Student Accomplishments

4th Grader Kaito Cavallo earned first place in the National Sumdog Mathematics Competition by answering 999 questions out of 1,000 correctly over a seven-day period. Technically he tied for first, among a field of 5,966 participants. Under the guidance of Mrs. Noga, most students in 1st-5th Grades choose to participate each year as a form of cama raderie, school spirit, and math practice. Students spend time solving problems both during school and at home. Kaito Cavallo, 4th, #1 in the USA Sumdog is an online math program in which students are assessed and then chal lenged in all aspects of mathematics: numbers and operations, measurement, geometry, data/ statistics and algebra. During one day of the contest, Green Vale students answered the most questions correctly, earning first place for the day in the United States! Adetola Babatunde, 4th, Published Author

In addition, Green Vale had six students place in the top 50 nationwide. Combining math speak and her trademark energy, Mrs. Noga simply commented: “INCREDIBLE STATS!” In April 2020, Kaito and his 6th Grade brother Kento (left) each made the finals for the International Math Test sponsored by the Russian School of Mathematics. Also last spring, Kento scored in the top 2% nationwide in the Math Olympiads.

What to do with too many hours at home during quarantine last spring? We heard of many children baking, playing board games and puzzles, learning to enjoy plain old walks with Mom and Dad, and of course — screen time. Adetola Babatunde, in 3rd Grade at the time, took to writing, and eventually published a book. An avid reader, Adetola had finished every book available in the house. So she decided to create her own. To encourage her, and not necessarily believing she would have to follow through, her mother Julie said that if Adetola completed a book, she would look into having it published. Two days later, the manuscript was complete. The story, called Penny’s Sweet Visit to Fairyland, involves a dream-like world of fairies, unicorns, and lots and lots of candy. Julie believes that the book was motivated by a desire to release a lot of internalized stress from the pandemic. The colorful and sweet world she created on the page was the perfect escape. Julie Babatunde says: “I didn’t know the magnitude of publishing the book until people started reaching out to us... everyone is amazed about an 8-year-old author.”

Julie learned the hard way just how expensive it is to self-publish, “but I wanted Adetola to know that I would keep to my word.” Adetola enjoyed the process of explaining her vision for each page, going through several rounds of revisions with an illustrator provided by Tellwell Publishing.

Adetola continues to write stories, but her mother is in no rush to foot the next publishing bill. “Someday I hope to publish it for her. Certainly, she will continue to write as long as she enjoys it and when it’s no longer fun, she can explore something else.”

“My second book is about a girl who wants to be an artist and meets an elf who helps her,” she says.