Sanborn students lead the way in online math program
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OSSINEKE -- Sanborn Elementary School currently holds the No. 1 spot in Michigan for most Imagine Math lessons passed.
Imagine Math is a online learning program that builds problem-solving skills and conceptual understanding confidence and proficiency in mathematical skills through a combination of instructional videos, interactive games, and practice exercises.
In February, Alpena Public Schools announced in a news release that Ella White Elementary School third grader Lana Bruning was close to 600 completed Imagine Math lessons, most in the state.
Last month, the district announced that Bruning still led the state in lessons passed and that Alpena students made up eight of the top 20 spots in the state for most lessons passed -- one each from Sanborn, Besser, and Hinks elementary schools, two from Wilson Elementary School and three from Ella White Elementary School.
Additionally, Sanborn fourth graders have the most lessons passed at the school and the district was ranked second in the state with the greatest number of students with 30 or more lessons passed.
Students in grades 3-12 progress through Imagine Math by completing individual lessons.
At the beginning each lesson, a student takes a prequiz to determine their familiarity and ability to understand the topic the leson will cover. If the student passes the prequiz, then they automatically pass the lesson and can move on to the next one. If they fail the prequiz, then they have to continue with the lesson plan.
Once the student completes all the exercises and other material for that lesson, they take another quiz to see if they now understand the topic.
Imagine Math is designed adjust to a student's capabilities. While every student starts at the level corresponding with their grade, if they continue to pass lessons they can reach a point where they take lessons at higher grade levels.
On the other side of the program, teachers can monitor a student's progress and take note of areas where they may be struggling.
"It's not the kind of thing you just turn on," Sanborn Instructional Support Specialist Amy Blumenthal said, explaining the ways that Sanborn implements Imagine Math. "It's important that we make sure students aren't falling behind."
While Imagine Math has online leaderboards that allow students to track their progress, Sanborn also illustrates student achievments with the use of a progress board located its main hallway.
The board is separated into different layers with each segments representing a certain number of lessons passed with the bottom layer being 30 lessons passed and the top layer being 150.
Every school year has a different theme for the board with this year's theme being the rain forest. Once a student passes 30 lessons, they can pick out a paper cutout of a rainforest animal and stick it on the board. For each lesson they pass after that the student can go to the board and stick a single plastic gem on their animal until they have enough to go to the next layer.
Imagine Math runs in conjunction with the district's main mathematics cirriculum. Teachers believe that the use of Imagine Math does improve students' performances in the main math curriculum.
"Data shows that this does great things for (students)," Sanborn fourth grade teacher Laycie Bushey said regarding Imagine Math. "I see it, if you spend time with the program the results prove its effectiveness."
This story has been updated to reflect that Alpena students make up eight of the top 20 spots among Michigan students with the most passed lessons. This information was incorrect in an earlier version of this story.