Learn Storm program comes to Idaho

Students at Pocatello’s Grace Lutheran School have a new way to learn math. The Learn Storm project kicked off Tuesday as a way to help students with Common Core.

It’s a part of Khan Academy and they only chose four regions to participate: Chicago, the San Francisco Bay area, Ireland and Idaho.

They chose Idaho for a specific reason.

“Khan Academy has been used across the state of Idaho for many, many years and we actually have the largest per capita usage of Khan Academy right here in the U.S. in Idaho,” said Mia Lincoln, outreach coordinator for Learn Storm. “So it seemed like a great place to bring this program.”

Learn Storm is a free online program for students in third through 12th grade. It runs for nine weeks, ending on April 5.

The goal is to improve math skills while teaching the kids what it means to grow.

Their key values are hustle, perseverance and grit.

They even brought in athletes from ISU to tell the kids how hard work can pay off.

The athletes were just as excited as the kids.

“One of the coolest things about the whole experience is getting to see the excitement and joy of kids again,” said Micah Breland, an ISU football player. “And just to be able to do that with a school-related topic is just such an encouraging feeling.”

Their main goal for the kickoff Tuesday was to get kids excited about learning math. There are incentives for individuals and schools performing well on the online rankings.

The Learn Storm program is sponsored by the Albertson Family Foundation.