Competitive Math Club at Top Banana Education Foundation

Since 1998 Math Kangaroo in the USA has been helping students from grade

1 through 12 to reach their potential in math, and we are therefore

very encouraged to continue to do so with the increasing participation.

We are excited to announce that the registration for Math Kangaroo 2014

has begun! Math Kangaroo is an international competition that consists

of a 75-minute multiple-choice test of 24 or 30 problems, depending on

grade. Each problem allows a contestant to earn between 3 and 5 points,

the total number of points that can be earned is between 96 and 120, again depending on the grade level.



For the past few years Top Banana has hosted this wonderful event.

During the months preceding the competition, we also held mentoring and

practice sessions to help our young competitors get prepared.



Here is even more exciting news! Based on this experience, we have

designed the competition preparation program for children in grades 1

through 4. So, you have a young math genius and you want him or her to get as close

as possible to those 96 points. What are the challenges?



1. Children need to read the problems carefully. Often a problem is

purposely worded to sound complicated, and it is the student's job to

untangle it.



2. Be careful with the multiple-choice answers. Those answers could

often be misleading; some problems can be solved by eliminating the

incorrect answers. Most of the time it is better to solve a problem and

mark the correct answer. A child will need to pick the strategy that

works best for him or her.



3. The 75 minutes is quite a long time for a young child, so time

management is a challenge. Everyone needs to know their own pace. There

is no time to waste but rushing through isn't a good approach either.



4. The actual math in the problems isn't very complicated but many kids lack fluency in calculations. It either slows them down or results in silly mistakes.



5. Often, children encounter unfamiliar words or terms in the text of

the problems. Not understanding the statement of the problems, children

resort to guessing and picking a random answer out of the 5 possible

answers. This is only a 20% chance of getting it right and isn't reliable enough if one wants to get a high score.

This is a 6-week course where the students will meet for 2 hours at a time on the weekend to work on the 5 major elements of our formula for success:



Practice Tests


Focus and Attention
Mental Math


Logic and Reasoning


Reading Comprehension

Students who take this test need dedicated practice in order to reach

their full potential. Here at Top Banana, we want to ensure your child

is prepared, confident, and excited on the day of the competition. So

first and foremost, we'll be taking practice tests. Students will be

given two full-length tests based on the problems offered on the

previous years' competitions during the 2nd and 5th sessions.

We will start each session with a segment that increases students focus

and attention. This is important for students to learn because it helps

them to block out distractions and their surroundings. It is also

helpful to pinpoint what is being asked in the problem; this skill is

used during the test, as well as at school and beyond.



Getting the correct answer is of paramount importance. Arriving at the

answer quickly and efficiently allows students to move through the test

booklet like a pro, therefore saving their energy and brainpower for the

more difficult, involved problems. Mental math is the difference

between working quickly or efficiently and working quickly and efficiently.



Logic and reasoning are skills students learn best through games and

activities that require them to solve problems systematically and with

purpose. These habits allow students to use one or more of their senses

to provide an answer to a question, whether it be consciously or subconsciously.



Reading comprehension is an integral part of not only our program but

also life. It is a critical skill for school and for the test. You may

be thinking to yourself, this is a math competition, what does reading

have to do with it? The answer is- everything. All real life math

problems are word problems. When your child takes a standardized test, he

or she has to read each question to himself or herself. Preparation in

test-specific, as well as general, reading comprehension skills is an

important part of our preparation.



At this point you are probably wondering how we will help students

achieve all these skill sin such a short amount of time, the answer is

by having fun! Some of the games and activities we will do with the

students include: origami, puzzles, Phase 10, Boggle, Rummy, beading,

Jenga, KenKen, Sudoku, Battleship, Connect Four, Guess Who?, Tangrams

and practice tests just to name a few!

Our 6-week Math Kangaroo preparation program is both fun and education,

just like our math program. That's why students come; not because they

have to but because they want to! Don't let your student miss out on

this 6-week opportunity for fun and learning!

For more information, please visit our website (www.topbananaeducation.org) or call our office at (617) 795-1557.




Check out our other events:


Information Technology and Computer Science, Grades 7-9


SSAT/ISEE Test Preparation