving.

Wallace said he's not apprehensive about the upcoming event, though he expects the problems to be more difficult. Angelos admitted she is somewhat anxious. "Oh yes, I'm nervous," she said. "I just keep thinking about how hard it's going to be. It's a big deal."