Vienna's Louise Archer Elementary Teams Excel at WordMasters Challenge™

Several teams representing Louise Archer Elementary achieved highest honors in the recent WordMasters Challenge™, a national vocabulary competition. The Archer fifth grade team scored 169 points out of a possible 200 in the first of three meets this year, placing fourth in the nation. In addition, the fourth grade team placed eighth nationwide with a score of 179 points. Finally, the third grade team scored 169 points, to finish in ninth place in the nation. Competing in the very difficult gold division, fourth grader Oliver Singhvi was recognized for achieving outstanding results. The students were coached by fifth grade teachers Kristen Toth, Alysa Ruminski, Tracy Resnick, Sue Rutherford, and Lynn Kinni; fourth grade teachers Christine Fish, Anne Marie Harris, and Lauren Wagner; and third grade teachers Jo Ann Smith, Meghan McGrath, and Katie Savage. 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. It is specifically created for younger students in grades three through eight. Approximately 150,000 students compete in the challenge each year.