We welcome you and your child to the annual Foster School Math Olympics!
The Math Olympics is a ten week program designed to be a fun, voluntary, extra-challenge math experience which will enhance the development of your child’s problem-solving skills. The program is open to all children in grades K-5. We encourage your children to participate in these Olympic Games, and in the process, gain confidence and achieve greatness in mathematics. Please be aware that the goal of these Olympic Games is participation and perseverance!
How Does the Program Work?
The math problems will be available for parents to download from www.Fostermatholympics.weebly.com. There is an age appropriate set of problems for each grade level. Completed Math Olympics worksheets must be turned in on Thursday morning to your child’s teacher. Parent volunteers will take the worksheets home to be corrected over the weekend. Problems will be marked right or wrong, but worksheets will not be scored. The goal of this program is to encourage school-wide participation and commitment to the learning process; it is not about who gets the most correct answers. Corrected problem sets will be returned to the children via their classroom teachers. Please be respectful of our parent volunteers that have volunteered to correct these worksheets. Only 2 worksheets of problems can be submitted in one week to minimize the work for the correctors.
What is Your Role as a Parent?
Your role as a parent is to encourage and facilitate problem solving. While children should initially attempt to solve problems independently, if a problem is too difficult, we encourage you or a sibling, grandparent, cousin or friend to help your child work through the challenge productively. It is perfectly OK for you and your child to work collaboratively through these problems and for each parent or guardian to determine which problems are appropriate for your child to complete. Please note that each problem is ranked by level of difficulty. The more stars you see next to a problem, the higher the level of difficulty. This is a wonderful opportunity for you to help your child become a more capable problem solver.
Will There Be a Reward?
Every child who commits to this program by completing between five and ten weekly worksheets on time, will receive an “Olympic” bronze, silver or gold medal, respectively. While our volunteer parent correctors do their best to keep accurate records, we require any participating students to retain copies of the finished worksheets as well as the corrected worksheets until the conclusion of the ten (10) week program. Then, if there are any mistakes, we can ensure that all students who completed the work will get their medal! How to earn a Math Olympics Medal: Bronze: 5-6 Weeks Participation Silver: 7-8 Weeks Participation Gold: 9-10 Weeks Participation
If you have any questions about the Math Olympics or would like to volunteer to be a parent corrector, please contact the Math Olympics Team at[email protected]. Classroom teachers help parents facilitate this program by encouraging student participation. However, because this program is run almost entirely by parent volunteers and the PTO, all questions should be directed to the team email address above and NOT to your child’s teacher. We are very excited about our Math Olympics program and hope you will encourage your child to participate!