18,000 Students looking forward to a Summer of Algebra, Angles, and Arithmetic

For most kids, summertime means swimming, sports and sun. But for 18,000 students around the country, the summer months will also be filled with algebra, angles, and arithmetic.

Yes, math.

Mathnasium is anticipating its largest summer enrollment ever this year, with 18,000 students ranging from elementary level to high school expected to take math classes at its franchise locations across the country. The reason? Many students – and their parents – are looking to prevent the notorious summer slide, during which kids lose math concepts and skills developed during the prior school year.

“Much like the muscles athletes use in competition, a student’s math muscles have to be exercised to remain in top form. Research has shown that during the summer months, students literally lose up to 2½ months of computational math skills developed during the year. However, 18,000 students across the nation have decided to fight the summer slide this year and work out their math muscles at Mathnasium. When school starts again in the fall, they’ll be well ahead of the game,” said Larry Martinek, Chief Instructional Officer at Mathnasium.

Summer math students typically spend two to three hours a week at their local Mathnasium franchise locations, working from a customized curriculum designed to mesh with their skill levels and needs. The sessions include specially developed math workouts and math games sessions designed to both motivate and educate.

The sizable enrollment in the Mathnasium summer classes demonstrates the importance of math skills to many areas of academic achievement at all educational levels, as standardized math testing is often used to determine advancement, class selection, and placement. Importantly, summer math at Mathnasium is equally applicable to students who need to address deficiencies in their math repertoire as well as those who wish to progress further than their normal classwork allows.

“I’m expecting about 70 students to sign up for summer math this year, which equals nearly half of our enrollment during the academic year. These students are committed to math for a variety of reasons, with some looking to fill gaps and others wanting to take advantage of the summertime to move ahead. One thing they all have in common is the desire to have a little fun but at the same time be challenged, and that’s something I hope all our students come to understand. Math can be both fun and exciting – and it’s something that everyone can learn,” said Alan Flyer, Owner of the Mathnasium franchise in Roslyn, N.Y.

Mathnasium’s summer math programs are being offered at Mathnasium’s more than 400 franchise locations across the U.S. and abroad.

Making Math Make Sense

Utilizing the Mathnasium Method, our franchisees and tutors take pride in teaching our students with a different approach, one that makes sense to them.

The Importance of Telling Time in a Digital Age

Most students today grow up with tablets, cell phones, and laptops at their fingertips. These tools can aid learning, but they can also encourage laziness. With the Mathnasium Method, students are taught to use their brains, not their iPads. I’ll demonstrate this by using an example of how kids can learn to tell time.

By second grade, most students can count by 1s, 2s, 5s, and 10s, up to at least 200. We can make it easy for them to “tell time” by expanding this to include counting by 15s, 20s, and 30s, as well as counting by 10s starting at any number (7, 17, 27...).

When you stop and think about it, all points on the clock can be reached quickly by counting various combinations of 30, 20, 15, 10, 5, and 1.

When students are taught these counting skills before they deal with clocks, learning how to tell time is a very straightforward process. Without these skills, it’s quite a chore.

Here’s a way to teach students these skills:

• Counting by 10s starting at any number goes like this: start at 23: twenty–three (23), thirty–three (33), forty–three (43)... as though you are just counting by 10s, except that you say the three. So, counting by 10s starting at 37 becomes thirty–seven, forty–seven, fifty–seven...

• Counting by 15s can be done by counting by 10 and then counting by 5: 15 + 15 = (15 + 5) + 10 = 20 + 10 = 30. 30 + 15 = (30 + 10) + 5 = 40 + 5 = 45. 45 + 15 = (45 + 5) + 10 = 50 + 10 = 60.

• Counting by 20s is almost the same as counting by 2s: 0, 20 (twenty), 40 (forty), 60 (sixty), 80 (eighty)...

• Counting by 30s should be presented after the child can count by 3s. Counting by 3s is similar to counting by 2s. Counting by 2s can be explained as, “Say the number, skip the next number, say the number...” Then counting by 3s becomes: “say a number, skip the next two numbers...” Now counting by 30s becomes: 0, 30 (thirty), 60 (sixty), 90 (ninety)...

With the help of parents or teachers, telling time can be introduced to a student as early as kindergarten. The sooner students learn to count quickly using the above methods, the sooner they’ll be using terms like “quarter till” and “half past.”

- Larry Martinek

Earth Day Celebrations

Being green is more than a trend.  Keep your student educated and aware of the environment around them by celebrating Earth Day on Monday, April 22nd.  This paper craft is a simple print-out with no tape or glue needed!    

The reviews are in - Math speaks volumes!

Everyday we strive to reach students through the Mathnasium Method from our very own Larry Martinek.  When our students excitedly show us their great grade, add their test to the Brag Board, or even get an answer correct during practice, it makes the process that much more rewarding.

Courtesy of @lapkoi!

When life gives you lemons...learn Math!

With Spring underway and Summer around the corner, we're already planning ways to keep your student sharp throughout the school break.  Encourage your students to utilize skills they mastered during the Summer months.  Set up a lemonade stand with reasonable prices, provide change for larger bills and let them do the math.

Harlem Shake: Mathnasium Style

It was only a matter of time before we joined in on the fun, check it out below!

 

Teach and Move On Method

The Teach and Move On Method lets educators help multiple students by moving from student to student and working on individual problems.  This allows students to work out the problem individually with assistance from the instructor.  This also keeps the instructor constantly engaged in proactive teaching.