DID YOU KNOW? Did you know that attending a FAMILY MATH Class series will:

• Increase our children’s confidence in mathematics • Enhance our competence and confidence in assisting our children in mathematics • Improve our children’s school attendance • Increase our children’s achievement in school, and • Increase the likelihood that our children will attend college?

Come to FAMILY MATH next Tuesday. Dinner will be provided.

couple of her students to assist the families at the stations. Their job would be to clarify directions and ask some extension questions for each station. She recruited four students who were interested in community volunteering. They committed to attending each ses- sion and to work in our classroom once a week to prepare for the sessions. Next, I called the local businesses that I frequented; the pizza parlor, the phone com-

pany, and local stores of national chains of fast food and hardware. They provided me with lots of goodies. I received boxes, pens, pencils, dominoes, rulers, and wooden paint stirrers. I was also given dice and cards, from a friend who frequented a card room. I made sure that I acknowledged all these folks in the next newsletter, which I sent to each of them with a thank you note. On Monday, I asked a high school intern to fill all the boxes with the donated sup-

plies, while the students listened to Claire de Lune and read their books. One by one they started to notice the thirty-three boxes. A student asked, “Are those for us, Ms. Coates?” I replied, “These are for each student that brings their parents to FAMILY MATH tomor- row night.” I replied. They watched as the boxes filled with goodies. Actually, the boxes contained the materials that we would need to complete the games or activities scheduled for the evening. As we prepared for the next evening’s event, I reduced the

quantity of food and drinks and optimistically set out enough materials for fifteen families. As 6:00 p.m. neared, we had five families waiting at the door, at 6:00 we had ten more and at 6:15 there were twenty-five families in the room. Now, I was short of everything! As my partners introduced the first game, I called the pizza place and ordered more pizzas and salad. I made more lemonade. We played Nim games to informally develop number sense

and sharpen our strategy skills; we created line art to examine lines, line segments, and intersections; we talked about feelings about math; and we shared ideas about creating the best home- work environment and experiences for our children. At the end of the evening, some parents stayed to help clean

Loops, whorls, or arches? Mother and daughter examine their fingerprints at the Kid’s Breakfast Club.

up. They folded chairs, took away the garbage, wiped the tables, and, more importantly, said it was great fun and that they would return the following week. And, although we did not have

“prizes” every time we met, families continued to attend. This was my first successful collaboration. I learned that even though I felt that I could

do this myself, things went better by including others. The high school students completed their internships, and received credit for hours spent volunteering. Having the older kids at FM seemed “really cool” to my students. I continued collaborating with the high school for other events, and I reciprocated by being there for them when they held events. Over the years, I have found that every community I work with has many wonderful

resources. The following are examples of successful collaborations in small and large venues.

PAGE 20 • Connect ©SYNERGY LEARNING • 800-769-6199 • MARCH/APRIL 2012

grace dàvila coates