Congratulations to students of YCIS & YWIES Beijing Yizhuang for participating in the Math Kangaroo Competition and achieving excellent results! The Math Kangaroo Competition is the largest global youth math thinking challenge. Its purpose is to use interesting and vivid problems to stimulate students' interest and confidence in learning mathematics, develop mathematical thinking, and train analytical and problem-solving skills.

Math Coordinator, Amanda, stated: "The Math Kangaroo Competition is very entertaining, but it is not easy to win and poses a high challenge to students' scoring skills. We are pleased to see that the students have achieved better results than last year." Jerry, a National Top Gold Award winner, said: "I love Math because many of the questions are very interesting, and I can solve practical issues encountered in my life. I enjoy the process of thinking. Under my influence, my little brother Alex has also developed a passion for Math and achieved a good result by winning the Gold Award in this competition."

The progress students made in this Math Kangaroo Competition cannot be separated from the distinctive Math teaching at YCIS & YWIES. Mathematical problem-solving methods and thinking skills come from daily teaching. For example, when explaining the unit of geometric transformation, teachers guide students to use scissors and paper to personally fold, cut, piece and rotate. Hands-on activities cultivate students' spatial imagination, logical thinking, and inductive reasoning abilities. Such activities occur in YCIS & YWIES’s Math classes all the time. Students are curious and eager to explore Math and are very willing to participate in mental challenges like the Math Kangaroo Competition.

Differentiated instruction is also a feature of YCIS & YWIES’s Math classes. During regular practice, teachers provide competition-related exercises as supplementary learning materials for academically passionate students. Many students are curious and have a desire

to conquer the challenging yet interesting problems. Teachers provide timely feedback and give detailed explanations to address students' confusion.

The Math competition CCA is an effective aid for students to improve their competition skills. Targeted training is provided to various Math competitions for the students in every two grades. Systematic hierarchical teaching allows academically outstanding students to enter a programme that is one level higher than their current grade, meeting the academic needs of different students.

In addition to academic preparation, teachers are always helping students to build confidence. Prior to the competition, teachers provided psychological counseling to students to enable them to approach the entire competition process with a calm mind. Each student can persist until the end, carefully checking their work, just like submitting homework every time.

YCIS & YWIES’s Math classes are full of passion and creativity. We focus on students mastering key skills in the learning process, including critical thinking, open-mindedness, and rigorous thinking. Through Math classes, students can learn how to think critically, constantly ask questions, and answer questions related to their world.

Amanda said, “In the next academic year, we will explore more possibilities in Math classes, especially in terms of integration with other subjects. We will explore comprehensive academic competitions or team projects. Looking forward to a richer experience and better achievements next year.”