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What Parents and Teachers Wrote
This contest is a wonderful way for students to share their strategies with each other. Their growth as problem solvers is tremendous. Parents get involved at home taking the contest too.
Kathy Veiga
Madison Junior School
Madison, NJ
The problems stretch our minds and teach us to reason. I really appreciate all you do to provide a rigorous program for us.
Christy Priday
Lee Hunter Elementary
Sikeston Public Schools
What a wonderful opportunity for my students to engage in rich discourse through an engaging competition where multiply solution strategies abound.
Marshalyn Baker
Messalonskee MS Oakland, ME
Student participation has increased each of my three years! Thank you for providing a problem solving program that challenges and inspires my students!
Kathleen Ryalls
Bain Elementary Charlotte NC
Math Olympiads has caused me to completely modify my method of teaching mathematics.... Involvement in Math Olympiad and Math Counts increased our CTP4-ERB achievement test results substantially.... More emphasis on the problem solving of Olympiad, when I applied it to all students, ... had the same impact on all achievement scores.... So, I'm happy, school is happy, parents are happy, and on and on.
Dale R. Koch
Charlotte Christian School
Charlotte, NC
I am one of your PICOs and for the first time this year I am doing the online recording option. I just wanted to tell you how impressed I am with the input process for adding names, test scores, etc. I think you all have done a great job getting this up and running. I am thrilled that I don‚t have to bubble in the student registration cards or the test answers anymore.
Mark Owen
Highland Terrace Shoreline, WA
I am the math team coach for the 7th and 8th grade teams here at the Altamont School. I ordered your book, Creative Problem Solving, at the beginning of the school year and have been referring to it constantly in teaching my math teams. I have a Smart-Board in my classroom and would like to be able to use some of the problems, diagrams, and solutions in my PowerPoint presentations.
Marguerite Nunnally Math Chairperson Altamont School Birmingham, AL 35222
The Math Olympiad has been a fantastic challenge for my son [Eric] (and his parents)....The real beauty of the Math Olympiad is it really doesn't matter whether you score a 4 or a 25 during the competition ... it's fun for everyone and there is much to learn from the experience.
Mike Fegan
Merrick, NY
Thank you very much for providing a great program for elementary school students. Our students enjoy solving problems that are challenging. You can see a tremendous growth in their abilities to solve problems, to think logically due to their participation in the Math Olympiads."
Dr. Katarina H. Klaf PS 77 NYC Lab School
I have been doing this for 18 years.... I have changed how I use [MOEMS contests] over the years, but it has be one constant among no others that I have been involved with in education. Now more than ever it is helpful with bright math students. ...[So many] math programs are weak in ... problem solving and mathematical applications even though they claim to be conceptual and inquiry based.
Mary Mahan
Field Elementary
Littleton Public schools
I just wanted to thank all of you for your hard work. We're a large urban school in Los Angeles with 11 different languages spoken among the children, and this is our second year to enter 4 teams. It's been a challenge to teach problem solving, but we are using our diversity to find many new approaches. We've got a long way to go, but this has been a great experience for us, and I just wanted to say thanks.
Cathy Hoyt
This year was the first year that our elementary school participated in the Math Olympiads, so we didn't know what to expect. Wow! The kids LOVED wrapping their minds around the most challenging, quirkiest math problems they'd ever faced before. Many were challenged for the first time. Our PICOs were a bit apprehensive -- but the kids' excitement was infectious. We all learned a lot, and can't wait for the new season to start.
Mona Schorow , John Muir Elementary School
[When Executive Director Richard Kalman did a workshop with our students,] he made the children feel empowered to try to tackle the problems he posed and I could see that even some of the children who were not historically 'good at that sort of problem solving' were engaged. I would like to suggest that when he works with teachers, he give a lesson or structure his whorshop so that our teachers could almost replicate his lesson with their class. I think our teachers REALLY NEED that and it may make them more confident to try such a thing with their classes
Robyn Cooper, Atlanta GA
MOEMS, in my opinion, is doing more than any other organization in the world to promote problem solving among both children and teachers. Keep up the good work.
Eugene P. Smith, University of Michigan-Dearborn
I have considered this contest one of the best vehicles to stimulate my sixth grade students.
Judy Liscum, Canton, NY
I’ve been a Mathcounts coach for 9 years. I can always spot the students who did Olympiads in grade school! My two students who really did well and went on to National Mathcounts were both from Olympiads
Lenora Murray, AR
I don’t know about the kids, but I sure have been learning math through these competitions.
Ellie Feldner, Scottsdale, AZ
[Students] fall in love with math. These questions are four to six years above grade level for third graders, yet they come back every year.
Claire Eiselen, Rochester, NY
I can’t begin to tell you what a great program it [the Math Olympiads] is. The students who have participated generally raise standardized test scores several points. Students who rarely solve an Olympiad contest problem become good math students and frequently state that they are good at math because they are on the team. They feel important because it gives them a great deal of prestige to participate. Thank you.
Mrs. Matthews, e-mail
I only see my kids once a week as I am a ‘special’ (the teacher for the gifted) and do this as an extension of my regular chores. I enjoy the challenge and have seen an improvement in my [emphasis added] understanding of math since I have started to teach it.
Ellie Feldner, Scottsdale, AZ
My kids love earning a place on the Math Olympiad team.  I think Math Olympiad is awesome, and so do my team members.  They have learned so much through our club practices and the competition.  Thanks for all the effort the main office puts into this competition!  It is greatly appreciated here at McCoy
Janeth Waggoner, Carrollton, TX
I love your program! This is my first year as PICO and now that I’m beginning to get a feel for how to train my mathletes, both they and I are enjoying it more.  I appreciate your tips (experienced PICOs are wonderful!) and your graph of “percent correct for problem” helps me to gauge if I’m on target.
Nancy Van Schoick, Nazareth, PA
My students have been enjoying the Olympiads, both in Division E and Division M teams. I think it is a wonderful program for students in Mathematics.  I work with gifted and talented homeschool students and have very much appreciated giving them the chance for this opportunity.
Catherine Asaro, Columbia, MD

