Formula for fun: Kids spend spring break adding to math skills - Modesto Bee

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Formula for fun: Kids spend spring break adding to math skills - Modesto Bee Apr 11th 2012, 04:18 While most kids slept in and goofed off this week, kids at Orville Wright Elementary in Modesto divided their time and multiplied their fun at Math Boot Camp. Organizers hope the exercise will add up to a formula for success in schoolwork and upcoming state testing. "This helps them stay fresh on their math — we don't want that spring break brain drain," Wright Principal Heather Sherburn said with a laugh. Program developer Viji Sundar said test scores rise with good habits and deeper understanding. Just writing legibly and keeping columns straight helps a lot, she said. "More than anything else, we want them to love math," said Sundar, who normally designs lessons for a far different crowd. She is a professor of mathematics at California State University, Stanislaus, in Turlock. The boot camp teachers are university students, most planning to be teachers. The camp has 120 students from second through sixth grades, with most classes all boys or all girls. Research shows kids learn better that way, with girls more likely to speak up, Sundar said Tuesday. Davina Saing, a liberal studies major who hopes to be an elementary teacher, is teaching fifth-grade girls this week. "The standards are a lot higher than I thought, than I remember doing at that age," Saing said. She believes the math games she's playing with her students will make a real difference for them going forward. "If you don't know your multiplication tables, it's hard to build on (those lessons)," Saing said. Kids played games with dice and jelly beans, Jeopardy-style contests, and other games to build skills and drill math facts without seeming like a math lesson. Fourth-grader Keila Aguayo said she's getting a better grasp on fractions. "Now I know more, they're not as hard," she said. Seat partner Cindy Torres, 10, said she's learned how to borrow while doing division. "I'm like, wow, I'm learning!" she said. Marina Long and Charleyne Khamasi are their teachers this week. Khamasi is from Kenya, where she said games are not normally part of how teachers run a math class. "They're thinking it's school. It's supposed to be drills," she said. Martin Cardenas, a math major, is teaching third-grade boys. "They have a lot of energy," he said as his group raced out for a playground break. But his busy class has something great going for it. "All of the students want to be here," he said. That makes a big difference, said Long. She is finishing work on teaching credentials in math and English, and normally works with a class of 37 eighth-graders learning algebra. For Sundar, the week is one of affirmation that learning creates some of the best fun around. "It's spring break, and they're here," said Sundar. "Parents have to bring them. These kids want to learn." Bee education reporter Nan Austin can be reached at naustin@modbee.com or (209) 578-2339. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters recommends: Donate to Wikileaks.

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