Looking for a fun way for students to practice math, fourth grade teacher, Mrs. Patty Lutton introduced the students to Prodigy and asked them to begin by answering 40 math questions. As an incentive, she offered to provide pizza for lunch after meeting the goal. To Mrs. Lutton’s surprise, the students quickly met this goal, so she increased the quota to 60 math questions and again, pizza for lunch as an incentive. Unbeknownst to Mrs. Lutton, Prodigy keeps track of each school’s progress and ranks the participating schools based on the number of math questions answered. As the students consistently met each challenge issued by Mrs. Lutton, they consistently obtained a first-place ranking through Prodigy. In fact, the students ranked first-place for twenty-three straight weeks! In addition, during the period December 11th through December 25th, fourth-grade students answered 4,480 math questions!
In February, Prodigy announced a math contest called March Mathness. During March Mathness, Prodigy supplied a daily math problem for the students to solve. Students completed the problem as a group and Mrs. Lutton created a post tagging Prodigy and Gerstell Academy. Students met this daily challenge with passion, conviction, and persistence. In early April, Prodigy notified Mrs. Lutton that the class of 2032 won the grand prize, a $250 gift certificate to Domino’s!