What Students Wrote

(Thanks to Ruth for these and more from her MOEMS teams from the past)

I LIKE MATH OLYMPIADS BECAUSE...

  • ...it teases my brain.(Christy Stedford)
  • ...when I got one right I felt great.(Jeremy Bosma)
  • ...I got a problem right. It wasn't easy [and] you had to be willing to work.(Amy Ryder)
  • ...it was fun and challenging.(Jennifer Steinnagel)
  • ...I learned how to solve problems using different strategies.(Ricky Nelson)
  • ...it makes me use my mind and I learn how to solve problems.(Tricia Lance)
  • ...if you get some right you feel smart and proud.(Katie Kimball)
  • ...I like to see how good our class is at Math Olympiads at the end, but most of all you don't have to do your normal math work (Steven de Castro)
Dr. Ruth (Kuhlig) Damron, Anna L. LoPresti School, Seymour, CT
Your questions are challenging and I have to think hard to find an answer to your questions. Also I like your site because it's a challenging web site and it's also an awsome, fun, interesting, hard, and challenging web site.
Christine Canedo
I say that the Math Olympiads program is great. It challenges me and gives me practice on the stuff I don't know and not the stuff I already know. I go to Marshwood Jr. High in Southern Maine and never miss a Friday, that's the day our team meets. "HOTS not MOTS!!!"
Sam, South Berwick,ME
This was a welcome break from the usual math, and really had me thinking.
Ryan, 4th grade
I have competed in the Math Olympiads from the 5th to 8th grades. Through my years of participation in this program, I have developed a wide array of reasoning and problem solving skills that I use regularly. I highly recommend that any one with an opportunity to do this, should!!!
Dani
Thompson age 14, Boulder, Colorado
I think the program is good because you can learn things that you wouldn't have learned until 6th grade or later. The program has helped me do better with my normal math work.
Beth Hendricks, gr.5, Bedford,MA
This math class has helped me. I had always said "I can't do it" and now I don't say that anymore. Math Olympiad has given me challenges and I enjoy it.
Lindsay McGrory, gr.5, Bedford, MA

ONE LINERS WRITTEN BY STUDENTS

It teaches me interesting problems that I never learned before.

You learn secrets of math.
I learned lots of ways to do problems.
It helps you to solve problems better.
It refreshes your brain.
I feel really proud.
I love the Olympiad ceremonies each year.
It makes me unleash the thinking part of my brain.