The Oneida Daily Dispatch (Oneida, NY)
‘Math Madness’ at Seneca Street
ONEIDA » What do March Madness and math have in common? At Seneca Street Elementary School, the two pair up for an engaging celebration of all things math.
ONEIDA >> What do March Madness and math have in common? At Seneca Street Elementary School, the two pair up for an engaging celebration of all things math.
At the same time as the NCAA March Madness Basketball Tournament begins, Seneca Street students and staff create their own “madness” with unique theme days and math challenges.
The origination of “Math Madness” began three years ago, as a way to encourage excitement and enthusiasm around math. A team of teachers, co-chaired this year by Becca Piccola and Renee Cerio, work to design daily challenges and theme days that focus on math. This year the themes were designed to be cross-curricular. There were physical education challenges, art components, and new this year, a song composed to add a musical element. Students were invited to participate in math problem solving each day and could turn in “math tickets” at lunch each day.
The students and staff have participated in several activities, including walking the math mile, designing geometric “Pi” pizzas, and participating in “Multiples Day” and “Numbers Bingo.” To celebrate the end of Math Madness week, students participated in a whole school round of bingo, using numbers from clothing that they wore to school on Tuesday, March 21.
The whole school gathered at the weekly Morning Program to sing the new version of “All About That Math,” an adaptation of “All About That Bass” by Meghan Trainor, led by Carol Allison.
Each year, Seneca Street students look forward to March, when all things math are celebrated. Next year, Seneca students hope to include predictions for March snow accumulations and graphing winter temperatures. Students and teachers agree, it surely has been a March to remember.