A total of 24 SAA middle school students (mostly 7th and 8th graders) attended the annual Math Contest at IMSA.  There were a total of 23 schools who participated in this full day event. SAA was able to earn three recognitions. One student tied for 2nd place for 7th Grade Individuals. Another student was the only 7th grader from all 23 schools to answer problem 20 correctly on the 7th Grade Individual Contest. Lastly, a student earned an IMSA t-shirt for answering a problem in the Speed Round both correctly and first among the contestants from each school.  Congratulations to all of the students who participated and represented SAA well!

In April, SAA Math Team members participated in the Noetic Learning Math Competition. This competition takes place in the fall and spring each year and is specifically designed for gifted students. Each meet has students competing as individuals solving 20 word problems designed for a specific grade level. This year, we had one math class of third and fourth grade students taught by Ms. Katauskas take the 3rd Grade meet problems.  The 5th and 6th grade Math Team members all competed as 6th Graders, and the 7th and 8th grade Math Team members all competed as 8th Graders. 

Also in April, 3 fourth graders and 46 middle schoolers participated in the annual Purple Comet International Math Meet. Unlike the Noetic Learning Math Contest, this meet is intended to be completed in teams. This year SAA had teams of three to six students each. While our students did not place either in Illinois or nationally, they did very well for this large challenge.

Two teams of six tied for the SAA winners - The Immortal Mildreds 2017 and Chicken Fried Steak. 

Pebble Faces, the seventh grade team, came in second for SAA. Faline Redux, the sixth/seventh grade team, came in third for SAA. 

A special thanks to our fourth grade team The Guild of Worksheeters for joining us this year.

Congratulations to all who participated in the competitions. The students had fun and really worked hard. 

This weekend 28 students from our middle school participated in a 5th-8th grade Math Meet at The Latin School of Chicago. While SAA was well represented and showed both grace and strength, we had a few awards to share with all of you. 

One of our two fifth grade teams "The Human Calculators" of Wren, Sasha, Michael and Joshua earned a team award - fourth place!
 
Our only seventh grade team (made of two seventh graders and two sixth graders - "7x6=ALUE" (translated - 42 is the answer to life, the universe and everything) of Nitya, Emily, Daniel and Will earned a team award - fifth place!
 
Two of these team members also earned individual awards - Joshua -third place and Will - first place!
 
Go SAA! 

A few weeks ago, forty 3rd-8th grade students from SAA participated in the Fall 2017 Noetic Learning Math Contest.  SAA had seven 3rd and 4th graders who competed amongst 4,143 students at their grade level nationally.  Among those seven students, Richie was not only the SAA team winner, but also earned a National Honorable Mention score. On the 3rd-4th grade team, Sela, Austin and Kaitlyn earned a National Honorable Mention score.

On our 6th grade team of ten students, Will earned a National Honor Roll score of 100%. He was one of only ten students from a pool national total of 2,543 6th grade students who participated in this meet and earned a perfect score. Congratulations to Will!  Other 5th and 6th graders on the SAA 6th grade team who earned a National Honorable Mention Score include Jaden, Michael, and Linnea.

SAA was pleased to have twenty-three 7th and 8th grade students participate among a national total of 915 eighth grade students. 7th grader Julia was the SAA 8th grade team winner.  Along with Julia, Thomas, Elizabeth, Ryan, Dashiell, Mary Catherine, Hadrian, Elia, Zeph, Elena and Gabe all earned National Honorable Mention scores.

Thank you to all 40 of the SAA students who participated. They will have a second meet in April for the Spring 2017 Noetic Learning Math Contest.

SAA's Math Competition Season begins this month! Here's what's in store:

• MS Math Team and a group of 3rd and 4th grade students will participate in the Noetic Learning Math Contest in November and April. 
• All Middle School students and fourth grade students in Pre-Algebra will participate in the national AMC 8 meet on Tuesday, November 15th during math class. 
• 3rd and 4th graders, as well as Middle School Math Club and Math Team members will be starting the MOEMS in November. The first 3rd and 4th grade MOEMS date is Wednesday, November 16th and the first Middle School MOEMS date is Friday, November 18.
• Ten 6th graders will represent SAA at the annual Latin School Math Contest on Saturday, January 28th. Practices for the meet began in early November and will continue through into January. Thanks to the students who are joining Math Team for this one meet and attending all of the practices to prepare for this great day.

Keep an eye out for math more math competition news in the new year with even more meets this winter and spring. Visit the Beyond the Classroom page for more information about the 3rd and 4th grade Math Club, Middle School Math Club or Middle School Math Team.

Annual TriMathlon
Mathnasium of Harwood Heights held their annual TriMathlon last weekend. Two SAA fifth grade students participated and placed in the top five! Congratulations to both of these students! 

This Wednesday, 24 middle school students from SAA participated in an all day math meet at IMSA. Our students did well overall and we are very proud of all 24 students for spending the day working on some rather challenging math problems and representing SAA so well. 

SAA walked away with the following four awards:

• Creative Thinking Problems School Total 3rd place
• 9th grade School Team Total  2nd place
• 8th grade Team 3rd place
• 8th grade Individuals School Team Total 3rd place

SAA had a strong showing at last Saturday's 89th Kumbaya Chess Tournament.  

• In the U700 section, three students combined forces to win the third place team trophy. 
• In the U1200 section - a very rigorous and challenging section - another two students coupled their efforts to win the third place team trophy (and just missed second place due to tie-breaking points). 
• In the non-rated section, congrats to two other students for special mentions.  

Be sure to check out the new trophies in the office!  Way to go SAA!

This February, we had 36 students participate in the AMC 10 - a national math contest designed for high school sophomores in Geometry. It was wonderful to see so many students participate and have interest in a high school level test. Also in February, we had 27 students participate in the AMC 12 - another high school math contest designed for students in Pre-Calculus. Students in Algebra II or Pre-Calculus only were invited to participate at SAA this year. A special note of congratulations to one particular student for qualifying for the AIME - a national math exam only students who score above a specific score the AMC 10 or 12 are invited to take. The students who do best on the AIME then are invited to participate in the USAMO - and head off to an international math olympiad meet. Great job!

Winter Concerts
The gym was alive with beautiful music on Tuesday and Thursday evening.  Guided by our talented music teachers and aided by our faculty and staff, our students delighted audiences with song and instrumentation.  Thank you for being part of this special SAA tradition.  

Jr. High Math Competition at Regina Dominican High School
Last Saturday, December 5th, two 8th grade students participated in the Seventh and Eighth Grade Mathematics Contest at Regina Dominican High School, located in Willmette.  They both received a first place ribbon for scoring the highest in the Team Competition portion of the event. Way to go, girls!

Support Eagles Basketball on the Road this Season!
In a thrilling game this week, the Girls Basketball team was edged out by Willows Academy, 22 - 17. What an effort ladies! Over the next month, the Boys teams will be competing on the road, and they'd love a strong fan section. The next game is this Tuesday, December 15th at St. Andrews Lutheran Church and School located at 260 N Northwest Hwy, Park Ridge, IL 60068. The 5th/6th boys tip off at 5:00pm and the 7th/8th boys follow at 6:00pm. Let's pack the St. Andrews gym with an SAA crowd!