Math Night = Exponential Fun

Say the words ‘math lesson’ to a group of young students, and their response is unlikely to be one of excitement. But Math Night, an event held this week for John Paulding and WL Morse students and their families proved that math could be a lot of fun.

Excited young students flooded the SHHS gym Wednesday as they hopped, skipped, and calculated their way through the annual. Showing off their math skills, K- 2 students played games like Walk the Plank, Subtraction Smash, and Addition Jenga. The children also put their math into action with Go Fish, complete with fishing poles and a hopscotch-like game called Dance, Dance, Math.

"Owen is thrilled to come to school for a nighttime event, so it's a real special occasion when the focus is on the younger kids," said his mother, Liz Santillanes.

Family Math Night has long been a district tradition and is a partner to Literacy Night in the fall. Each event strives to give parents an understanding of what is being taught in the schools and offer tools supporting home-school connection.

“Math night reinforces aspects like math numeracy and spatial awareness,” said Morse Principal Walley. “Plus, it's about letting the kids take charge with fun games they can play with their parents at home.”

In addition to students, parents, and teachers, several SHHS Math Honor Society volunteers were on hand to run stations and engage with families.

"It's fun to see the community come together outside of school hours to do math and see how popular this event is,” said Math Honor Society president Lotte Steinert. “I think it's great to see how many kids came out and how happy they and their parents are to be here."