Calcrostics - Puzzle of the Day

 ab −  cd = ca
  + ÷   × ×  −
edf ÷   g = bd
  = =   = =  =
bbb − bef = eb

96 + 96 = 192
 ÷ ÷  ÷ ÷   ÷
 2 ×  4 =   8
 = =  = =   =
48 − 24 =  24

About The Competition

The Brock University Caribou Mathematics Competition for Grade 3 & 4 and 5 & 6 students in Ontario will be held each three times per year and will be available to all interested students. The contest will be conducted online, and will be provided in both English and French.

Goals

The goals of this project are to:

• Provide challenging math activities for interested Grade 3-6 students in Ontario.
• Show that mathematical puzzles can be fun and that competing in mathematical contests can be totally exciting.

To ensure the above goals, practice sessions and test administration will be kept simple so that the competition is not an constraint on the schedule of teachers or schools. The test will made available to all interested Grade 3, 4, 5 and 6 students.

Date and Time

The tests for the school year 2009/10 are:

These contests are available Ontario wide.

How To Participate

The test is FREE and can be attempted by any grade 3, 4, 5 or 6 student in Ontario. The only restriction is that the test must be administered by school staff at the school, to ensure a fair competition.

To enter the competition, you need to find out if your school plans to enter or whether a teacher at your school would be willing to supervise you during the test.

• Click for a list of schools which have registered.

Schools with students planning to take the test should fill out the online registration form to order a specific number of passwords, enough for each student planning to enter the contest. The email address used by the school should be the one provided by the Board; not a private address. Each password can be used only for the contest it was obtained for and only by one student. Also, a student can try each contest only once.

Students that are home-schooled may take part by contacting their local library, and asking them to register as the contact for the contest. They can then participate at the library on the day of the contest. If there is no library, then you can contact your local school that is participating in the contest.

Join our Mailing List

Parents can register with us on this page to receive an email when we announce our next contest and any other information we send out. You can remove your registration here.

Practice Questions

The type of problems will be chosen from the Kangaroo problem database:

• http://www.mathkangaroo.org/2010page/Clark/clark/pdb/

Problem sets are available at this web page. Teachers, students and parents should use the Kangaroo problem database for practice questions.

This kind of mathematics contest started in France, in 2001, and has been adopted by many countries, including Canada. A similar contest is held in Toronto each year. For more information, see:

• http://www.math.toronto.edu/oz/turgor/kangaroo.php

Practice Tests are provided to allow students to see what the online test will look like and what has to be typed in.

Other Resources

• Math Performance Center (Click on Resources). The Math Performance Centre seeks to promote and support the celebration of mathematics through the arts.
• Canadian Math Kangaroo Contest. An international contest for students in grades 3-12 in Canada. This website offers news and practice tests and questions.
• Kangourou sans Frontieres (Kangaroo of Mathematics). An independent association, whose purpose is to organize the annual KANGOUROU contest with the aim of promoting mathematics among young people around the world.
• USA Math Kangaroo Contest. An international contest for students in grades 2-12 in USA. This website offers news and practice tests and questions.
• Math Central. Teaching resources for mathematics teachers, a question and answer service for teachers and students,careers of mathematicians, a problem of the month and more.
• The Art of Problem Solving. This is a comprehensive site for the art of problem solving, although mainly for highschool students: but it has much more information included as well, for example, lists of mathematics contests world wide:
• http://www.artofproblemsolving.com/Resources/AoPS_R_Contests.php

Here is a list of other websites that offer resources such as tutorials, math quizzes and games:

• BBC Literacy Games
• BBC Numeracy Games
• Grade 3 Math Practice
• Grade 4 Math Practice
• Math Activities
• PBS Kids Games
• Sudoku For Kids

Prizes

The winning contestants of each contest for the school year 2009/10 will be awarded cheque prizes funded purely from the income of the donation web page. 30% of the total funds for prizes will be awarded to the school of the awarded student.

The prizes will be awarded by the following scheme:

• 1st - $0.70 per point
• 2nd - $0.50 per point
• 3rd - $0.35 per point
• The remainder of the prizes will be $0.20 per point
• Each school will recieve 30% of the prize won by their students
• The current prize purse for the next contest is $250.00

Making a Donation

You can make a donation for our prizes on this page. You will have to enter your information intended for a tax exemption receipt. 100% of the donation will go towards prizes, and 30% of the funds will go towards the schools of the winning students.

Sharing the results

All contestants will be able to download a printable certificate of participation and a certificate of merit with the achieved rank within their school, within their school board and in the province.

Only students that win the contest and their school will be published. There will be no full public ranking of schools or school boards.

A press release will be prepared by the Office for University Communications at Brock University. Permission will be obtained before pictures of the event are published.

The Future

Contests may be offered for grade 7/8 and may be available nation wide in future.