IN Woodland Hills Summer 2016 | Page 55

Students at The Woodland Hills Academy are giving back and making a name for themselves — all while doing math! In 2012, The Woodland Hills School District adopted Think Through Math, a web-based learning system that combines rigorous adaptive instruction, motivational tools, and access to live state-certified math teachers who can help students in real time as they work through the program. This year, students are working harder than ever before and their hard work is being recognized. Think Through Math allows students to earn THINK Points that may be used to modify the appearance of their avatars (the online character representation of the student), work towards classroom pizza parties, or donate to featured charities. In January, students across the country completed math problems and converted their points into charity dollars translating to a donation of $10,000 to St. Jude’s Research Hospital. Some of the top point donations came from The Woodland Hills Academy, and these students were selected to serve as representatives at the check presentation ceremony. The selected students donated a combined total of 32,500 points to the cause during the four weeks that the charity was featured. spent 1,110 hours working towards their goals. On March 30, representatives from Think Through Math presented Woodland Hills Academy with The Steel City Cup, along with prizes for classrooms where students had completed more than 20 hours of Think Through Math at home, and classes where students had completed an average of 20 lessons each during the month of February. Mrs. Seigfreid’s 4th grade class accepted the award for the top performing class in the entire district. In February, Think Through Math presented a new challenge. The program challenged students in The Woodland Hills School District to complete more problems than students at McKeesport School District. Students had 29 days to earn The Steel City Cup. 12,800 math lessons were completed, 424,000 math problems were solved, and students spent 3,800 hours working on MATH! Woodland Hills School District brought home the Steel City Cup, and The Woodland Hills Academy came out on top. Academy students completed 3,800 lessons, 113,000 math problems, and Winning avatar designs. By Mylee Young, Meghan, Ryan Powers, Keyawnee Clark, Meghan O’Neil, Ivan Remaley, and Charlotte Feucht Woodland Hills | Summer 2016 | icmags.com 53 BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE WOODLAND HILLS FOUNDATION. Back: Brittany Clark (St Jude’s), Lilly Ballard, Kaitlyn Donaldson, Ryan Reczek (St Jude’s) Front: My-Khya Carrington, Anakin Taylor, Elizabeth Geyer, Michaelah McMillan From there, students continued their math journeys and were given the opportunity to design avatars that will influence some of the clothing and accessories available in the program, including shoes, helmets, shirts, and even ear cuffs. On April 12, representatives from Think Through Math visited The Woodland Hills Academy to meet with the artists of the winning designs, and artists from Think Through Math are now working hard to incorporate elements from the winning designs into the online store. Academy students are hooked! For more information on the Think Through Math program, visit https://www.thinkthroughmath.com. W OODL AN D HI L L S SC HOOL DI STRI C T NE WS By Brittany Libell Woodland Hills Making Strides with Think Through Math