Every Tuesday at 7 a.m., about 10 fifth-graders come to school early to do math — voluntarily. They even take some home for fun.

These high-level achievers have qualified to participate in the Math Masters program at Banfield Elementary School.

“Math Masters is a program that is intended to challenge the students and really push their skills,” coach Michael Meeker said.

All fifth-graders take a math test; the top students qualify for participation in the voluntary competition.

Meeker’s group is in their 17th week of practice, which started before winter break. The students are preparing for the contest April 24, slated for Banfield.

“Some of the concepts and some of the skills they are learning I am teaching them for the first time,” Meeker said.

The competition will consist of three rounds.

In the Fact Drill Round, students have five minutes to answer 75 facts, which include multiplication and division.

During the Individual Round, they must answer eight questions in 10 minutes.

In the Team Round, in which they are split into two teams, they have 15 minutes to tackle 10 problems.

Calculators are allowed in the Individual and Team rounds.

Meeker, who is in his first year of teaching second grade at Banfield, said he is now giving Math Masters participants homework assignments.

“It’s really meant to give them more practice,” Meeker said. “They are not graded on any part of Math Masters. It’s an individual choice.”

According to Austin-based Math Masters of Minnesota, more than 4,000 teams and individuals from public, private and home schools gathered at 32 sites around the state in March and May of 2008.

The sixth grade competition was held last month at Ellis Middle School.