At this North Texas elementary school, numbers are adding up to smashing math success
At Comanche Springs Elementary in the Eagle Mountain-Saginaw school district, the numbers simply add up to success.
As a campus, students have solved 2,372,244 math problems through First in Math, an online program aimed at building students’ math skills through games designed to strengthen fact fluency, automaticity, computational thinking and other critical skills.
Comanche Springs has participated in the program for three years and the entire school currently ranks third overall in the state and 33rd in the nation. It is the highest ranking the school has had since entering the program.
Also, two classroom teams have enjoyed individual success.
Stephen Thompson’s fourth-grade homeroom class was the No. 1 team in all of Texas for January, solving 122,000 problems. Overall, they have solved more than 471,000 problems this school year to rank second in the state among grades 1-8.
“My students spend time daily inside and outside the class working with this program to better themselves in all areas,” Thompson said. “It is a natural motivator and positive encouragement to them.”
Also, Carley Browning’s fourth-grade homeroom class is ranked third in the state out of grades 1-8 and has completed more than 435,000 problems this school year.
In all, three Comanche Springs classrooms ranked in the top 30 in the state and in the top 40 nationally. Additionally, 11 students ranked in the top 100 in the state individually.
Students ranked in the top 100 — and some nationally — include:
▪ Fourth grade: Ritage Ahmed, ninth in the state and the 40th-ranked fourth-grader in the nation; Gabriel Shakoor, 11th in the state and the 46th in the nation; Hope Smith, 31st in the state and 89th in the nation; Tripp Savage, 33rd in the state and 96th in the nation; Jenna Spiars, 39th in the state; Harlow Yates, 62nd in the state; Jaden Janik, 65th in the state; Adalyn Ratsamy, 67th in the state; and Kyndall Jones 75th in the state.
▪ Third grade: Sophia Shakoor, 77th in the state.
▪ Second grade: Steven Nguyen, 38th in the state.
The program is designed to allow students to explore and think mathematically with focus, coherence, and rigor in mind. Individualized instruction to meet the needs of each student is placed first.
Comanche Springs Principal Melissa Davis said it creates an environment where students are excited and energized about competition.
“It has been proven to greatly improve student fluency in several areas, multiplication, division, addition, and subtraction. We have found that a new love for math has been created and students tend to push themselves harder due to the program,” she said.
Davis called it “by far the most creative and effective online program on the market. Students are engaged in learning and have shown tremendous improvement in number sense and problem-solving skills.”
Fourth-grader Hope Smith, a member of Thompson’s class, said, “This honor means a lot to me because I know that a lot of people in Mr. Thompson’s class work hard every day in First in Math. I am very lucky to get this honor and I am very proud of our class.
“I love math because it challenges me to work harder each day. Math is my favorite subject because I like how the operations work. It takes a step by step approach to complete the problem. I also like how every problem has a solution.
“My future job will involve math because I want to be a teacher just like Mr. Thompson and I want to teach math to other students.”
Classmate Jenna Spiars added, “I enjoy learning new things about math. It is a lot of fun and it will help me in my future career.
“When I grow up I want to be a zoologist and work with animals, especially elephants. This career uses a lot of fractions, ratios and measurements when dealing with food and medicine for animals.”
