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school news
Fourth Grader Makes Mathematical Discovery
By studying patterns, fourth grader Baelee Glasgow discovered a new approach for multiplying by six.
While completing an assignment for math class—a follow-up to working with manipulatives, patterns and number games—Calhoun fourth grader Baelee Glasgow discovered an amazing new formula for multiplying by six. The approach, dubbed “The Way of
Baelee” by her classmates, captivated her math teacher, Austin Applegate, who was wowed by her startling discovery. Baelee’s classmates and several Calhoun math teachers tested the method with a variety of integers, and were amazed that it worked every time—no matter how many integers were used. Here’s how it works: Let’s say we want to multiply a number by 6. For our example, we will use 8. Take half of that number— in this case, half of 8 is 4—and multiply by 10 to get 40. Then, add the number we started with (8) to the result of the first step—40; we get 48 (and yes, 6 x 8 = 48!). “Baelee’s discovery is a great example of creating new knowledge,” enthuses Austin. “It’s about inventing a new way of looking at multiplication. And it is such a simple, elegant trick that it makes you say, ‘What a great idea; why didn’t I think of that?’”
Español Across Ages Arno Sugarman ’18 was one of several Upper Schoolers who visited a class of Little Calhouners this spring, to read his original illustrated children’s story, written in Priscilla Marrero’s Spanish II class. Priscilla hopes to use the books with Calhoun’s kindergarteners and first graders, who she’ll be teaching next year!
Claire Annino ’20 Wins Scholastic Gold; Five Others Garner Regional Awards Kudos to Claire Annino ’20, who was awarded a Gold Medal in this year’s national Scholastic Art & Writing Award competition for her short story “Give Me a Reason”; this is the second consecutive year that Claire has been awarded a Gold Medal. The eighth grade author earned a spot in the national competition this year when she won a Gold Key in the New York City regional contest. Two other Calhoun students who received regional Gold Keys were also entered into the prestigious national competition: Lucia Prinzi ’19, in the short story category, and Delia Pelli-Walbert ’16, in the drawing/illustration category. Other Calhoun students received Honorable Mentions at the NYC regional level: Josca Zahn ’20, short story and poetry; Lindsay Jackman ’18, short story; and John Michael McCann ’17, poetry. Besides her Gold Key in the NYC regionals, Claire also won two Silver Keys and one Honorable Mention for short stories. In all, our six Calhoun students garnered a total of 10 awards for works selected from more than 10,000 entries submitted by NYC public and independent school students in seventh through twelfth grades. The Scholastic Art & Writing competition, established in 1923, is the most prestigious of its kind for secondary school students. Past winners include such artists and writers as Andy Warhol, Sylvia Plath, Truman Capote, Stephen King and Lena Dunham.
Claire Annino ’20 (far right), winner of a Gold Medal in the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards national competition, with her fellow NYC regional award winners (L-R) Delia Pelli-Walbert ’16, John Michael McCann ’17, Lindsay Jackman ’18 and Josca Zahn ’20 [Missing from photo: Lucia Prinzi ‘19]
Calhoun Chronicle