Mathematical marathon

     By Tiffannie Bond
     View staff writer
      By now, pupils at McDoniel Elementary School should be masters at math -- at least by third-grade standards.
      From the time the first bell began the school day on May 5 until the last minutes of the day ticked away, third-graders were adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing at the school's second Math `til Midnight event.
      Eighty-five third-graders -- split into five groups by the color of their "I survived Math `til Midnight" T-shirts -- visited five stations where they completed math activities on computers, found shapes using geometry, estimated the weight of grocery store items, finished logic-based puzzles and used measurements.
      These were only some of the ways the teachers took math out of the textbooks and put it into the children's hands.
      Teachers also brought in ophthalmologist Dr. Kent Wellish, cooks from Bellagio and McDoniel principal Eva White to show the pupils how math is relative in everyday life.
      Bellagio master cook Kent Anderson and his crew dished up a discussion on the importance of measurements in cooking and then served the children tri-colored pasta in marinara sauce and fresh cookies from Bellagio's pastry shop.
      Later that night, children got to test their knowledge of measurements by trying to bake a cake without measuring the ingredients.
      Anderson and Beth Moreno, a cook's helper and baker, laughed at the catastrophic possibilities of baking without knowing how much of each ingredient to add.
      "Baking is such a science," Anderson said. "Measurements are so important to it."
      Although the children were learning, they were also concentrating on how nice it felt to "rule the school," munch on midnight snacks and stay up past their bedtimes.
      "We get to do stuff all the other grades don't get to do," said pupil Zach Carroll.
      The activity stations were also less stressful than a normal school day.
      "The teachers are letting us do (the activities) on our own," said pupil Sarah Farley.
      For pupils like Ashely Osburn, who already enjoys and excels at math, the event was a way to enjoy the subject further. Carroll, whose favorite subject is spelling, found a new appreciation for math.
      "I'm good at math, but I don't really like it," Carroll said. "(Now) I like it better."
      Teacher Barbara Pitcock saw the idea presented at a conference a few years ago and thought it was a good way to convey the importance of math to her pupils. What started out as a small event last year included all six third-grade classes and a 71-percent child-participation rate this year.
      Said Pitcock, "(Math `til Midnight is) so the kids realize it's not paper and pencil, that it has applications and it's fun."