Doodle4Google Contest: What Makes Me … Me

The 2015 Doodle4Google contest opened on October 19, 2015 challenging students K-12 to create a Doodle that incorporates the letters G-o-o-g-l-e. The national winner will receive a $30,000 scholarship and your child’s school will receive a $50,000 grant. Three other winners will receive a $5,000 scholarship and all four winners will go to the Google Headquarters in California to meet the Google Doodlers. Each winner will receive an Android tablet and will have their Doodle printed on a T-Shirt. The grand prize will also receive a Chromebook computer. 48 state winners will receive an Android tablet and the T-Shirt and have their Doodle included in the Google Gallery. 

The grand prize winner will have their Doodle displayed on the Google Website for a day. 

The contest closes on December 7, 2015 and I would like every Mathlete to enter (the attached pdf will guide you through the process). Each week, Mathletes will come to class with their creations and we will help them improve their ideas until late November when they will have to choose their favorite entry.

Since Google is a play on the word googol, a number with a 1 followed by 100 zeros and the Google company was built on mathematical algorithms, the Mathletes surmised that a math theme might be just the thing to win this contest.

The attached pdf also has examples of some of my Doodles (I cannot enter because I am in 48th grade) which incorporate equations, ideas about circles, multiples, and powers. I challenged K-1st grade to complete some of my addition Doodles, 2-4th grade addition and multiplication Doodles, and 5-7th grade multiplication and more difficult equations. Everyone should work on this packet each week and show me their progress. The multiple Doodles are fun where they choose a number like 7 and list the multiples: 7, 14, 21 … around each letter. All types of sequences can be used. 

The best part of the competition is that it fosters the creativity that only children possess. They may use any materials they want. The entry can be submitted by mail or a photograph may be taken (follow the entry instructions carefully). Most children will be entering a pdf or will create their entry right on the entry form. The key is to make it as colorful as possible and have fun with your theme: math, books, culture, geography, sports, or anything that describes  “what makes me … me.”