There are several basic and essential skills that make up the workload for students to practice during their school years.  Among those are Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic.  When you see or hear those words, it is likely there is an association of some good, bad, or mixed emotions.  Yes, there are people that naturally come by skills related to each, there are even some that would say that any one of those subjects is their favorite.  There is also much evidence that any one of those is likely the least favorite of many too.  Statistics show however, that students typically do not fear or hate math as much by the time they enter high school and even further studies suggest that adults, families, and teachers that foster an appreciation and help students learn to make it relevant and applicable to lives only increases their feelings for it.   Math exists around us lots in everyday life, sadly though, many people have irrational anxiety or fear related to dealing with numbers or attacking the various problems they encounter with numbers.  Additionally, according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), math scores for grades four and eight showed the largest declines since 1990 after our worldwide Covid Pandemic.  Students lost about 35% of an average year’s learning making this anxiety and fear build more and creating a large burden to overcome for today’s teachers. 

Today there is a Math Celebration worldwide, helping, and hoping to foster an appreciation for the various forms of Math!  World Math Day is an online contest that exists to encourage our youth to strive for excellence and increase their math skills.  World Math day even boasts a Guinness World Record, set by having 1,204,766 participants in online math contests in March of 2010.  It’s had a short break due to world issues/ pandemic, but is back this year alive and refreshed!  This world competition has made its way back with large momentum to bring people together of various cultures to settle many of the fears and celebrate the natural occurrence of math all around us.  Mathletics is the host of the free Math day competition; students, families, schools, and teachers can sign up for this free event online.  Not only is there timed competitions and points to build to become part of the Hall of Fame, but there are also lots of other activities and skill builders built into their event showcase.  Visit www.mathletics.com to learn more about the free online contest.  Today is a great day to join in the fun and celebrate Math!