RA STUDENTS POST IMPRESSIVE WORDMASTERS CHALLENGE™ FINISHES
Several teams representing Ridgefield Academy achieved Highest Honors in the recent WordMasters Challenge™—a national vocabulary competition involving nearly 125,000 students annually. The fifth grade team scored an impressive 168 points out of a possible 200 in the first of three meets this year, placing fourth in the nation. In addition, the seventh grade team scored 163 points to finish ninth nationwide, and the eight grade team earned a tenth place finish with 151 points.
Competing in the difficult Blue Division of the WordMasters Challenge™, sixth grade students Rylee S., Marilyn S. and Olivia Y., and seventh grade student Linnea S. each earned a perfect score of 20 on the challenge. Nationally, only 26 sixth graders and 4 seventh graders achieved this result. Other students from Ridgefield Academy who achieved outstanding results in the meet include seventh grader Aidan O. and eighth grader Béibhinn G. The students were coached in preparation for the WordMasters Challenge™ by teachers Stacy Hynes, Patricia Carrington, and Heidi Ryan.
Competing in the difficult Blue Division of the WordMasters Challenge™, sixth grade students Rylee S., Marilyn S. and Olivia Y., and seventh grade student Linnea S. each earned a perfect score of 20 on the challenge. Nationally, only 26 sixth graders and 4 seventh graders achieved this result. Other students from Ridgefield Academy who achieved outstanding results in the meet include seventh grader Aidan O. and eighth grader Béibhinn G. The students were coached in preparation for the WordMasters Challenge™ by teachers Stacy Hynes, Patricia Carrington, and Heidi Ryan.
The WordMasters Challenge™ is an exercise in critical thinking that first encourages students to become familiar with a set of interesting new words (considerably harder than grade level), and then challenges them to use those words to complete analogies expressing various kinds of logical relationships. Working to solve the analogies helps students learn to think both analytically and metaphorically. Although most vocabulary enrichment and analogy-solving programs are designed for use by high school students, WordMasters Challenge™ materials have been specifically created for younger students in grades three through eight. They are particularly well suited for children who are motivated by the challenge of learning new words and enjoy the logical puzzles posed by analogies.
The WordMasters Challenge™ program is administered by a company based in New Jersey which is dedicated to inspiring high achievement in American schools. Further information is available at the company’s website: http://www.wordmasterschallenge.com.
