Pi Day at RCS The week of March 14-18 saw the return of Math Week at Ripley Central School. Math teacher Lisa Stonefoot coordinated the event, now in its fourth year at the school. “The first year,” Mrs. Stonefoot commented, “I had to go begging for volunteers. Each year more and more students are interested in participating.” Ripley students have come to embrace the events of Math Week, and the Math Battle of the Classes, according to Stonefoot. It has become a highly anticipated tradition at Ripley Central School. When 8th grader Ryleigh Hawkins explained Math Week to a new student in her class, she called it “the most awesome, incredible thing ever!” Sophomore Sierra Tessmer said of Math Week, “It brings all the students together – we have to work together to solve problems.” “Math Week bumps up the morale of the school and school spirit,” said Ali Resulzade, a foreign exchange student this year at Ripley. On Friday, Mathematics Battle of the Classes students competed in events with mathematical themed games of various categories: Artistic, 3-D, Probability, Survivor, Shape Fishing, Academic, Ordering, and Balance. The Memory competition involved one student from each class memorizing the digits in the decimal expansion of pi. The student who could recite the most digits in correct order won the event for their team. It was the only competition where the students knew in advance what they would be doing for that competition. Maggie Hammond, a senior competing in the Memory competition, said after getting the sheet with the expansions of pi, “I just tried to memorize as many digits as I could. I got up to 100. We’ll see if I remember that many!” When asked how they prepared for the competitions, Analise Mellors, a 6th grader who participated in the Academic competition, said, “I just did my normal math work,” and Allie Gibbs, senior competing in Balance, added, “You can’t prepare really. You don’t know what you’re doing ahead of time.” There was also an Appetite competition. This was perhaps the most anticipated competition of the Battle. This year the students had to eat through a pi-shaped brownie that was covered in chocolate syrup and whipped cream, without using their hands. Leading up to Math Battle Day on Friday, the week included Circle Day, Number Day, Geometric Shape Day, and Similar Day. For each of the theme days, students dressed according to the theme. They wore various combinations of polka dots, squares, triangles and ellipses. On Similar Day, students dressed alike in various types of crazy costumes. The week ended with Battle Day, where each class dressed in a different color to show their class spirit. T-shirts worn by students in grades 6-12 with “The Tree of Math” logo were designed by Trevor Enterline. One of the highlights of the week was the opportunity for the middle and high school students to work with the elementary students. The older students created activities that were appropriate for grades Pre-K through 5. The youngest students made beaded bracelets where each color of bead represented a different digit in the expansion of pi. Other students created their own mathematically themed jigsaw puzzles. The second grade classes made “fraction pizzas” using various toppings. Third and fourth grade students made color-by-number pictures that were made entirely of circles. The fifth graders worked on estimation activities. Both elementary students and their high school helpers enjoyed working together on math activities. As junior Sawyer Tessmer stated, “Math Week is a week where you can work with younger students and help them with their math skills. It’s fun to go to work with the elementary classes.” The elementary teachers also enjoyed having the high school helpers present activities in their classrooms. They were pleased with the ability of the high school students to plan and execute mini math lessons for the younger students Students also went on a scavenger hunt throughout the week. All classes from 6th through 12th competed in various mathematical challenges. Prior to the Battle, each class created a video about a mathematician. Some of the classes had costumes and music, while others used a game show theme to present information about their mathematician. The students had a great time producing their videos. With the assistance of the cafeteria staff, led by Mrs. Sue Gambino, a student committee helped plan balanced meals to reflect the theme of the day. On Circle Day, for example, students were served pancakes for breakfast. Circular personal pan pizza, circular carrot slices and grapes were served for lunch. On Battle Day the students were served a cookie frosted in the 7 class colors for the Math Battle. Mrs. Lisa Stonefoot assisted in planning and organizing activities for the elementary students with the Math Week Committee. Members of the committee included Dylan Bryte, Aarien Carvallo, Danielle Chapman, Brianna Fisher, Samantha Gardner, Kyle Hammond, Ryleigh Hawkins, Eric Horstman, Nick Houle, Dylan Kramer, Win Nuttapornpong, Ian Petroff, Cody Rater, Vinny Shioleno, Sierra Tessmer, and Sammi Trevelline. Donna Lauzon, a math teacher at the school, also assisted with the planning. Ms.Stonefoot commented, “I love to watch the students enjoy the applications of mathematics. It is so much fun to help them plan activities and work with the younger students. They get so much out of it on all levels, both socially and academically. It’s great to see them having fun together, especially when it centers around math!”