Mathletes

When kids learn – and love – math, their future expands.

What is Mathletes?
 
OVERVIEW:
Mathletes is Heatherwood’s unique extracurricular math club for students in 1st through 5th grades who inherently love math, have an aptitude for math and want to improve their math proficiency. Mathletes primary focus is to create a framework for parents to bolster their child’s enthusiasm and learning for mathematics. Parents are encouraged to participate during the meeting times and support the student’s learning at home through math exercises. Mathletes complements the school curriculum while providing alternative and additional mathematical tools for parents to help their child learn. The emphasis is on honing their Math prowess and enthusiasm with interactive and real world sessions. Mathletes is sponsored by parents and taught by parents with input from Heatherwood’s teachers and staff. Parent "coaches" who participate in the Heatherwood Mathletes aim to provide a gentle, constructive, and fun environment to foster the growth of the student Mathlete.

GOALS
Heatherwood Mathletes creates a framework for children and parents to work together on math. The aim is for Heatherwood students and their parents to meet semi-monthly in order to:

• Solidify and complement the Heatherwood math curriculum.
• Stimulate the enjoyment of mathematics and enthusiasm for problem solving.
• Broaden the children's mathematical intuition and develop their
  "brain power''.
• Strengthen mathematical competency and encourage creativity and ingenuity.
• Develop problem solving ability, including flexibility, strategizing, and execution.
• Help the children experience the satisfaction and thrill of discovery that comes with creative problem solving.
• Create a challenging and supportive environment for the students.
• Provide techniques for test-taking through “warm-ups” in a safe environment to help the student understand working under a deadline.

PARTICIPATION
Participation is open to all students from 1st through 5th grades at Heatherwood. We will attempt to assess the level of math competency of every student, and provide instruction and problems at the appropriate level for development and growth. Each student will be encouraged to work at the level and pace appropriate to the student. This usually means working with other Mathletes at the same grade level. We have found that success in Mathletes comes when the Mathlete naturally enjoys mathematics and has a least one parent who will work at home with the Mathlete on the home exercises.

FRAMEWORK 
Mathletes generally meets about two nights a month for grades 2 - 5 and roughly once a month for 1st grade from early September through mid-March.  We meet on Thursday nights from 6:30 pm to 7:30 pm.  In addition, a comprehensive “Math Olympics” test is given to the students at the end of the year to hone their learning.  Mathletes meets to explore and learn about the world of math. We use creative exercises, critical thinking, competitions and problem solving to make math stimulating and engaging. All students who participate throughout the year and take the final test will receive a trophy.

PARENT INVOLVEMENT
We require parental attendance for 1st and 2nd grades during the meetings to help the students, support their learning and assist the coaches with the class exercises. Starting in third grade, direct parental involvement is not compulsory during the meeting but still encouraged. However, regardless of the grade, it is still very important that parents work with their children at home on the home exercises in preparation for the next meeting. Since the program is administered by parents with Heatherwood’s support, Mathletes need volunteers to help coach the children and manage the logistics

CONTACT US
For more information contact Michael Parrot – Head coach at heatherwoodmathletes@comcast.net