Tell me everything about having a MathCounts Team

[brownie]

So far all I've been able to discern is that: it is a team of 4, registration in November, regional competition in February or thereabouts.  People I know have practiced 1x a week, but why? (meaning because there is a team component or just to work problems) and starting when? after registration?  How important is team practice, especially if you 're just looking to try it out / see if math competition is for you?

 

Is there anything else I need to know?

 

Thanks!

[Spetzi]

I haven't run a team, but I did host a club one year.  That was a fun way for the kids to try the math (via worksheets not live competitions) without committing to full participation.  A club might be a good way for you to get your feet wet and it's free.

 

Good luck!

[wapiti]

One reason for meeting weekly is to help build enthusiasm, for lack of a better term. When kids see other kids having fun with math and enjoying the challenge of solving problems, it adds to their own enjoyment and motivation to try. AFAIK, this is one of the main purposes of MathCounts. If they make friends, even better.

[VeritasMama]

My son has been on MathCounts for 2 years. The team starts practicing in October and has the Chapter competition in Feb. They recieve a packet from the MathCounts organization with practice problems and tests to use to prepare.

 

One reason for the practices is because it is a team competition, one round consists of problems that must be solved by all 4 team mates together. It is also a timed event, so learning to work together in an efficient and effective manner is important.

 

It is also helpful to learn how to solve the problems in the most efficient ways possible, to learn whatever shortcuts you can, since it is timed.

 

Also, the coaches may need to assess the students performance during practices to decide who will compete. Each team is allowed to have 4 competitors, but the team is also allowed to bring 2 more team members who will complete the individual test, but whose score won't count towards the team score. My sons team has more than 6 kids who participate in the practices, as they find the practices fun, but only 6 attend the competition and only 4 get to compete.

 

It is more than just a math club, it is a serious competition, and so some strategy and practice as a team is needed to win.

[daijobu]

Your team can consist of as many as 10 students.  If you do, then 6 of them will compete as individuals only, doing the Sprint and Target rounds.  The other four compete as individuals, but also compete on the Team round which they do together.  

Team practice is probably strictly not necessary if you have students who are motivated to prepare individually.  If you are planning to register just your own student, s/he does not need a team practice, but it's probably a good idea to practice with old exams.  If you have a team of 4, it is helpful to have them practice together as a team, to smooth out their roles.  Who's going to keep an eye on the time?  Who's going to decide on the final answers and write them in?  

 

I use team practice to review harder problems from old exams, discuss problem-solving techniques and just plain math.  You can also practice using the MathCounts minis problem sets and videos.  

 

The MC store sells old exams and other preparation books which I find very helpful.  Good luck!  

[Julie of KY]

This is my fifth year to run a Mathcounts team and it's a lot of fun.

 

You can register with as few as one individual up to 10 students. Just like a school has to narrow down it's math club to only 10 people competing, one homeschool group can only have one team (not usually an issue as it can be hard to find many kids who want to do it).

 

Mathcounts club practice can be anything from a social club, do some fun math or serious preparation for competition. I always start with some fun math games and some basic problems to get a feel for who I'm dealing with. My philosophy is to make math club partly a great social event and always teach them something. I find that no matter what kids know about algebra and geometry, they often know very little counting and probability so I can teach everyone together on that subject. My group this year will be very different as I have four returning eighth graders that are working hard and will be extremely competitive at both the chapter and state level. I will also have a handful of new sixth graders with typical sixth grade knowledge. I will do some fun stuff together, but separate them by levels to learn some new math. My club meets weekly from Nov. - Feb for 1 1/2 hours per week. Meeting weekly is very important for team building if you want to build a competitive team. We will also work on some team tests during this time.

 

If you have four students you can have a team. If you have more than four, the remainder compete as individuals. If you have less than four, they can all be individuals (or a team of less than four, but a zero will get averaged in for missing students). Their experience is almost the same. Everyone does to same sprint and target round test. The team works together on the team test. The individuals make groups to work on the same test but only unofficially. The top students compete in a countdown round in most states, but often this is unofficial. Early registration for a cheaper price is by Nov.

 

To register as a club, you must have at least four students and then they will send you a Club in a Box. This is a great resource with both fun and serious activities to choose from. Once you register at least one student to actually compete, you will have access to the school level practice tests.

 

Food makes anything you do related to math more fun!!!

[crazyforlatin]

Thanks to this thread, I just registered for a Club in a Box. DD doesn't qualify for Mathcounts as she is not in 6th grade yet, but I think I may have a small group, albeit reluctant kids, for the Mathclub. Is it easy to teach from the Club in a Box? Can I adjust according to math skills? I'm hoping to get their parents to take turns supervising/teaching, so if it's difficult to use or require a parent who has a math background, then the parents may not be willing to help out. Will this Club in a Box somehow have inspiring materials to get kids excited about math?

 

There may be younger kids tagging along - am I able to take them aside and somehow give them an easier, related lesson?

[daijobu]

Also good preparation for younger students is to do MOEMS.  You can either be a formal team, or just use their books of old exams for practice.  The problems are easier than MC problems, but it's great preparation for younger kids who may want to do MC later.  

[Arcadia]

Thanks to this thread, I just registered for a Club in a Box. DD doesn't qualify for Mathcounts as she is not in 6th grade yet, but I think I may have a small group, albeit reluctant kids, for the Mathclub.

What is the link for Club in a Box? The link I saw on MathCount for math club says that kids have to be in 6th-8th grade.

 

ETA:

Do you register under this?

 

" A home school or group of students not affiliated with a larger organization"

 

ETA:

I have more than 10 kids for a math club but no middle schoolers.

[crazyforlatin]

What is the link for Club in a Box? The link I saw on MathCount for math club says that kids have to be in 6th-8th grade. My older doesn't qualify for MathCount either but it would be easy to get enough 5th grader neighbor's kids for a math club.

 

ETA:

Do you register under this?

 

" A home school or group of students not affiliated with a larger organization"

http://mathcounts.org/programs/math-club/math-club-faq

 

And yes, I clicked on homeschool since all the other kids are homeschooled. It takes 3 weeks to get the box.

[Dmmetler]

I registered, too-My math club has a lot more younger kids than 6-8th graders (DD technically isn't eligible this year), but we have the minimum 4 middle schoolers-although one of them has a math LD and isn't competing this year-I expect that she'll probably be the "helper" for the PK-2nd grade kids because she won't be able to handle the math the older kids are doing, and with the PK-2 kids, she can be an authority (while with the 3rd-5th graders, she'd be right in the middle skill wise, but be several years older).

 

 

[daijobu]

I just thought of something that I wish I had known when we entered our first competition.  I didn't know they would be handing out our score sheets at the end of the tournament, so I just left about as soon as it was over.  They mailed it to me a few days later.  

 

The second year, one of the parents alerted to me that they had called the coaches up to the front...I hadn't heard the announcement in all the hubbub.  Low and behold they were handing out our score sheets!  

 

Last year the chapter coordinator emailed a list of all the participating teams and their scores and ranks in the competition.  This was very nice for us because since our team wasn't among the top 5-10, we really had no idea how we compared to all the other schools.  Did we just miss the cut or did we come in last place?  I was gratified to see we were in the top 2/3, and we beat out a few prominent and expensive private schools in our area.  (Though we were beaten by the other competing homeschool team!)  It also gives us a baseline for improvement this year.  

 

Good luck!  the MC chapter competition is a lot of fun.