Throughout March, Amador Valley’s school library hosts the March Mathness program. AV Librarian Erik Scherer emails out a logic or practical math puzzle each day for students to solve. The problems encourage groupwork and students can submit their solutions for the chance of winning a prize. The program began last year, and both students and staff, not limited to Amador, enjoy the daily activities.
“There’s a colleague I follow on Twitter, Suzanne Sannwald, and she collaborated with a math specialist at her district and developed the signage for March Mathness. I really liked that idea of sharing math. And March is a month where we have pi day, so it’s also a good time celebrate math in everyday environments,” said Scherer.
Given how the program’s inaugural run was successful last March, numerous students also looked forward to this year’s new puzzles. However, the planning and effort put into last year’s success actually stretches much further back.
“During the past couple of years, I had many informal conversations with our district’s math curriculum specialist Bryan Meyer about ways our school library program might collaborate with math teachers. March Mathness was born from those conversations,” said Suzanne Sannwald, West Hills High School Librarian.
By creating a month-long chain of brain-teasers, Sannwald aimed to express how libraries are a place of learning for any and all subjects.
“People often think about libraries in terms of books for subjects like English, but Teacher Librarians support all areas of learning. March Mathness [is] a fun way for us to promote mathematical thinking,” said Sannwald.
Now, March Mathness gathers different students together at school libraries to work together on puzzles. The activities not only push creative logic, but also gives students something new to connect and bond over.
“I’ve participated in Marth Mathness a couple times last year. And this year, I’ve kept a streak going to play every day. I love arriving at fun solutions and solving the puzzles with my friends,” said James Ren (‘24).
Well-received by both staff and students, many hope the yearly program will continue and grow into a lively tradition.
“I just like watching students have fun with math and enjoy answering the questions. It’s nice to see them work collaboratively and creatively to solve the problems,” said Scherer.
