Breckenridge, Campbell-Tintah students get into math
by Jennifer Johnson
Published/Last Modified on Thursday, February 5, 2009 3:19 PM CST
At Campbell-Tintah School, eighth-graders use Legos to learn a necessity in life.
In English teacher Pat Messerschmidt's class, groups of students create their own Lego structures and write down the directions.
"Then they give it to the other group, who has to build it following the directions," said Reed Johnson, social studies teacher. Johnson said his class has been busy with a checkbook assignment they enjoy, which gives them a chance to use 60 checks and balance their funds.
"It's getting to the point where kids are getting checkbooks earlier and earlier, but mathematically, I didn't know if they were always ready for it," he said. "We decided eighth-grade was a good place to start."
Unlike his experience teaching the class about the presidential cabinet, Johnson said this activity grabs their attention.
"They know it's going to be something they're going to use," he said.
Eighth-grade student Nicole Berend was the only Campbell student to be sent to honor band in Fergus Falls.
"She performed with sixth to eighth grade students from the entire northwest corner of Minnesota on Saturday, Jan. 24," wrote Brandon Darcy, band teacher. "It was a great opportunity to perform with a full 75 piece band with 'ideal' instrumentation."
Six other students from the school also perform with honor bands.
Berend also won the school's National Geographic Bee and will later compete against other kids in the state. The final contest is held in Washington, D.C., in May.
Students Austin Medenwald, Janna Hanson and Berend are also playing B squad basketball, a nice opportunity in a small school.
At Breckenridge Elementary-Middle School, students have been excelling at equations and inequalities this year. Teacher Stacy Diaz writes they'll be ready to start Algebra next fall.
"They have most recently been working with percent equations, including sales markups, discounts and sales tax," she wrote. In the next few months, they'll cover some geometry, linear equations and scatter plots.
Students will also be showing off their math, reading and science skills in a national test administered by the National Assessment Governing Board. They are part of a random selection by the U.S. Department of Education to monitor students nationwide.
Diaz also said some eighth-graders will be leaders of a junior high team for a math contest in Moorhead, Minn. The contest is held in March.
"Being able to compete mathematically with students from area schools challenges students to show off their academic abilities. We have always done well in the past at this school."
JENNIFER JOHNSON can be reached at jenj@wahpetondailynews.com.
