Regina Young’s seventh grade math students at Iola Middle School have a chance to earn some extra credit this year — and it comes with pizza.
Young is beginning a series of bi-monthly dates for the students and their parents from 6 to 8 p.m. in the Iola Middle School Commons.
The math and meal nights run every other Wednesday beginning tomorrow through Oct. 21.
“We’re trying to provide an opportunity for parents to interact with their child,” Young said.
“We’ve seen through the years less and less involvement between parents and children of this age group,” she added. “The district has been looking of late at drop out rates and one thing prevalent among children who drop out is a lack of parental involvement,” Young said.
Not pointing any fingers, Young said, “I think parent are working as many hours as they can to make ends meet,” she said, “and they come home tired.”
These occasional events will offer families a chance to spend some time together while reinforcing important math skills, she said.
The students will be “reviewing math skills necessary for the state assessments,” Young said. In addition, the evenings will act as a brief refresher for adults, who will find the math useful in their daily lives, she said. Concepts like proportion, ratios, one and two-step equations, area, angles and volume will be focal points of the evenings.
For those parents unfamiliar with the theories, the activity will offer them a chance to learn with their children so they can help with homework, Young said. And, she said, “Students get extra credit and an opportunity to build a relationship with their parent.” The evenings will be preceded by a take-home math activity that parents and students are to complete together.
For those parents unable to attend, volunteers have offered to go to the math/meal program with students, Young said. Call the school at 365-4785 to reserve a spot.
SAFE BASE is providing the meals.
9/4/09
No comments:
Post a Comment