Have a Great Idea for Your Somerville Students? Apply for a Math Grant!

Every year the Somerville Mathematics Fund offers teacher grants for K-12 teachers in Somerville who have interesting and exciting ideas to support math learning and enrichment for their students.  The grant is open to teachers in all of the schools in Somerville, both public and parochial.  The grant application is on the Somerville Mathematics Fund website and is due by January 8, 2016.

The maximum amount of any grant is $500 per year.  Previous winners are welcome to apply again as long as they have completed their report on the previous grant.  You can read about last year’s grant winners on the Somerville Mathematics Blog or by requesting a copy of this year’s annual newsletter to be mailed in early December.

The Somerville Mathematics Fund, was chartered in 2000 to celebrate and encourage achievement in mathematics in the city of Somerville, Massachusetts.  Over fifteen years, the math fund has awarded  $79,640 in teacher grants in the city of Somerville.  You might want to listen to our  TEDxSomerville talk on the work of the Somerville Math Fund

to learn about the various things the math fund is doing.

In early April, the Somerville Math Fund will be seeking applications from students who reside in Somerville for college mathematics scholarships.  The application will be available on 

www.somervillemathematicsfund.org.  

For more information, to volunteer or to make a tax-deductible contribution, please contact Erica (617-666-0666 or mathfund@gmail.com)

The link to this post is http://somervillemathematics.blogspot.com/2015/12/have-great-idea-for-your-somerville.html
©Erica Dakin Voolich 2015

11th Annual Scrapheap Showdown-- Sort It Out!

On October 25, 18 teams of 3 high school students each from Somerville gathered in Gantcher Gym at Tufts University to compete in the eleventh annual Scrapheap Showdown.  Along with the usual interesting “junk” in the center of the room when the students walked in, there was paper, lots of foam core, plus of string and tape.  The students were given their challenge: to build a machine that would sort “coins” from Roundlandia — spherical glass coins of different sizes, each into their own receptacle.

The teams worked intensely, building, testing and adjusting their sorting machines.  

They needed to learn how to not only sort the glass spherical coins by size, but also, they needed to sort out counterfeit coins made of plastic or metal which were the same size as one of the legal coins.

Time was called after 3 1/2 hours.  Now was the time for the competition.  

The teams were judged on the number of correct coins in the right container, counterfeits elsewhere, with a bonus for being able to have the number of each coin displayed at the end and all the coins poured into the hopper together, not one at a time.

Each of the eighteen sorters were interesting and sported differences for sorting the coins by size.  A couple of them even had a “balance” to weigh and redirect the two different counterfeit coins, others separated out the metal “coins” using a magnet.

The students' sorters competed against each other.  The team with the highest overall score, was “3 Musketeers” (Pratrik Maharjan, Anmol Saini, and Henry Schneiderbeck ).  

Second place was the “Rasberry Lime Seltzer” (Alex Costa, Gabriel Bruno Parreira, and Ben Stevens).  

Third place was “Team Stats” (Jonathan Cabral and Bishan Rai).  

Fourth and fifth place had a tie score, and fourth was determined by shortest time to complete the sort.  Fourth place was "Rag Tek" (Anoush Khan, Gavin LaWhite and Daniel Strauss).  

Fifth place was “Lady Highlanders” (YuYing Chen, Lourdes Jean-Louis and Priscila Ponce). 

Sixth place was "Siri is Undefined"  (Kristina Gurung, Tayara Romero, and Anaya Reneé Luz).

Seventh place was "÷ and Conquer" (Nikolas Protopapas, Lucas Sargent, and Luca Duclos-Orsello).

Eighth place was "e to the iπ" (David Matthews, Anmol Maini, and Richie Lavey).

The teams could choose their prize in the order they finished.    The prizes donated were: three $100 gift cards (donated by Anne Button, Chase Duclos-Orsello and Monica Fernandes), four Red Sox tickets (donated by Sam Voolich), three $50 RedBones BBQ gift cards, eight passes Museum of Fine Arts and nine passes to the Rembrandt Exhibit at the Museum of Fine Arts (donated by PriceWaterHouse), 3 $25 Amazon gift cards (donated by Susan Weiss) and 6 and 4 “Loaf of Bread” tickets from When Pigs Fly.

This event was for both fundraising and an intellectual challenge--all funds raised go towards a Somerville Mathematics Fund scholarship for an outstanding Somerville mathematics student.  Fundraiser Anmol Bhargo won a Newbury Comics gift card (donated by the Jay Landers) and also a $10 ice cream gift card (donated by J P Licks).  

