By Lois Rogers | Correspondent

It’s true that tracking Santa’s Christmas Eve journey around the world involves a multitude of math skills, but as it turns out, NORAD’s gambit isn’t the only game in town.

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In All Saints Regional Catholic School, Manahawkin, mathematical games have been part of the Christmas tradition for years thanks to a festive event known as “Chris-Math” that combines learning with a whole lot of math-based fun.

As is part of the annual tradition, Chris-Math – held Dec. 20 this year – is a product of the fertile imaginations and skill-sets of the school’s seventh and eighth grade students. As Joanne McKnight, one of All Saints’ math teachers explained it, the youngsters begin work on the project in November, creating math based games with Christmas themes for all students at All Saints, Preschool through sixth grade to enjoy.

“First, they have to come up with a Chris-Math carnival like game concept,” McKnight said. “Then they go to every grade in the building and determine what math skills each of the students are learning.”

From this pre­liminary exploration, the seventh and eighth graders then devise appropriate sets of math questions and problems for “every single grade level,” McKnight said. “They adapt the game to every grade level. It is quite a challenge.”

But that’s not all.

From there, the students go on to create the plan that will transform the school’s All Purpose Room into a “winter wonderland of fun” – creating “stations” for each grade level where the mathgames can be played out with gusto.

The details include creating a necklace for every student to wear that help direct them to the appropriate station where they got to answer questions for their age group. Each time a student arrived at a station, they answer the questions that the seventh and eighth graders have written down on index cards.

They receive a treat at each before moving on to the next station.

This year, the games at the “sta­tions” included “Ginger Jingle” where they were welcomed into a life-sized “gingerbread house” to answer the questions posed. There was a chance to play relay games and snowball soccer.

One game, called “Frosty’s Freezeband,” involved building a two-foot-high snowman as music played off and on. Each time the music stopped, the students were asked to answer a math-based question.

The students who create the games and those who participate in them really look forward to the experience each year, said Julia Kelly and Gabrielle Etzel, who were among the eighth graders planning the event.

“Math is my favorite subject and I love Chris-Math,” said Kelly, 13. “The kids really enjoy the relay racing. They get to race against their friends.”

Etzel, also 13, described the thrill the kids feel when they get a math problem right. “For instance, in sixth grade, you might get a long division problem and if you get it right, they get the knowledge that they won.”

“I really like math. It gives you an opportunity to solve problems. I think that when you get an answer right, you really feel proud of yourself!”