School: Teays Valley Christian School
ACSI Region: Ohio River Valley
Location: Scott Depot, WV
Program Objectives : to offer the opportunity for children to experience math activities and concepts in a risk-free, fun environment; (2) to afford parents the chance to gain insight into the mathematics curriculum the school uses; and (3) to equip parents with resources to help their student with math at home
Summary of Program
Teays Valley Christian School held the first annual Math Night this fall for the elementary students. We invited families to come have fun at our Old-Fashioned “Pi” Supper, where we would eat pizza and pie. We ate pie—with an e—and also learned about the mathematical value pi—without an e!
Because what their environment looks like is important to children, we want to let them have wonderful visual treats. As families walked into the cafeteria to get their pizza, teachers who were dressed in old-fashioned costumes greeted them. The multipurpose room was decorated like an old-time general store. Signs that were posted on the walls instructed customers to order their pizza and pie by the “fraction”—one-eighth of a pie constituted one slice! Older children worked as cashiers, so they had a real-life experience of making change. One of the most difficult parts of the evening was choosing which piece of delicious pie to eat!
What we had in store for the attendees that evening after dinner was a diverse set of stations around the school; teachers of kindergarten through grade 6 designed math-related games and activities for the children. The students were not limited in terms of age-appropriate activities but could visit any of the stations that were offered, provided that the students each signed up to visit only three stations during the evening. Secondary students offered assistance as a community service project, shepherding students from one activity to the next. The clock in the gymnasium sounded every 15 minutes to signal the changing of the stations.
An origami activity (on various ability levels) was a good choice for many of the children. This was an enjoyable activity for our art teacher as well, and there was little mess involved.
One of the stations involved graphing M&M’s. Children received small packages of candy, estimated the number of pieces inside the bag, and learned how to graph the different-colored candies when the bags were opened. Participants received careful instructions not to eat their “data points” until after they had written down all their information!
Another station involved estimating and graphing on a more difficult level. A poster of teachers’ pictures was displayed, and the students estimated the ages of the teachers and then plotted the estimations on a table.
Other stations included a beanbag toss, which challenged students to add or multiply—depending on their skill level—the number of points made in the game, and a quiet cryptogram game in which letters of the alphabet had been assigned money amounts. Students added up the “value” of their name or how much their school name was worth. At another station, students seeking more action could take turns estimating the number of foul shots they thought they could make, and then they compared in percentages the number of their actual baskets.
Students could play “Metric-opoly” by answering metric system questions to make progress on the makeshift Monopoly board, or they could enter a castle—complete with a drawbridge— and learn about the concept of pi by listening to a story called Sir Cumference and the Dragon of Pi: A Math Adventure by Cindy Neuschwander (Watertown, MA: Charlesbridge Publishing, 1999). Students tried their hand at finding and measuring different circle shapes found in the castle.
Students left with a new understanding—that math can be fun. Parents left with valuable resources that will help them develop their child’s math skills to a greater level. One child was overheard saying, “I wish math class was like this every day!”
Math Night 9.4