Math Counts started Wednesday, Oct. 5 after school in Mrs. Michelle McCanna’s room. Math Counts is an after school program in which students in grades six through eight practice their math skills and problem-solving abilities to work through math problems and equations. In Math Counts, students practice extra skills to prepare for competitions throughout the year. During Math Counts, students will build on their math and teamwork skills.

Math Counts starts with two practice competitions. If you qualify in the practice competition you will move on to the chapter competition. At the chapter competition, you will compete against other schools to try to qualify for the state competition. 

“It helps kids build self confidence, develop socially and academically,” Mrs. McCanna, eighth grade math teacher and Math Counts coach, said. 

At Math Counts practice, students start with a warm-up. The warm-up is a mixed problem worksheet. When students are doing the warm-up they do not have a calculator when completing the questions. They also do workouts. The workouts are more challenging than the warm-ups but they are allowed to use a calculator to solve the problems. 

At the competitions there will be two sections, the Target rounds and the Sprint rounds. During the Target round, you will be allowed to use a calculator and during the Sprint rounds, you will not have access to a calculator. This is also the first year since COVID-19 that all the competitions will be held in person. Last year, competitions were held online, which caused many kids to not want to compete. Mrs. McCanna is hoping that the competitions being in-person will help motivate kids to participate in Math Counts.

Preparing for an in-person competition is different from a virtual competition because they do buzzer rounds and group round countdown. In virtual competitions, you are unable to do these things. 

“There are a few students that have been in Math Counts since sixth grade that have improved a lot,” Mrs. McCanna stated. 

This is also a building year for Math Counts. While there are a few eighth grade students that have been there since sixth grade, there are a lot of new students. She is looking to still perform well though. She is looking for more kids to join Math Counts. So, if you are interested, please talk to Mrs. McCanna.