Christina Bissereth, one of the competitors, was documenting the day for the Somerville High School newspaper and she shared her photos of the event.   Other pictures the volunteers took are posted here.

All competitors and volunteers went home with Scrapheap Showdown teeshirts donated by Gerald and Debra Bickoff of Commercial Cleaning Service.  

The other teams competing were "Team Cheng Mei," "Only Team with a Hope,"  "Team Nerrrdllz,"  "The X Factor,"  "The Trio,"  "K.R.E.,"  "The Incredibles,"  "Black Stallion," "SHS-Trio,"and "Honeybees."

Designers and refiners of the challenge were: Anne Button, Chase Duclos-Orsello, Zachary Faubion, Adam Foster, Monica Fernandes, Miriam Gates, Richard Graf, Jay Landers, Zbigniew Nitecki, Erica Voolich, Michael Voolich, and Susan Weiss.  Stanhope Framers donated the foam core and Rockler donated some of the magnets.  Michael Morgan and Dana Lee, teachers at Somerville High School, recruited student teams.  Sodexo at Suffolk University donated the food.  Amy Weiss designed the T-shirts.  

Sponsors of the event included Winter Hill Bank, RedBones BBQ, CliftonLarsonAllen LLP, Commercial Cleaning Service, Jay & Jasper, and our wonderful host, Tufts University.  Various members of the Board worked on all aspects of organizing the event and worked to make it a success along with community volunteers. 

The Somerville Mathematics Fund was chartered in 2000 to celebrate and encourage mathematics achievement in Somerville.  In January, they will be looking for teacher grant applications; and in April, they will be looking for scholarship applications.   For more information or to volunteer or to make a donation, call 617-666-0666, e-mail mathfund@gmail.com, or go to www.somervillemathematicsfund.org.

The link to this post is http://somervillemathematics.blogspot.com/2015/10/11th-annual-scrapheap-showdown-sort-it.html
© 2015, Erica Dakin Voolich

Scrapheap Showdown is Coming!

Scrapheap Showdown is Coming ... time to get your teams together.
The Somerville Math Fund's annual high school engineering challenge is coming on Sunday October 25th.
Teams of three will arrive to discover what will be their challenge to build this year.  If you're interested in seeing some of the previous years' projects, click here.

To compete you must be a high school student living in Somerville MA.  Go to this link to get all of the details.  Start organizing your team NOW, the registration is due on October 17.

In the past, the teams not only came up with creative names for their teams, but they also came up with interesting creative solutions to the annual challenges.  We always have great prizes.

Go forth and form your teams!

Outstanding Students win Somerville Math Fund Scholarships

The Somerville Mathematics Fund is pleased to announce the winners of their renewable mathematics scholarships for 2015.  The Math Fund was founded to celebrate and encourage math achievement and these students deserve to be celebrated for their work in math and science while in high school.

Erica Voolich and Jay Lander congratulate Elliot Rippe, Connie Chan, Jenni Matthews, Briana Lino and Emily Kate O’Brien on winning Somerville Math Fund renewable scholarships for outstanding work in math & science.

(photo by Arthur Ingalls, Geskus Photography)

Connie Chan will attend Bryn Mawr College,  Briana Lino will attend Wellesley College, Jenni Matthews will attend Tufts University, Emily Kate O’Brien will attend Bryn Mawr College, and Elliot Rippe will attend College of the Holy Cross.  Their scholarships of $1000 are renewable for up to a total of four years as long as they maintain a B average and take mathematics or courses which use mathematics.

Two of the scholarships are given in memory of two outstanding women, Connie Chan won the Alice T Schafer scholarship and Elliot Rippe won the Lt. Catherine M Landers scholarship.

Erica Voolich congratulates Connie Chan on winning the

Dr. Alice T Schafer Scholarship from the Somerville Math fund

(photo by Arthur Ingalls, Geskus Photography)

Connie Chan won the Alice T Schafer Scholarship.  She is planning to study biomedical engineering at Bryn Mawr.  Dr. Schafer (1915 - 1909) was orphaned as an infant and raised by two aunts.  When she went to college at the University of Richmond of Virginia, women students weren’t allowed in the library and she was discouraged from majoring in mathematics.  She won prizes, earned a PhD, taught at colleges (including Wellesley) and among the things she is known for is helping start the Association for Women in Mathematics (1971).  Less known about Dr. Schafer was her helping to start the Somerville Mathematics Fund in 2000 -- attending all of the planning meetings and contributing to their work as long as she was able.  She is remembered for her passion and work to insure mathematical opportunities for women.  Since Dr. Schafer was committed to the education and supporting women in mathematics, Connie study of biomedical engineering is a wonderful way to honor Dr. Schafer's memory.

