Heatherwood Mathletes is a framework to help parents work with their children on math at home. The somewhat elaborate athletic analogy is designed to make the club fun, and to help the parents direct their children's energy to practice and participate in friendly contests that build and hone their mathematical skills.

The aim is for Heatherwood sudents and interested parents to meet semi-monthly in order to:

• Solidify and complement the Heatherwood math curriculum.
• Stimulate the enjoyment of mathematics and enthusiasm for problem solving.
• Broaden the children's mathematical intuition and develop their ``brain power''.
• Strengthen mathematical competency and encourage creativity and ingenuity.
• Develop problem solving ability, including flexibility, strategizing, and execution.
• Help the children experience the satisfaction and thrill of discovery that comes with creative problem solving.
• Create a challenging and supportive environment for the students.
• Prepare students for math competitions that will motivate them to learn more math.

Parent and faculty "coaches" who participate in the Heatherwood Mathletes aim to provide a gentle, constructive, and fun environment to foster the growth of the student mathletes.

The ultimate math focus of Heatherwood Mathletes is to explore the interface and interconnection of algebra and geometry. At the lower grade levels, this involves solidifying basic arithmetic skills and introducing algebraic concepts. At the middle levels, the focus is on developing the arithmetic skills needed for algebraic manipulation, with particular focus on factoring and fractions as well as manipulating real numbers. In addition, mathletes are introduced to algebraic expressions and equations. At the higher levels, concentration is on solving algebraic equations of increasing complexity (linear, quadratic, algebraic fractions), performing algebriac word problems, and graphing, where the geometrical meaning of algebraic equations is made clear. Heatherwood Mathletes primarily follows the Singapore Math Series which has both American and British web site, each with somewhat different content.

Participation is open to all students from 1^st through 5^th grades at Heatherwood Elementary School. Friends and siblings of Heatherwood students are also welcome. We will attempt to assess the level of math competency of every student, and provide instruction and problems at the appropriate level for development and growth. Each student will be encouraged to work at the level and pace appropriate to the student. This usually means working with other mathletes at the same grade level. We have found that success in Mathletes comes when the mathlete naturally enjoys mathematics and has a least one parent who will work at home with the mathlete on the home exercises.

It will be important during the meetings to ensure that the adult-to-student ratio does not exceed about 2:1 at the first and second grade levels as parents actively participate in the meetings. Starting in third grade, direct parental involvement in the meetings reduces, but parents are stil needed as assistant coaches. It is also very important that parents work with their children at home on the home exercises in preparation for the next meeting and before the Heatherwood Math Olympics contests.

In past yeart, students in 4^th and 5^th grades were encouraged to join the Math Team and participate in the Mathematical Olympiads for Elementary and Middle Schools (MOEMS) competition, which is a series of tests in which about 5000 schools internationally participate every year. Heatherwood Mathletes will not participate in the MOEMS competitions this year. However, mathletes in grades 2-5 will participate in a contest of our own design, which we call the Heatherwood Math Olympics (HMO). There are two HMO contests that test the mathletes explicitly on material on which they have received training and home exercises. In addition, we may participate in the MathLeague competition at year's end.

The Heatherwood Mathletes meetings will follow a scheme that's analogous to an athletic practice in order to encourage the students to realize that intellectual activities can be as enjoyable as physical activities, and that intellectual success, like athletic success, necessitates lots of practice. For this reason, parents and teachers who participate in the meetings, will be called "coaches". After the mathletes break into their individual groups, sessions usually begin with a "warm-up", which also acts as a motivational tool and a means of providing feed-back to the parents.

The most direct analogy to athletics will be the assignment of a "Belt Level" to every student, as in karate. The students will work their way through the belt levels to increasingly challenging concepts and problems, with the expectation of greater mastery and insight. In this way, each student will work on problems at about the right level of difficulty. We hope to challenge every student, but not frustrate their interest in mathematics.

The Introductory Level comprises the White, Yellow, Orange, and Green Belt levels, composed primarily of 1^st and 2^nd graders. The Intermediate level will be made up of the  Purple, Blue, and Red Belts appropriate for 3^rd through 5^th graders.

Each meeting proceeds about as follows:

• All Together
The meetings start with all participants, parents and mathletes, gathering in the Heatherwood Library. General discussion and business follows for a few minutes. The mathletes then break into subgroups defined by belt level, with the belt coaches leading the ensuing session.

• Promotion
At some meetings, belts will be awarded to students based on participation in the Heatherwood Math Olympics. White and Orange Belts will be promoted to Yellow and Green Belts, respectively, after they compete the first of the two Heatherwood Math Olympics tests. Most students will be promoted to the next belt level at the final meeting of the year.

• Warm-Up
Sessions with the belt coaches typically begin with a warm-up, which tests to see how the mathletes are progressing and also builds math test taking skill.

• Presentation of new material
Belt coaches present new material, discuss example problems, and assign home exercises.