3rd Annual Wicomico County Math 24 Game Tournament

Student Mathletes Gear Up for the 3rd Annual Wicomico County Math 24 Game Tournament 6 p.m. Thursday, May 21, at SU Commons

The math game is on in Wicomico County elementary and middle schools, which for the next several weeks will engage students in challenging tests of their mathematics skills through math 24 Game play, with generous support from sponsor M&T Bank.

In preparation for the 3rd annual Wicomico County Math 24 Game Tournament May 21, schools are holding classroom-level and then school-level contests to select grade-level winners to represent the school. Each elementary school will send to the county tournament one student for each grade (first grade through fifth grade) in its school, for 55 elementary contestants. Middle schools will send 30 students -- two students per grade from sixth through eighth -- to create a competitive field.

Grade-level champions from 22 Wicomico elementary and middle schools will compete starting at 6 p.m. Thursday, May 21, in the third annual Wicomico County Math 24 Game Tournament. The night’s play in The Commons at Salisbury University will determine the best 24 Game player in the county for each grade level. The tournament is free and open to the public.

Sponsor M&T Bank has made a $4,500 donation to enable Wicomico County Schools to put on the third annual countywide Math 24 Game Tournament. The money helps provide prizes for participants and supports the purchase of Math 24 Game materials. Those materials include sets of Math 24 Game cards that are now available for use at all Wicomico Public Library locations, including the main library in Salisbury, the Centre at Salisbury branch, and library branches in Pittsville and Bivalve.

"By having the 24 Game in multiple library locations, the cards are more accessible for parent and student use," said Jason Miller, who with Michael Collins coordinates Wicomico County's Math 24 Game program. "We're grateful to M&T Bank and the Wicomico Public Library for their partnership in support of this math program."

To win at the Math 24 Game, students must excel in two areas: rapid reflexes and automaticity, or automatically knowing math facts. In a game, a proctor sets down one 24 Game card at a time, and the first student to press a fingertip to the card has the opportunity to solve the problem. “It excites students. It motivates them to do better in the classroom,” said co-coordinator Michael Collins. “We have students who stay in at recess to play the game.”

New this year: First-graders through fourth-graders who believe they know the right answer will click in using the Eggspert response system, a handheld clicker wired to a console with colored lights. A light will show which player clicked first. “That’s being used because without it, we couldn't always tell which student touched the card first because the responses came so quickly,” Miller said.

At the intermediate level, grades 3 - 8, students will be challenged by having to provide the final solution first, then outline the steps necessary to reach that final solution. If they use a different process to reach 24 than they gave in their final solution, they’ll receive a penalty. Also, fifth-graders will be using the Double Digits Version in order to increase the difficulty of the game.