Math Mania returns for 2006-07 school year

Math Mania originator Amy Ruzicka will return for another year of interesting and quirky puzzlers involving all sorts of different types of mathematics.

Ms. Ruzicka is a math teacher at St. Gabriel's Catholic School in South St. Louis. She provided Math Mania puzzles for Young Saint Louis.com each month during the 2005-06 school year.

Amy Ruzicka

She'll be back for the 2006-07 school year with the first set of fun puzzles on YSL.com's September edition. That goes on-line Thursday, Sept. 1.

Math Mania gives young readers of YSL.com a chance to compete for prizes while not having to worry about grades. Ms. Ruzicka creates math problems that will be fun to figure and without any grading pressure.

But, that doesn't mean the puzzles aren't challenging.

At the start of last year's puzzles, Ms. Ruzicka explained her philosophy about having fun with math. She said kids were more likely to get understanding if they can also have fun with the process.

But, she sets up the Math Mania as a competition. YSL.com will provide the same prize schedule as last year.

For those students who get all the monthly puzzles correct, YSL.com will award up to three $10 Borders book certificates. Each set of puzzles comes with an entry blank that can be printed out and mailed to YSL.com.

Watch for the first entry for in the September edition of this website.

If you'd like to check out how the Math Mania feature works, click on the Past Stories icon at the top of this home page. Then, check any of the months during the 2005-2006 school year.

Each edition includes a new set of puzzles and answers for the previous month's contest.

Be sure to check September, 2006, for the first of the new year's puzzles.