Dunsmuir Elementary School celebrated this special day with a pep rally and then in the evening after school, the students brought their parents to a fun dinner of pizza, salad, and pi-shaped cookies (instead of pie) served in the cafeteria, and then everyone participated in the Family Math Night in the gymnasium.
Pi, the never-ending number was used in all the math activities during the Family Math Night. Even the dinner tables were decorated by the students who built chains with math that they learned in class.
Regardless of the nasty stormy weather, the turnout was good.
Each table in the gym held hands-on activities for kids to enjoy and learn in a fun way. There were raffle prizes, and swag bags were given out that contained math card games, bracelets, and math books for parents to help develop math skills at home with their children.
Playing bingo with dice and adding up or breaking down the numbers had kindergartener Zeke Jacobson doing math and saying that he can add and subtract much larger numbers.
Students had fun in the math scavenger hunt, making constellations, playing in the photo booth, and creating honeycombs while learning about hexagons.
1st grader, Tessie Geranion, explains that she learned about a closed two-dimensional polygon with six sides.
7th grader, Caedyn Morrison, worked on the part of a never-ending pattern called the collaborative Sierpinski pyramid.
6th grader, Nevaeh McCloud, cut out a snowflake pattern that will become part of a quilt.
Mya Bartoo, a 2nd grader, learned to make symmetry images with pattern blocks. The children showed their knowledge and skills to their parents throughout the evening’s event.
Superintendent/Principal Susan Keeler said, “The ideas and activities came from Familymathnight.org in San Luis Obispo. Videos and kits that focus on helping kids gain confidence in math and that it is not that scary. This helps take the fear away making it fun. Math is everywhere in our lives, not just in a book.”
One parent, Anna Syrrist, said, “This is a great event. It is amazing that they were able to incorporate all ages of kids to participate together and learn.”
Assistant Principal Mandy Leahy who was helping children make the honeycombs, shows how a tessellated pattern maximizes honey storage for bees. She says, “Math is everywhere.”
There are tables displaying cacti and gems among other natural patterns found showing how math is involved. Each class had a scrabble board for the students to sign in on.
Later, they added up their scores to see which class has the highest score. It seemed that every student ended up being a winner.
