Welcome to the home of Rio Rancho Math Camp

Rio Rancho Math Camp is an intellectually stimulating experience for middle school students who like math, and want to learn advanced topics.

Students are eligible for the 2013 Math Camp if they will be in 5th or 6th grade during the 2012-2013 school year. Our students typically come from Rio Rancho, but any student living in New Mexico may attend. Admission is competitive, so if you'd like to be notified of the application period in January, 2013, please email Andy.Klee@ERPtips.com.

For a list of topics covered during the summer of 2011, click here. We'll be updating our curriculum for this summer to include Beginning Algebra, and even Beginning Calculus.

Math Camp Begins June 4th, 2012

We are excited about the students who will be attending Rio Rancho Math Camp this year. We've got a great group who are in for the math treat of their lives!

Four volunteer teachers, and 18 middle school students will be kicking off the second year of Math Camp on June 4th. We invite parents of future students, or math educators to visit us. Sessions are being held each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for the first three weeks of June.

If you are interested in scheduling a visit, please make arrangements by emailing Andy.Klee@ERPtips.com.

We aim to inspire an appreciation for math that will last a lifetime!

Math can be fun, difficult, abstract, concrete, and just plain crazy at times.

For example, we'll learn how to "prove" that 1=2. Of course, there is a flaw in the proof, but half the fun is watching people when you show them that 1 does equal 2.

We cover a lot of interesting topics. Some of the student faves have been:

  • Seeing how a Klein Bottle is actually an unfolded Mobius Strip.
  • The amazing connections between Pascal's Triangle, the Fibonacci Sequence, and the Golden Rectangle.
  • How dropping a needle on a lined piece of paper eventually gives you the value of Pi.

Who we are

Rio Rancho Math Camp was founded, on a volunteer basis, by Andy Klee, a Rio Rancho resident.

For more on Andy's background and why he started Rio Rancho Math Camp, click here. This summer we're very fortunate to have three additional volunteer teachers, including a retired engineer, a PhD student in Mathematics from UNM, an undergraduate Education and Mathematics student, and a graduate of Rio Rancho Math Camp—an eighth grader who is a great teacher, himself.

Location

The ASK Academy will host the June 2012 session of Rio Rancho Math Camp. The ASK Academy is a public charter high school specializing in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. It is located near Intel, at 4311 Sara Road in Rio Rancho. Map

Math Teachers and Parents

All teachers and parents are welcome to print our lesson plans for use in the classroom and at home. To request print-ready links to the lesson plans, email Andy.Klee@ERPtips.com.

Donations

We are astounded, happy, and humbled by a gift of $500 from Mark Naidoo, of Toronto, Canada. Mark is one of Andy's work associates. His donation will help continue to make Rio Rancho Math Camp tuition free. When we get over the shock, we'll think of an appropriate category to assign to Mark's gift—but so far, we're inclined to announce that Mark is the first of our Fibonacci Level givers. Thank you so much, Mark!

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Registration

To register, send an email to Andy.Klee@Q.com or call Andy at 505-331-4303. We will respond by calling you to discuss your child's interest and answer any questions you have.

Fees

There is a $10 fee to cover the cost of supplies.

Apply for the June 2012 Rio Rancho Math Camp

Schedule

Math Camp is scheduled for Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays from 10:00 am - 11:30 am, for the first three weeks of June, 2012. Dates for each session are:

June 4, 6, 8
June 11, 13, 15
June 18, 20, 22

Eligibility

Students who are in 5th or 6th grade during the 2011-2012 school year are eligible to register. Our students typically come from Rio Rancho, but any student living in New Mexico may attend. Math Camp is aimed at high achieving children who enjoy math.

Fees

There is a no fee to attend the Rio Rancho Math Camp. All we ask is your commitment to making the camp a great experience.

Registration

The application deadline is February 15, 2012.

Email Andy.Klee@ERPtips.com for an application form. 12 students will be admitted for the 2012 season of Rio Rancho Math Camp. You will be notified of the admission decision by February 29th, 2012.

