By Mike Hutchens, UC Schools Communications Director
Union City, Tenn.–Second-grade math students at Union City Elementary School have been going for the gold.
Those in Stephanie Carpenter’s and Paula Houston’s classes recently competed in “Math Olympics,” an activity designed to encourage and excite students when it comes to learning their math facts.
The competition has been a modification of a practice held in their past classes. Previously, the Math Olympics were held at the end of the school year and included the students’ addition and subtraction facts for the entire year.
This school year, however, there will be several such competitions periodically, giving students multiple chances to win and be in the limelight. The first competition consisted of the teachers using flash cards to have the students learn facts of +0 through +5.
Among the winners were Brody McMinn, Caroline Sinclair, Alana DeVito, Trey Kail, Cayden Dues and Alex Lopez.
Winning students from each of the three blocks of classes received a small trophy and a 100 Grand candy bar.
Math Fact Olympic banners were also hung outside classrooms with the winners’ pictures posted for the school to see as they pass by.
“My hope is that these Math Olympics competitions will motivate our second-graders to want to practice their math facts more,” Carpenter said. This will not only help them improve their math grades, but also better prepare them for third grade.”