The Math Olympiad was pretty exciting for Alexandra. She is not fond of math. She likes reading much better. When she was asked to participate in the Math Olympiad, she said sure she would try it. (I was very proud of her for trying something she felt she was not good at.) They meet before school every Friday morning. (School starts at 9:25 and they meet at 8:15!) She came home after the first day saying, "It is sooo hard!" I asked her how she liked it and she said "It was ok, but really, really hard!"
A few week later....they are getting ready for their first competition. She is really nervous. They will be competing against 5 other Ferndale schools.
They day arrives....Wednesday....February 3, 2010.....all the kids meet in the gym....there are over 200 kids! over 51 teams!....all competing for the same ribbons! They only go to 10th place! It finally starts....first they get there McDonalds coupons (most important for some of the kids!) Then they split up into their groups and off they went to start their tests......
OVER TWO HOURS LATER!!! They kids are finally done! They were treated to pizza and pop for a job well done! After they were assembled back in the gym....the awards started. You could feel the tension and nervouseness in the gym. They started with 10th place in the individual awards. As they started awarding the ribbons, you could see everybody hoping for 10th, then 9th, then 8th......and as they climbed higher, you could see some kids not as excited because they didn't get a ribbon. Some of her friends won ribbons. (Emma won 3rd, Marcos won 5th) As they climbed higher...4th...3rd.....you could see Alexandra thinking....well I didn't place (she was sorta ok with that because she thought she wasn't very good at math) AND THEN.......they announced there was a tie for second place! It was Alexandra and Ashlyn from Skyline !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OH MY GOSH!!! Her face was SO EXCITED!!! She just beemed! Then they anounced first place, and it was Danny! Her, Emma, and Ashlyn were standing up front with their ribbons waiting for them to announce first place and they all agreed ...it would be DANNY! They were right! (Danny is one of Alexandra's good friends. Everybody agrees that he is the smartest oby in fourth grade!) After the individuals, they did team awards. Alexandra was hoping to place pretty high in team because her team placed pretty high in the individuals (Marcos -5th, Alexandra & Ashlyn tied for 2nd, and Danny - 1st) They were pretty excited to hear their name when they announced 1st place!!!!
After it was over...I asked her how the test was. Was it really hard? Did she have fun? She said it was fun and that it was a lot easier than she thought it would be. :)
They have to right in journals each week in class and bring them home for parents to read and sign. Her entry that week was:
Mom, I don't mean to brag or anything, but I am soo excited that I got a red and blue ribbon in Math Olympiad! I am better in math than I thought!
I let her know that I was very proud of all the hard work she put into it. Trying out for something she didn't think she was very good at. And having a good attitude about it! Being very happy and proud of herself! and also being a good sport about winning!
A very exciting day!!!
Next up....February 27, (Saturday) they will be back at it at the college this time. Competing against Whatcom county schools.......
No comments:
Post a Comment