Welcome, New Enrollee,

to MOEMS 2007–2008

Welcome to the twenty-ninth year of the MATHEMATICAL OLYMPIADS. We hope you find our contests and materials a valuable addition to your math program. Many leading teachers believe that solving problems is the best way to teach problem solving. MOEMS (the Mathematical Olympiads for Elementary and Middle Schools) is built on this foundation.

A PICO is the Person In Charge of the Olympiads — that’s you now. We salute you for your commitment to help students grow mathematically and as problem solvers, to strive to reach their potential. We wish you and your students a lively, challenging, enjoyable, and valuable experience this year.

Thank you for choosing to receive your materials and report your scores online. We suggest that before you meet with your mathletes, you study all the documents in this section, the handbook for new teams, and in the Start-of-year materials for all teams. They can help you plan for your practices and other things.

Included with your enrollment are the following useful items.

1.       The 50 Olympiad Problems and Solutions given in your division over the last two years, for practice purposes.

2.       Two sample contests with 10 more problems to show the format to students. 

3.       Organization and Procedures, which outlines the rules of the contests.

4.       What Every Young Mathlete Should Know, which gives the official definitions of terms used on the Olympiads.

5.       Tips for New PICOs, which can help you to organize.

6.       “Tried and True” Hints From Our PICOs.

7.       Order forms for available additional items to help strengthen and enliven your team.

8.       Message to Parents, suitable for duplication and distribution.

To get started with practices, log in and download the 50 problems and solutions from the last two years. Treat our contests as part of a larger program that develops problem-solving skills.

One effective approach used by many teachers is the following:

      1.  Practice at least 4 times before the first contest, the more the better. Let students know what to expect.

      2.  Schedule practice every week for at least one hour. The key ingredient for improvement of any skill is the amount, consistency, and frequency of time spent using the skill. Practices also help students know what to expect.  

      3.   Either for the first half hour or for the full hour teach a new topic from Creative Problem Solving in School Mathematics 2nd Edition. This book was developed from a series of popular in-service courses for teachers.

      4.   For the second half-hour assign problems from past Olympiads, some of which are online.

      5.   Where time permits, explore variations on selected problems.

      6.   Assign homework weekly. Some teachers reproduce selected pages from Math Olympiad Contest Problems for Elementary and Middle Schools, while others put a copy of the book into each child’s hands. Many children purchase their own copy to practice actively at home.

During the year you will receive the following emails:

1. Your contests will be posted online one week before the scheduled date. An email will alert you to the posting.

2. Eight newsletters will be emailed to you containing the scheduled contest dates, follow-ups on contests, hints, and other helpful information.

3. Reprints from professional journals of three helpful articles on problem solving or our contests will also be emailed to you.

An excellent way to prepare your students for this year’s contests is to provide them with opportunities to solve nonroutine problems such as the collections of Olympiad problems mentioned above. If we can be of any help, do not hesitate to contact us.

Again, welcome to the Olympiads!  We wish you a stimulating and mathematically productive year.

                                                                        Sincerely,

                                                                        Richard Kalman

                                                                        Executive Director