Dear Math Team Members and Parents

September 25, 2015

Dear Math Team Members and Parents,

FAIR is starting a math team this year as part of the After School Matters program.

The Math Team hopes to practice every Wednesday after school (in a room to be determined) and participates in at least three competitive programs through the course of the year. Besides the Wednesday practices, there are five meets held on Mondays after school at St. Louis Park Junior High and Robbinsdale Middle School during the fall and early winter months for MN Junior High Math League and another meet in February for our second competition, MATHCOUNTS.

Math Team is open to all FAIR students who want to try their hand at challenging math problems in a competitive environment. Because much of the competition is individual, students may participate successfully even if they are unable to attend all of our practices, though our most successful players will rarely miss practice. If you’d like to be on the team, but have a conflict with the practice or meet schedule, please talk with me to see what we can work out.

Schedule

The Minnesota Junior High Math League season begins on October 5 and continues, with meets every three weeks, through January 11. (October 26, November 16, and December 7 are the other dates.) When traveling to St. Louis Park for a meet, we will leave FAIR immediately after school at 2:50, the meet begins by 4:00 and ends by 5:00, and we should get back to FAIR by 5:30 if the traffic doesn’t delay us. For meets at Robbinsdale Middle School, students will take the activity bus to RMS and will need to be picked up there by parents at the end of the meet (usually at about 5:00).

We’ll begin practicing for MATHCOUNTS (the best-known national math competition for middle school students – its format is similar in many respects to the Junior High Math League, but the questions are not limited to specified subjects) toward the end of the Junior High League season. In January and early February, we will conduct the in-school portion of the competition at FAIR. The northwest metro area (City of Lakes – North Chapter) meet will be held at North Hennepin Community College on a Saturday, probably February 6, 13 or 20, 2016. (We will be able to take our ten best players to that meet.) If we are lucky enough to finish first or second there, we will take our four best players to the state meet, which will likely be held at the Radisson in Plymouth on a Friday and Saturday in late March (the 12th and 13th or 19th and 20th would be my guess at this point).

The last competition we will try is the Purple Comet Math Competition, which is an internet-based meet that takes place in April. We will be able to include all interested students in this competition during our regular Wednesday math team times using the computers right here at FAIR.

If you would like to participate, sign your name on the sign up sheet in the office and we will contact you with information about the schedule of our first practice.

I’ll have more to say at our first practices about how we’ll organize ourselves for the meets, but I think this is enough for now. Please e- mail me ([email protected]) if you have any questions. I’m looking forward to a great year, and I hope you are too.

John Orbison

P.S. There is no fee for Math Team.

Schedule for MN Junior High Math League 2015-2016

Monday, October 5 – Meet 1 at Robbinsdale Middle School Monday, October 26 – Meet 2 at St. Louis Park Jr. High Monday, November 16 – Meet 3 at Robbinsdale Middle School Monday, December 7 – Meet 4 at St. Louis Park Jr. High Monday, January 11 – Meet 5 at Robbinsdale Middle School FAIR Math Club Permission Slip

The FAIR Math Club will be traveling to St.Louis Park Jr. High and Robbinsdale Middle School for five competitions in the Wayonka B District of the Minnesota Junior High School Mathematics League during this school year. Transportation to St. Louis Park will be provided by bus, thanks to Ms. Hester. Transportation to meets at Robbinsdale will be by district activity buses. (Students should be picked up at Robbinsdale Middle School after those meets at about 5:00 pm) All meets will be on Mondays, from 2:50 pm until 5:00 pm. We should return to FAIR from St. Louis Park meets between 5:15 and 5:30 pm. The dates of the five meets are:

October 5, 2015 (at Robbinsdale) October 26, 2015 (at St. Louis Park) November 16, 2015 (at Robbinsdale) December 7, 2015 (at St. Louis Park) January 11, 2016 (at Robbinsdale)

Please sign below to give your permission for ______to attend these meets. If you have any questions, please e-mail John Orbison at [email protected]. Thank you.

I hereby give my permission, as parent or legal guardian, for ______to participate in and be transported to and from the five Minnesota Junior High Math League competitions shown above. I understand the arrangements, and believe that reasonable precautions and plans for the care and supervision of the pupils during the trips will be taken. Beyond this we will not hold the school or those supervising the trip responsible.

______Parent/Guardian Signature

Date: ______

Work Phone: ______

Home Phone:______