NORTH BRUNSWICK – To reinforce lessons learned during the school day, more than 200 students and parents attended Livingston Park Elementary School’s Math Night to practice skills, learn new problem-solving techniques and overall have fun.
“We want our families to be involved in all our students’ learning and we want our students to be able to show their parents what they are learning in school, and apply it to every day life,” Math Coach Lynne Pizzulli said.
The cafeteria, the media center and two classrooms were transformed into learning centers, offering games such as toothpick puzzles, coin riddles, box math and ordering numbers. The teachers created the games based on the Family Math program and the Everyday Math curriculum.
First grader Jared Mondesir, a student in Kerri Wagner’s first grade class, said he enjoys multiplication tables and turnaround facts.
He and his father, Jean, were counting heart-shaped candies in the estimation jar, with Jared guessing 53.
“We truly believe in being involved in our children’s education,” Jean Mondesir said of he and his wife, who is a PTA parent. “This encourages the kids to get involved in school.”
First grader Ruhita Anand, a student in Nicole Bonura’s class, was playing Name That Number with her mother. Receiving supplemental education at JEI Learning Center, Ruhita said, “I learn new things.”
She said it was fun to show her mother the game, and she likes to play more games at home.
Bonura was manning the Chromebook station, where families were shown how to access lessons from home.
“Kids love math, they really do, because a lot of it is game-based. They don’t realize they’re learning,” she said.
Using programs such as ConnectEd, Mathseeds, Prodigy and Extra Math, children are able to work on grade-level appropriate problems.
“In order to really get kids to the next level, it’s really important that what they’re learning in school is reinforced at home. And, it helps parents understand because a lot of math now is different than when they went to school,” Bonura said.
Contact Jennifer Amato at [email protected].