Provided by PWCS
Sounds of families talking and laughing traveled down the hallway as Family Night, an academic games school event, was in full swing at Fred M. Lynn Middle School. In the gymnasium, families rolled dice and played different card games to review basic mathematics skills with students in grades 6-8.
The night kicked off with a read aloud of the mystery book “Linked” by Gordon Korman.
“This is a popular book with our middle school students. We have several copies frequently checked from the library,” said Danielle Dulick, reading specialist at Fred Lynn Middle. Families listened or read along to the first chapter of the book. Each week, a Fred Lynn teacher will record a reading of a chapter of the book with closed captions and release them through the school’s library Canvas page.
“The audiobook and eBook versions are available for free to all students through Sora, which students can access through Clever with their public library card,” said Michelle Stephenson, librarian at Fred Lynn, “When we host library orientations, we help students find these outside resources and do a public library card drive.”
In one of the card games, “30 More or Less,” students and families practiced multiplication and determining if the resulting number was more or less than 30.
The event was a collaborative effort from the whole school. Several staff members assisted with the planning and attended, while some staff cooked prior to the evening to provide a spaghetti dinner for families and students in attendance. In addition, Rebecca Abbott, mathematics teacher and National Junior Honor Society (NJHS) sponsor, volunteered with her students to assemble the resource kits for families. Four students also volunteered their time to support the event and teach families how to play math games.
NJHS student Keily Calderon Roman asked for one of the mathematics kits to take home, saying, “I had so much fun helping families learn how to play the math games during Family Night that I came back the [next morning]to ask for my own game set to take home and enjoy with my family.”
Principal Inmar Romero said, “Our goal at Fred Lynn is to increase parent and community engagement events with intentional outcomes to foster student learning and achievement. We want to empower and share learning strategies for parents to promote reading and math at home.”
