The third graders at PS 20, The John Bowne Elementary School in Queens, recently spent a rollicking, fun-filled day doing math. Yes, that’s right, math.
The school was one of the sites of Deloitte LLP’s Impact Day 2012. Deloitte encourages its employees nationwide to set aside their work for a day and give back to the community. This year, over 30 employees volunteered to help run PS 20’s math carnival.
Assistant principal Janice Eagen wrote the proposal to Deloitte. She wanted to have an event that combined academics with good old fashioned fun.
Math staff developer Melanie Reilly and paraprofessional Matthew Amendolaro designed and coordinated the event by incorporating math skills into traditional carnival games. Through these activities, students practiced skills such as computation and problem solving.
The students were thrilled to play the games and show off the math they had learned over the past year. Some of the most popular activities included the bean bag toss, basketball shootout, fishing for facts, and symmetry puzzles. Students won play money which they used to shop for prizes at the end of the carnival.
One student, Nina, said, “I really loved the bean bag toss – I only missed two times and got 800 points!”
“The math carnival helped me with my multiplication, and it was a fun way to learn,” said Jose, another student.
The students were concerned that the carnival was only for third graders – they’ll be in fourth grade next year, and want to make sure they’re invited to the next one.
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