There’s Strength in Numbers in the Junior School Mathematics Challenge

 

By Rebecca Armstrong (with JS student contributions)
PYP Teacher and JS Mathematics Coordinator

Why is it sad that parallel lines have so much in common? 

Because they’ll never meet...unlike over 120 Junior School students in Branksome Hall Asia’s first ever Mathematics Challenge on November 19.

Clara from Grade 5 summarized the event, ‘It was good. I can work with teams in different grades and I can make more friends. In most math competitions there’s only one kind of problem but this has lots of levels and we could choose, so it was good.’

Yoonha from Grade 2 explained why she entered the Math Challenge, 'I love Math and I decided to go in the Math challenge because I like challenges. I was a Runner. One reason was, I wanted to get the new questions. The 3 point questions were the best. I almost solved all the questions'.

Bella in Grade 2 also had the role of Runner and said ‘I liked to run to the table because when I got to it I can choose new questions and study it with my sisters.'   

For some students, the questions were as easy as PI (π). Everyone focused on the questions using a basket full of manipulatives, as Ahyoung from Grade 4 explained, ‘It was fun. It was a good time to be with other grades. It was good to use different tools and collaborate.’

Everyone knew that math provided the problems while thinking was the solution as Yeonwoo from Grade 3 stated, ‘I think there were different math problems so it was more fun. We had to use our brain to think of the answers.’

And finally, in the words of Dan from Grade 2, 'I enjoyed the questions. It was fun'.
We hope to see even more of our Junior School students join us next year. Please check out the video Mr. Flynn in Grade 4 made of the event to get inspired.