South Shores Counts On Success

South Shores Elementary School in Decatur, Illinois, sponsored an evening of success and celebration focusing on math skills during the 2002-2003 school year. Sue Ridgely, Modern Red SchoolHouse Facilitator, with the support of principal, Linda Zinn, organized a school wide instructional unit that culminated in Family Math Night at the school.

Ms. Ridgely is a retired teacher who works part-time as a consultant at South Shores . While looking at various ways to utilize the Curriculum Development Library (CDL) produced by MRSH, Ridgely went through the entire selection of math units. She examined the standards in each unit, matching them with the Illinois standards at each grade level. The teachers then chose one unit from the CDL per grade to teach in their classrooms. Ridgely printed hard copies of the selected units for each teacher and then stood back to watch the action.

Teachers and students worked on the units for one week, displaying their work samples and products in the hallways of their school. Excitement was high as students were intrigued and challenged by the various activities. There was a scavenger hunt in the hall that had everyone scurrying to locate math shapes-and all agreed they had never measured so many objects in so many different ways before, including their own bodies. For example, did you know that the length of your foot is equal to the distance from your elbow to your armpit? Ask any student at South Shores, and you will get a grin and the advice to "check it out." Even so, the students couldn't decide if the best part was doing the activities themselves or planning the culminating celebration of learning and inviting their parents to participate.

After much planning and preparation, the night arrived-and what a night it was! The February evening may have been chilly, but the events were definitely cool. The grade levels set up different stations for the occasion. These were interactive, and parents were invited not simply to view the student work, but to participate in the many math activities at these stations. Children were thrilled to be able to explain to their families exactly how to perform tasks ranging from tangrams to optical illusions to calendar counting. One clever decision was to forego the usual refreshment tables and turn the different activity stations into munching opportunities by offering snack items as prizes. Mints and fruit roll-ups were highly sought after prizes.

Many parents expressed delight that their sons and daughters were so interested in practicing math skills. Family Math Night was a definite success as school personnel distributed praise and prizes among the more than 400 parents and students who joined them for the evening. Teachers expected the guests to select from the available math stations, but as it turned out, most of them managed to participate in all twelve! The large turnout, coupled with a rise in test scores in mathematics, has the folks at South Shores planning a similar unit for this year that will focus on literacy. Will they experience the same kind of success as with their math unit? They are counting on it!


October 2003