Dear parents,
I am happy to announce that, with the support of PTO and Mr. Karr, King school will add another exciting academic enrichment program to benefit our students—the Math Olympiad for Elementary and Middle Schools (MOEMS). The MOEMS has been a major math contest for school children for 30 years. In the 2007-2008 year, 150,000 students participated in the program, representing all 50 US states and 25 countries. Its stated goals are:
• To stimulate enthusiasm and a love for Mathematics
• To introduce important Mathematical concepts
• To teach major strategies for problem solving
• To develop Mathematical flexibility in solving problems
• To strengthen Mathematical intuition
• To foster Mathematical creativity and ingenuity
• To provide for the satisfaction, joy, and thrill of meeting challenges
Starting from the fall of 2009, King school will have a Math Olympiad Team for 4th and 5th graders. Everyone who wants the challenge is welcome, regardless of the level of math proficiency. We will hold after-school training sessions, where we will introduce problem-solving strategies, and work in small groups on word problems. All students on the team are strongly encouraged to participate in the contests, but they have the option to participate in the training only.
The contests will be held at King school once every month from November to March. In each contest, students will have 30 minutes to solve 5 word problems. All participants will receive Participation Certificates, high scorers will also receive gold, silver or bronze plaques and trophies. Nationwide, about half of the participants receive plaques or trophies.
Student sign-up and parent volunteer recruitment for the 2009-2010 year will begin in the fall. At that time, we will also hold an informational meeting for all interested parents.
The training and contests will run from October to March, roughly 3 times a month. The long time-span helps make math enrichment a continuous process. But it also requires commitment from students and parents. To give students a chance to try out the activity, we will run a math club in May and June, 2009. The club is open to all 3rd and 4th graders (who will be eligible for MOEMS in the fall). We will meet one hour a week after school for four weeks. This will be a good math enrichment opportunity; however, anyone who does not sign up for the club can still sign up for the Math Team in the fall.
The sign-up form for the math club in May and June will be available in April, as well as parent volunteer sign-up. We welcome all kinds of help from parents. Meanwhile, if you have questions, please email jingliu01@gmail.com or ljing@umich.edu .
Sincerely,
Jing Liu, PICO (Person In Charge of the Olympiad)
