Mathnasium welcomes former Rockwall ISD teacher as new Assistant Director

Learning Center offering tutoring for end-of-year assessments, gearing up for summer programs

(ROCKWALL/HEATH, TX – March 21, 2016) As the end of the school year draws near, Mathnasium of Rockwall-Heath has been in full swing prepping students for end-of-the-year testing, while welcoming a brand new member to its team of math tutors.

Melody Kentopp – after retiring from being a Rockwall ISD teacher for 20 years – joined the math tutoring center as its assistant director in early January.

Kentopp’s career within Rockwall ISD saw her teaching 3^rd graders at Pullen Elementary for 13 years before transitioning to 4^th grade and then 5^th grade to teach her favorite subject: math. It was while teaching 4^th grade that Kentopp said she first became acquainted with Mathnasium and its effective tutoring methods. She explains how she began to see real progress from some of her students who were enrolled in the Mathnasium program. According to Kentopp, the students went from reluctant learners to active participators in class.

Located at 1300 East Ralph Hall Parkway Suite #102, Mathnasium of Rockwall-Heath has been offering math instruction and homework help to hundreds of students in the Rockwall-Heath community since 2010. The center offers tutoring both during the school year and throughout the summer months.

Aside from helping Bob and Becky manage the center, Kentopp said she loves getting to spend quality time with individual students.

“It’s what I loved the best about teaching: those one-on-one ‘a-ha’ moments,” she said.

Even as a little girl, Kentopp was always fascinated with numbers and saw math as a big puzzle which constantly involves pulling apart the pieces and putting them back together.

“From the time I was little, I have always been fascinated with numbers and how those puzzle pieces fit,” Kentopp said. “It’s great exercise for your brain.”

Using their own unique formula to teach kids math – known as the Mathnasium Method – Mathnasium has helped to positively impact the way kids learn math for over a decade in more than 600 centers across the country. Through one-on-one tutoring, Mathnasium instructors use this formula to accurately pinpoint exactly what a child knows and what they need to learn in order to customize a learning plan catered specifically to that child’s needs.

Kentopp explained it this way, “Math understanding builds concept upon concept like a tower of Jenga blocks. All might seem fine until the student moves to a higher grade level. The tower needs to grow taller, but a shaky base is revealed. Students who do not have a solid grasp of basic math will reach a point when their math tower begins to crumble. At this point, students often shut down. Being here, I get to be a part of using the Mathnasium Method to identify exactly which pieces are missing and strategically slip in those fundamental blocks to build a solid foundation. Students realize they can do math!”

The Mathnasium Method not only helps kids to master mathematical concepts, but also builds confidence in problem solving and critical thinking, skills which help in a variety of other subjects taught in schools.

“Once the kiddos get that confidence level built up, we see it cross over into other subjects,” Kentopp said. “We have parent after parent tell us that they’re seeing it positively affect their child’s other grades.”

Mathnasium of Rockwall-Heath is currently in the middle of its STAAR Clinics and offering tutoring for the crucial end-of-the-year assessments given by the State of Texas. The learning center is also gearing up for its multiple summer programs, including a Jump Start Program, which provides children with a first look at the upcoming school year’s math curriculum. The Masters Program focuses on a specific skill that may be causing issues for a student. The Algebra Preview is designed to lay a good foundation for algebraic thinking, while the Algebra Review is an excellent refresher for those students entering Algebra 2. A Geometry Preview is also offered, and it introduces the vocabulary of Geometry and covers basic concepts involving two and three dimensional shapes. Mathnasium will also offer a special $100 discount on the first initial assessment during the month of May.