Jay Landers congratulates Elliot Rippe on winning the

Lt. Catherine M Landers Scholarship from the Somerville Math Fund

(photo by Arthur Ingalls, Geskus Photography)

Elliot Rippe won the Lt. Catherine M Landers Scholarship.  He is planning on majoring in engineering and applied mathematics at Holy Cross.  When Lt. Landers (1920 - 2012) wanted to go to nursing school (graduating in 1942), her grandmother opened a cedar chest were she had been saving dollar bills to help pay for her granddaughter’s education.  Lt Landers won a Bronze Star for her service during WW2, where she ran a field hospital outside Paris; she was about to be shipped to the far East when WW2 ended and so she boarded a transport ship for the USA instead.   Jay Landers and Jasper Lawson donated a scholarship in her memory, honoring her commitment to education.  Elliot's interested in applied math and engineering is a wonderful way to honor Lt. Landers' commitment to education.

The Somerville Mathematics Fund, is affiliated with the national scholarship organization Dollars for Scholars, was chartered in 2000 to celebrate and encourage achievement in mathematics in the city of Somerville, Massachusetts. It May 2011, it was recognized as the outstanding Dollars for Scholars Chapter in New England.  Since it's founding, it has awarded $240,000 in mathematics scholarships to outstanding Somerville students.  Next fall, The Somerville Mathematics Fund will be seeking applications from teachers who teach in the city of Somerville who would like funding for classroom mathematics activities.  In October, the Math Fund will also be seeking high school students to compete in the annual Scrapheap Showdown.  For more  information, to volunteer, or to make a tax-deductible contribution, please contact Erica Voolich (617-666-0666 or mathfund@gmail.com) or go to www.somervillemathematicsfund.org.

©2015, Erica Dakin Voolich
The link to this page is http://somervillemathematics.blogspot.com/2015/06/outstanding-students-win-somerville.html

Pizza, then Pi and finally Pies — What More Can You Want on Ultimate Pi Day?

Drawing a nephroid with straight lines

Saturday, March 14 was Pi Day (3.14) -- but not just any π Day, it was Ultimate π Day because it is 2015:  3.14.15!  What better excuse is there to have a celebration of math with middle schoolers than π?     Well over 200 students, parents, teachers, and volunteers  from the high school, PTA and community, celebrated π  at the Healey School by eating pizza for dinner, then spending an evening estimating, creating, collecting data, answering questions, and ending with pies for everyone.

Graphing Diameter vs Circumference

After enjoying pizza donated by the Bickoff family (discounted by White Sport), the students from Healey, who were joined by students from East Somerville Community School (ESCS), and Argenziano schools went around to a wide variety of math activities set up in the gym and cafeteria.

Drawing circles using tangents.

These activities included: bicycle wheel roll, guessing contest, tooth pick drop (Buffon Needle problem), drawing a circle the size of a CD, mystery boxes, π button design, π facts quiz, birthday in π, circle in square vs square in circle, drawing cardioid or nephroid, drawing concentric circles by folding, drawing circles by tangents, drawing circle by right angles, predicting how high of a pour, predicting circumferences and radii, and graphing circumference vs diameter.

Pitching pennies to determine a better target:
a circle in a square or a square in a circle.

The event was planned by Wil Jacques (Healey), Scott Weaver (ESCS), and Erica Voolich (Somerville Mathematics Fund).  Table Talk Pies of Worcester generously supplied small pies for all who came that night and large pies for winners of events.  Table Talk has generously supported this Somerville Math Fund event for twelve years.  Star Market/Shaws (Beacon Street) generously donated most of the juice.

Drawing a cardioid using straight lines.

When planning the first SMF π Night in 2003, the Math Fund called the Table Talk Pi Company and explained what π day was and Table Talk generously donated large pies for prizes and small pies for everyone.  Eleven years later, Table Talk Pies is not only still donating to the the Somerville Pi night celebration, but to many more celebrations.   In fact, this year Table Talk donated more than 43,000 pies to schools celebrating pi day.

Taking a π facts quiz.

A big thank you to all the volunteers and donors who made this fun, educational evening possible.  It takes a community to celebrate π day!

Estimating circumference in mm by feel.