We ask that family vacations be scheduled before or after the Math Camp.

Testimonials

"I love the lessons you present, because, like many of mine, they honor the fact that students are engaged in learning if the activity is challenging and presented in a way that goes from the known to the unknown while avoiding rote."

Colleen McIntyre
Teacher, Challenge Math and Geometry
Seashore Middle Academy


I enjoy it and I wish it was longer than an hour and fifteen minutes. I love it when Math is taught like this!

Devin Miyamoto, Sixth Grade Student

I completely support something that takes a usually complicated topic (math,in this case) and breaks it down with child-friendly vocabulary, examples, and real life applications so that kids aren't completely tuned out at the mere mention of the subject. My son, who likes math, although it's not his favorite, looks forward to attending the session each week. In fact, he made us leave for vacation later than planned, so he wouldn't miss the class the morning of our trip.

Dana Miyamoto, Devin's Mom

About Us

The teacher is a volunteer, Andy Klee. Andy was once an elementary school teacher, and has spent the last 30 years of his career working in the software industry. He has taught math to vocational college students and has been a math tutor in the Rio Rancho public schools.

Andy has been looking for a suitable outlet for his love of math, and Rio Rancho Math Camp is it!

Andy presently runs a software training company. Details are available at www.JDEtips.com and www.ERPtips.com. Andy's wife, Elise, is an acupuncturist. Andy and Elise moved to Rio Rancho from Cedaredge, Colorado in November, 2009.

Topology

Topology is often described as rubber sheet geometry. Topologists study those properties of shapes that remain the same when the shapes or surfaces are bent, stretched, twisted or otherwise deformed. Topology is full of interesting oddities. For example, the object pictured on the left—does it have an inside and an outside, or not?

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Beginning Geometry

With a compass, a straightedge, and a protractor you can do some pretty amazing geometry. Bisecting a line segment, and bisecting an angle are just the basics. You can also figure out how to inscribe a circle inside a triangle. We'll cover the basics of Geometry with hands on lab activities.

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Pythagorean Theorem plus Fermat's Last Theorem

You probably know that for a right triangle, a2 + b2 = c2. And you can probably figure out that the long side (the hypotenuse) of the triangle on the left is 5 units long. Can you find the next Pythagorean Triple—three whole numbers that work like 3, 4, 5? And find out why Fermat's Last Theorem baffled mathematicians for 300 years, until Andrew Wiles finally proved it—after working on it for seven years!

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Pi

You already know that Pi has something to do with circles, right? Did you know that you can actually calculate the value of Pi yourself? We'll show you several ways to calculate Pi, including a method that will amaze you—repeatedly dropping a needle on a sheet of lined paper.

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Perimeter/Area/Volume

Graph paper, a scissors, scotch tape, and a flash of inspiration is all it takes to figure out the area of a parallelogram. We'll cover squares, rectangles, triangles, and end up figuring out the area of a circle. Here's a hint: Pie are squared. And we always thought Pie are round!

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Prime Numbers

If you know the first few prime numbers you'll be able to simplify almost any fraction quickly. Who was Eratosthenes, and what was his Sieve all about? And did you know that any even number is the sum of two primes? Find out all this and more as we take a deep dive into prime numbers.

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Number Patterns

This topic explores amazing numerical patterns, including Fibonacci numbers. Fibonacci numbers follow the integer sequence 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, ... Can you see the pattern and predict what Fibonacci number comes after 55?

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Logic Puzzles

Do you like puzzles? Here are a few of our favorites. They test your ability to think logically, think several steps ahead, and work in a team. All of these are valuable skills when it comes to doing well in Math. Enjoy!

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Probability

Probability is a way of expressing knowledge or belief that an event will occur or has occurred. It is used extensively in such areas of study as mathematics, statistics, finance, science, artificial intelligence/machine learning and philosophy to draw conclusions about the likelihood of potential events. (This topic is currently not online.)

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