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What better way to spend some time with your child than taking a night to learn from them?
That’s exactly what more than 200 people did for more than two hours on Jan. 13 as parents and students came together to learn new math activities during the Title 1 Family Math Night at Skyview Elementary School in Windsor.
“It was awesome. We had our best turnout ever of any of our math or literacy nights,” Skyview Title 1 teacher Jackie Hertzke said. “We got a lot of great feedback.”
Skyview, the only Title 1 school in the Windsor-Severance Re-4 School District, offers a family night in literacy or math every year.
“Whenever you’re a Title 1 school, you have to have some kind of family night offered,” said Hertzke, who teaches reading, writing and math interventions at Skyview. “At Skyview, we’ve usually alternated between a literacy night and math night. This is probably our second or third math night.”
A Title 1 school is granted state money to provide for students who are most at risk and level the playing field, Hertzke said.
Hertzke said two math experts — K.C. Logan and Linda Giakue — that contract with the district were the presenters at the Title 1 Family Math Night. Logan and Giakue are retired teachers from the Thompson School District.
“The big focus was on wanting to connect those parents and talk about how we are looking at math in new light these days,” said Hertzke, a 1993 Windsor High School graduate. “We are learning different strategies and sharing those with the kids. We wanted to empower parents to come and explore those new ways along with the old ways so that they’re a little bit more connected with what the kids are doing in class.”
Hertzke said the old and traditional way that math was taught in the past was very sequential, but it sometimes did not dive into fully developing the kids’ number sense or being able to manipulate numbers and explore with numbers.
“We have a big push of teachers to prepare students to be able to go out into the work force and use those 21st century skills and be problem solvers and critical thinkers,” Hertzke said. “In math, we’re just looking at different ways that you can solve problems. With Skyview, we are a STEM school, which stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Math, and so that just goes hand in hand with what we’re trying to do. It’s not to get rid of the old, but to embrace the new and let the kids be able to explore and use whichever ways seem fit for them.”
The math night included a pizza dinner, students teaching parents math games and activities, and the parents listening to the two math experts.
“While the guest speaker was talking to the parents, the students were working in their classroom with their teacher learning a new game or activity that involved one of those strategies,” Hertzke said. “After the guest speaking was done, parents were invited to join their students and have the students teach the parents the new game.”
Hertzke said that Skyview loves offering the math and literacy nights.
“I think that parents really enjoy it along with the students because everybody is being able to participate and do something,” Hertzke said. “Teachers are able to give back, parents are learning new information to help them stay connected with their child and then their children are being able to be the teachers to their parents. We need to be involving our parents and community as much as we can to help reach those kids.”
That’s exactly what more than 200 people did for more than two hours on Jan. 13 as parents and students came together to learn new math activities during the Title 1 Family Math Night at Skyview Elementary School in Windsor.
“It was awesome. We had our best turnout ever of any of our math or literacy nights,” Skyview Title 1 teacher Jackie Hertzke said. “We got a lot of great feedback.”
Skyview, the only Title 1 school in the Windsor-Severance Re-4 School District, offers a family night in literacy or math every year.
“Whenever you’re a Title 1 school, you have to have some kind of family night offered,” said Hertzke, who teaches reading, writing and math interventions at Skyview. “At Skyview, we’ve usually alternated between a literacy night and math night. This is probably our second or third math night.”
A Title 1 school is granted state money to provide for students who are most at risk and level the playing field, Hertzke said.
Hertzke said two math experts — K.C. Logan and Linda Giakue — that contract with the district were the presenters at the Title 1 Family Math Night. Logan and Giakue are retired teachers from the Thompson School District.
“The big focus was on wanting to connect those parents and talk about how we are looking at math in new light these days,” said Hertzke, a 1993 Windsor High School graduate. “We are learning different strategies and sharing those with the kids. We wanted to empower parents to come and explore those new ways along with the old ways so that they’re a little bit more connected with what the kids are doing in class.”
Hertzke said the old and traditional way that math was taught in the past was very sequential, but it sometimes did not dive into fully developing the kids’ number sense or being able to manipulate numbers and explore with numbers.
“We have a big push of teachers to prepare students to be able to go out into the work force and use those 21st century skills and be problem solvers and critical thinkers,” Hertzke said. “In math, we’re just looking at different ways that you can solve problems. With Skyview, we are a STEM school, which stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Math, and so that just goes hand in hand with what we’re trying to do. It’s not to get rid of the old, but to embrace the new and let the kids be able to explore and use whichever ways seem fit for them.”
The math night included a pizza dinner, students teaching parents math games and activities, and the parents listening to the two math experts.
“While the guest speaker was talking to the parents, the students were working in their classroom with their teacher learning a new game or activity that involved one of those strategies,” Hertzke said. “After the guest speaking was done, parents were invited to join their students and have the students teach the parents the new game.”
Hertzke said that Skyview loves offering the math and literacy nights.
“I think that parents really enjoy it along with the students because everybody is being able to participate and do something,” Hertzke said. “Teachers are able to give back, parents are learning new information to help them stay connected with their child and then their children are being able to be the teachers to their parents. We need to be involving our parents and community as much as we can to help reach those kids.”
As an extension of the Title 1 Family Math Night at Skyview Elementary School, the school is offering free parent-driven math courses that will be taught by the district’s math experts.
“Those are offered to not only Skyview parents, but any of the (school district’s) elementary parents,” Skyview Title 1 teacher Jackie Hertzke said. “It’s free and it’s also free daycare to students in kindergarten through fifth grade on those nights.” The first course was held Jan. 23, but there are also three other courses being held from 6-7:45 p.m. on Feb. 6, Feb. 27 and March 12 at Skyview, 1000 Stone Mountain Drive, Windsor. “They’re going to be parent-driven courses. People could look at talking about new ways to solve multiplication problems, division problems, looking at fractions and so forth,” Hertzke said. Hertzke said parents do not have to go to every course offered, and they can pick and choose the nights they want to attend. For more information, contact Hertzke at (970) 686-8500. |
