Gorham Middle School SAIL

This year, the 8th-grade students in the SAIL-math program will be focusing on community-based projects, providing them with valuable learning opportunities. They met with Cindy Hazelton, Director of the Gorham Parks and Recreation Department, and learned about the expansion plan for Robie Park. The students have been tasked with designing and researching various play structures for the new playground, a project that will enhance their problem-solving and creative skills. They learned that so much planning needs to go into a new playground to ensure it's easily accessible for everyone. Their design plans will be shared with the Gorham Parks and Recreation Department, and if approved, they will take on fundraising initiatives to purchase some of the equipment for the new playground. 

Bridge STEM Challenge: Students are using the engineering design process to learn about different types of bridges by constructing a bridge that can hold at least 125 grams. Students have a budget of $70,000 to purchase supplies.  Scenario:  The city of Goinnowhere has contracted your engineering company to build them a bridge to cross over a large river to a neighboring city. It is up to you to determine what type of bridge would have the strength for the task and stay within budget.

 SAIL-Math students have been trying out some ancient strategic math games. Students have been challenged to develop their own strategies for winning each game.  Games we've explored so far are... Gomoku Notakto Game of 100 Sprouts Heaps Number Scrabble   SAIL math students are playing Gomoku. This game is similar to tic-tac-toe but is played on a 15x15 board. Players must get exactly five in a row. If their moves get them six in a row, it doesn't count. 

 The Odyssey of the Mind regional competition was held at Biddeford Middle School last Saturday. Gorham had four teams compete, and all four teams blew it out of the park!  The 6th-grade team placed 1st in the technology problem! Our two 7th-grade teams placed 1st and 2nd in the classics problem! 1st-place team (+ Carter B., who couldn't attend the awards ceremony) 2nd place team!  The 4th-grade team placed 1st in the vehicle problem. I'm so proud of all the hard work these teams put into their creative solutions! 

Ultimate Tic-Tac-Toe is a more strategic version of Tic-Tac-Toe that allows for more dynamic and strategic gameplay for participants. This game builds mathematical skills: deductive reasoning, conditional thinking, and the geometric concept of similarity.  Students' minds hop around the board from game to game, trying to anticipate several moves ahead. This sort of thinking sounds very familiar to a chess player. It's essentially  logical deduction  in game form.  Logical deduction is the process of using if-then reasoning to come to conclusions about a scenario.  Students in SAIL math are participating in an Ultimate Tic-Tac-Toe Tournament. Please stay tuned to learn who the Logical Deduction Winner will be! :)

  In mathematics, the four-color theorem, or the four-color map theorem, states that  no more than four colors are required to color the regions of any map so that no two adjacent regions have the same color . During SAIL-math, 7th graders tried to disprove this theory, but they didn't have much luck.