An Overview Seth Messier Stratford Avenue School 1

 Mathletes is designed as an enrichment program for fourth and fifth grade students who enjoy math. The program is intended to promote higher-level thinking skills, develop logical and deductive thinking strategies as well as inspire mathematical minds to become lifelong learners.  IT IS NOT intended as a remediation program. 2

 During each 45 minute session:  The Mathletes questions for the week are handed out.  A concept (or advanced level of a concept) is presented. During this time, the moderators fully engage the students in the learning process teaching the children to use a variety of strategies.  The moderators model one of the questions to make sure the students understand how to apply a particular strategy. Children are encouraged to discuss the possible solutions with their peers.  The remainder of the time, the students work on the other questions. They can tackle each problem by working alone, with a partner, or with a small group. After the completed Mathletes sheet is handed in to the moderator, the child is informed of any mistakes. Students will have the opportunity, if they choose, to raise their score by correcting the mistakes. If the incorrect answer is then corrected after intervention by a moderator, the child receives five points rather than the ten points given for obtaining a correct answer on their own.  Student papers are scored as they are completed. If time runs out, the moderators score the papers afterwards, and inform those involved.  The Mathletes program continues to run with high standards as it was intended. The teachers involved in the enrichment program are dedicated to making it both meaningful and inspiring which benefits all students who are interested in participating.  At the end of the year awards are given out to our top Mathletes students from the fourth and fifth grade. 3

Created in 1977 by Dr. George Lenchner, an internationally known math educator, the Math Olympiads went public in Typically, 150,000 students from 6,000 teams worldwide participated in the Olympiads. Forty-nine of the fifty states and about thirty other countries were represented.Math Olympiads Our fifth grade Mathletes students participate in five Math Olympiad contests from November to March. These contests provide an incentive to strengthen their study of mathematics. Our fourth grade students are “in-training” to compete in the Math Olympiads the following year. The Math Olympiads will recognize top scoring students based upon national qualifying percentiles... 4

 Hannah gives clues about her six-digit secret number:  Clue 1: It is the same number if you read it from right to left.  Clue 2: The number is a multiple of 9.  Clue 3: Cross off the first and last digits. The only prime factor  of the remaining four-digit number is 11.  What is Hannah’s six-digit number? 5

 Strategy: Consider the clues one at a time, starting with the most restrictive.  Clue 3: The only prime factor of the 4-digit number is 11, so the number = 11×11 or 11×11×11  or 11×11×11×11, etc. Of these, only 11×11×11= 1331 has 4 digits, so the middle 4 digits are   Clue 1: The number reads the same right to left, so the first and last digits are the same.  Call the number A1331A.  Clue 2: The number is a multiple of 9, so the sum of its digits is a multiple of 9. A  A = A A must equal 9 or 18. No digit A satisfies A A = 9, but if  A A = 18, A = 5.  Hannah’s number is