
DATE: Sunday, September 14, 1997            TAG: 9709120265

SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN             PAGE: 06   EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: COVER STORY 

SOURCE: BY PHYLLIS SPEIDELL, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:   62 lines

STUDENTS' PROBLEMS A PUBLISHED SUCCESSFOUR SUFFOLK CHILDREN WHO SUBMITTED MATH PROBLEMS TO A PUBLISHING COMPANY ARE AMONG 75 FEATURED IN THE ``MATH IN MY WORLD'' TEXTBOOKS.

ADDING CREATIVITY to a solid understanding of mathematics equaled a featured spot in a new textbook series for four Suffolk youngsters.

The new ``Math in my World'' mathematics program published by The McGraw Hill Companies includes sample problems written by elementary students from across the country.

The Suffolk students, all from Elephant's Fork Elementary, were among the 75 students who were chosen from 1,500 entries.

Photos of Gerica Goodman, a second grader, Tearna Powell, a third grader, and Gary Jones and Kenya Stith, who will both be sixth graders at John F. Kennedy Middle School, are printed next to their sample problems, adding an unusually personal touch to the new texts.

``The goal of the new program is to bring math into a child's world,'' Rickey Byrd, a national marketing manager for the publisher, said.

Byrd, a former Suffolk resident who graduated from John F. Kennedy High School in 1976, said that the contributing schools were chosen to bring a demographic balance to the series which is marketed nationally as well as to American schools overseas.

A year ago McGraw Hill sent sample problems to Elephant's Fork Elementary for field testing and invited students there to submit their own samples.

``Because the sample problems were used unedited to make them more real to the children, we were looking for real life problems that were age appropriate, creative, and demonstrated an understanding of mathematics,'' he said.

Being selected for publication earned each of the four students a package of teaching materials for their classroom and their own copy of the text.

School Board Chairman Mark Croston, who presented the textbooks to the students, joked that he might also present one to the textbook selection committee.

The sample problems from Suffolk students ranged from a simple counting problem to more complex word problems.

Kenya used an almanac as a resource to create a problem focusing on using decimals and comparing the annual rainfall in several major U.S. cities.

Kenya was surprised but thrilled when her problem was selected for publication.

``Math is the subject I like least,'' she said with a grin. ILLUSTRATION: Graphics

Courtesy of THE MCGRAW HILL COMPANIES

Tearna Powell and the other three students were honored at a recent

Suffolk school board meeting.

Gary Jones' problem is part of a milti-step problem in a chapter on

fractions and probability in the textbook.

Gerica Goodman used red and blue hearts to illustrate this problem

included in the new ``Math in My World'' book, which misspelled

Gerica's first name. The four Suffolk students, all from Elephant's