The Somerville Mathematics Fund, was founded in 2000 with the mission to celebrate and encourage mathematics achievement in Somerville MA.  In April they will be looking for applications for college mathematics scholarships.  For more information or to make a donation or to volunteer, www.somervillemathematicsfund.org or mathfund@gmail.com or call 617-666-0666.

The link to the page is http://somervillemathematics.blogspot.com/2015/03/pizza-then-pi-and-finally-pies-what.html
©2015, Erica Dakin Voolich

Have a Great Idea on How to Teach Math? These Teachers Do!

Many teachers have great ideas on how to make their classrooms a better place for their students to learn math.  The teachers’ ideas frequently outrun the budget schools have for supplies and their own ability to subsidize their classroom.  The Somerville Mathematics Fund tries to fill this need through the generosity of their donors:  John Bullock, Jay Landers & Jasper Lawson, and the Apple Tree Fund.  The following teachers won grants to encourage and support mathematics achievement in the classrooms of Somerville.

The Math Fund wants to thank John Bullock for generously underwriting the following teacher grants:

• Julia Allen & Aileene Martinez-Garced, East Somerville Community School Unidos (1st), Classroom Games and Parent Math Day

• Jason Behrens & Basha Goldstein-Weiss, Winter Hill Community Innovation School (K-2, 3-5 afterschool), Child Created Math Games

• Sally Birth, Next Wave (teacher/counselor), Pre-Algebra Curriculum Materials

• Matthew Burch, West Somerville Neighborhood School (5th), Fraction and Decimal Manipulatives

• Jayne Campos, Argenziano School (1st), Classroom Math Rug

• Frances Carino, Winter Hill Community Innovation School (4th), Math Manipulatives and Think Tank Materials

• Michelle Crawford-Cranford, Healey School (4th), Math Games and Activities

• Susanne Douglas, Healey School (4th), Math Interactive Software

• Donna Driscoll, Argenziano & East Somerville Community School (math coach), Family Math Nights

• Sandra Dumas, Brown School (5th), IXL Software

• Janice Fahey-Flynn, Argenzino School (ESL specialist), Math Manipulatives

• Michael Fitzpatrick, St Catherine’s of Genoa School (1st), Problem Solving Activities

• Jane Gardner, Argenziano School (1st), Classroom Math Rug

• Diana Garity, Argenzino School (4th), Math Manipulatives

• Lindsay Garofalo, East Somerville Community School (1st integrated SEIP), Math Night

• Ben Garton, Healey School (3rd & 4th), Math Games

• Rebecca Grunko, Healey School (ESL specialist), Family Game Breakfast & Math Games

• Tzu-Ting (Ting-Ting) Han, Winter Hill Community Innovation School (1st), Math Games and Think Tank Materials

• Denise Marie Lavey, East Somerville Community School (1st, SEIP), Game Night,

• Mary McGivern, Winter Hill Community Innovation School (inclusion teacher), K-2, 3-5 Math Nights

• Maria Medeiros, Winter Hill Community Innovation School (3rd), Dry Erase Boards & Cuisenaire Rods

• Julie Sahlas, Winter Hill Community Innovation School (3rd), Dry Erase Boards & Cuisenaire Rods

The Math Fund wants to thank  Jay Landers and Jasper Lawson for generously underwriting the following teacher grants:

• Hannah de Souza Rodrigues, Argenziano School (3rd Sheltered English Immersion), Classroom Math Rug

• Kristen Ryan, West Somerville Neighborhood School (SMILE), Pre-K, K, 3rd Grade Construction Project

• Tracy Selig, St. Catherine of Genoa School (2nd), Math Manipulatives

The Math Fund wants to thank the Apple Tree Fund for generously underwriting the following teacher grants:

• Kathleen Seward, Brown School (principal for instructional leadership team and PTA), Family Math Night

• Amanda Toro, Winter Hill Community Innovation School (SMILE), Math Manipulatives

• Linda Wiegenfeld, East Somerville Community School (4th), 2-4 Math Night

The Somerville Mathematics Fund, an affiliate of the national scholarship organization Dollars for Scholars, was chartered in 2000 to celebrate and encourage achievement in mathematics in the city of Somerville, Massachusetts.  Over fifteen years, the Somerville Math Fund has awarded $79,640 in teacher grants in the city of Somerville.

In early April, the fund will be seeking applications from students who reside in Somerville for college mathematics scholarships.  Links to the scholarship application form is available at  www.somervillemathematicsfund.org   For more information, to volunteer or to make a tax-deductible contribution, please contact Erica Voolich (617-666-0666 or mathfund@gmail.com).