Sunshine Math Coordinators Needed
Sunshine Math, the exciting and challenging extra-curricular math program, is looking for new coordinators for this Fall. The website has already been developed and training will be provided. Please contact our SEARCH teacher, Janet Segerson, if you are interested.
Welcome Buffalo Trail parents to the 2021–2022 Sunshine Math program! This program is designed to enhance your child’s journey through mathematical problems. By expressing an interest in more challenging problem solving, your child has taken the first step toward becoming a learner who is able to address and solve many types of math puzzles.
Instructions
You can start by downloading the assignments (coming soon) on this website and signing-up your children online. Your child is responsible for send us the assignments virtually by the listed due dates. Students will not get credit for missing assignments.
Your role as a parent is to encourage and facilitate problem solving. For each week’s assignment, please allow time for your child to think about each question, explaining any new words or mathematical concepts encountered. Feel free to suggest a strategy for solving the problem, offering hints and listening as your child shares their thinking. But please do not give the answers!
Each problem is ranked according to its level of difficulty. The more stars, the higher the level of difficulty. It is normal for a child not to be able to complete every question on a worksheet. The process of reading, understanding, and approaching the problems is a valuable step in solving many types of problems. Please remind your child that they are not expected to know the answers to every problem. But encourage them to always show their work to possibly get partial credit for their effort.
Please see the assignments and due dates split by grade and register your children before turning in their first assignment to us. Assignments will be graded and returned a few weeks after being received. Hold onto the returned assignments in case you need to discuss any of the problems.
Sunshine Math Sponsors
Students participating in Sunshine Math receive rewards throughout the school year, including backpack charms, certificates, t-shirts, pizza parties, and even trophies. But we are in need of donations and business sponsors in order to provide these rewards. We are happy to accept cash, checks, gift cards, food for class parties, spirit night sponsorships, and discounts/certificates to hand out to student participants. Any donation amount is appreciated!
All sponsors can also have their logo displayed on our website, a small number of email blasts to parents, and a banner shown at school. If you would like more information, please contact us at btsunshinemath@gmail.com.
Helpful Hints
Students
- Always include your full name and teacher’s name on each assignment.
- Show your work on each and every problem. We
giving partial credit even if the answer is incorrect, but only if you are showing your work. - Always re-read each question and double-check your answers.
- It’s okay if you are puzzled and do not know the answer to every question. Just try your best!
giving partial credit even if the answer is incorrect, but only if you are showing your work.Parents
- Print assignments double-sided if possible, otherwise staple both pages together so we don’t lose them in-transit.
- Do not give your children any answers or directly say which of their answers are possibly incorrect.
- But you can help by teaching new mathematical concepts, terms, and strategies to solve similar problems.
- Encourage your children to work through one assignment each week so you don’t have to rush near the deadlines.
Contact Us
The Sunshine Math program is led by parent volunteers, and organized by the Buffalo Trail Elementary SEARCH specialist, Ms. Segerson. If you have any questions about the assignments, concerns about stars, or other issues, please email us at btsunshinemath@gmail.com.
We’re just volunteer parents, so it may take a few days to respond to your emails.