My First Math Pentathlon National Championships

Being one of the coaches that runs the 2nd-grade division of my school's Math Pentathlon club,  I was able to go to the national competition over the weekend with about 15 of our student members.  It was a bit of a drive all the way to the western Indianapolis suburbs, but it was well worth it, as our little mathletes had fun while putting their skills to use.

Myself and the other 2nd-grade coach met early in the morning to get to Indianapolis in time to see our little guys play their hearts out.  There, we met the school leader of the club (who runs the older student leagues) and our building principal.  What a great way to show support for her students!  While we were there, we were on the floor, (silently) cheering on our kids.  If you've never been there before, it's a VERY large competition with around 500 kids, and you can't really do the screaming for your students when they make a killer move that you would like to.  Here's a panoramic look at the competition: 

I also want to note that this is only one of the gyms completely filled with competitors.  There was another one running just as many (if not more) games at the same time.  At the end of the competition, each student is given an award, whether it is for participating, or if it is for recording a win in all 5 games.  Overall, this was a wonderful experience for our kids to take place in and I highly recommend Math Pentathalon to anyone and everyone looking for an activity for their kids or their school that isn't math-related.