Family Math Night
By: Kate Campion
Some of us still count on our fingers when calculating the cost of ice cream cones. Not the junior mathematicians at Family Math Night(s)! Two Thursday evenings this Spring, Mrs. Hunn (7th grade teacher), organized and hosted family math nights for the students, parents and siblings of St. John’s.
On April 22nd, Fourth through Eighth graders ciphered and cogitated in each room of the upper hallway. After sharing an opening prayer, students and their parents rotated from room to room, meeting challenge after challenge. With each math problem vanquished, students received stickers toward prizes and snacks. Josh Hunn, math team member and spouse of Mrs. Hunn, chuckled a bit as he observed parents struggling with the kind of problems their children “have to put up with every day.”
On May 6th, the math problems were designed for the First through Third graders, putting parents at ease. Just as on the first night, students tumbled into the lower grade hallway, excited to test their math skills. Denise Culkin said her boys were so eager to calculate, “they came right from baseball practice.”
Rory mentioned his motivation for coming to Family Math Night, “It’s fun and a lot of my friends are here!” Doing math can be social.
Mrs. Hunn noticed that more families came this year as compared to last year, evidencing an undeniable trend, “Math is becoming more popular.”
Not only did families gather and kids kibitz, John Hathway noticed that one of his children “surprised me with deductive reasoning.”
With the help of snacks and prizes (in the auditorium), students and parents
honed their mathematical reasoning skills, accomplished tasks, and fostered
higher order thinking, all while having a really good time. Perhaps you may
wish to join the crowds next year and see who can earn the most
stickers. Better yet, start training this summer with some math skills
sharpeners. Who knows, you may best your child at the six times tables. At
least, some of us may stop counting on our fingers.
