June Newsletter – 2014

Dear Fellow Smart Solvers

June! When did that happen? Just the other day it was March… With only the last week before the end of the term, end of June exams and end of the first half the year, 2014 is rushing away with us. The only thing that doesn’t seem to be rushing away is the cold weather 🙂

Seartec, proud distributor of Sharp, had the privilege of attending the gala awards ceremony for the Horizon Maths Competition. This is a maths competition for grade 5 – 7 learners. All 23 000 learners around the country write the same multiple choice test and the top 200 students are awarded with certificates and other prizes. For more information check out the article on the maths at sharp website. A big congratulations to Parkview Senior Primary School for achieving top performing school and to Glenanda Primary School for achieving top participating school. (I really enjoyed sitting next to the Glenanda primary maths teachers who cheered very loudly and excitedly for their students).

Here are two interesting concepts to try out in the classroom (or at home after 3 or 4 cups of coffee):

• This is a-MAZE-ing! Divide students into teams and give each group different coloured-tape. Students need to roll the dice and measure out that length of tape. Then change direction (any which way they want) before rolling again. There are many other things that can now be examined on the maze – for example – find all the right angles on one pathway, find all the right angles on another pathway and so on. There are many other ideas and this is a great way to consolidate several sections (great for grade 5s through to grade 8 or 9). Check out the full article on the weareteachers.comwebsite.
• And here is a nice application for grade 10 – 12 students – Pascal’s Triangle.  Pascal’s triangle involves creating many different patterns using the outline of a triangle and beginning with ones. It also leads to an explanation of how the normal or bell-shaped distribution is created. There’s a great visual app as well. Lots of fun in the class.

Seartec, proud distributor of Sharp, are heading to Kimberly for the national AMESA conference taking place from the 7^th of July to the 11^th of July at Diamantveld High School and Kimberley Boys’ High School. Nicole and I will be doing several workshops over the course of the week. We hope to see you there. Late registration is still possible please visit AMESA’s websitefor more information.

Other exciting things to do include 2 VAW (Vereniging vir Afrikaanse Wiskunde-onderwysers) conferences happening on the 16^th to the 18^th of July in Goudini, Rawsonville and the 30^th of June to the 2^nd of July in Buffelspoort, Mooinooi. For more information please contact Valentyn vd Merwe via email  – valentyn@helpendehand.co.za.

There is also the Africa Print Expo happening  on the 2^nd to the 4^th of July at Gallagher estate. If you are looking for new and amazing photocopiers and printers then visit the Sharp stand. Also look out for our very exciting interactive touch screen board – it’s quite spectacular.

For those of you who are still wondering how to figure out last month’s riddle check out the solution on mathsatsharp.co.za.

And to get your minds busy during the long break here is another riddle for you to solve smart:

One day your minimalist friend is visiting, and she presents you with the numbers 2, 3, 4 and 5, and the symbols = and +, and the following tantalizing challenge: Is it possible to use each number and symbol once and only once and end up with a true equation; further, you cannot use any number or symbol not given. How can you do this?

And that’s it for this month – we hope you enjoyed the newsletter and we look forward to hearing from you.

We hope you have a fantastic and restful holiday and come back ready for new challenges and new adventures.

Best wishes,

Tal, Nicole and The Seartec Team.