Two teams representing Rivers Edge Elementary School 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 192 points out of a possible 200 in the second of three meets this year, placing third in the nation. In addition, the fourth grade team scored 186 points, finishing fifth nationwide.
Competing in the difficult Blue Division of the WordMasters Challenge™, fourth grader Vidyut and fifth graders Kavin R. and Teddy each earned a perfect score of 20 on the challenge. Nationally, only 41 fourth graders and 53 fifth graders achieved this result. Other students from Rivers Edge Elementary School who achieved outstanding results in the meet include fourth graders Nathianiel, Meri Grace, Sophia and Japtej, and fifth graders Eva, Maheen, Siddanth, Kavin K., Ronith, Lucius, Daniel and Joanna. The students were coached in preparation for the WordMasters Challenge™ by Mrs. Conner and Mrs. Myers.
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.