Logan Elementary Students Learn Math, Reading While Having Fun

held the second of its quarterly math and reading nights on Wednesday. Teachers from every grade developed creative reading and math games themed around space.

“We wanted to create engaging activities for the students to show them that math and reading can be fun,” said Logan Principal Steve Bender.

This first station recreated an experiment performed by Galileo where he disproved Aristotle's theory of gravity by dropping differently weighted objects off of the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

Fifth grade teacher Don Dunphy had the children simultaneously drop a shoe and a crumpled piece of paper from a 6-foot-tall ladder while recording the landing on video. The children would then watch the video, determine which object landed first or if they landed at the same time and then log the data.

“This is a good way to teach the students scientific method,” said Dunphy. “The students try to predict which will land first, and then perform an experiment to either prove or disprove their prediction.”

Third grade teach Rachel Dembeck ran one of the most popular games of the night, the computer game Math Invaders. Similar to the 80's hit arcade game Space Invaders, the students blasted the correct answers with lazers as the invaders decended on the screen.

“The kids love learning this way,” said Dembeck. “They have so much fun playing the game that they don't even realize that they are reviewing their math facts.”

After successfully completing several stations, the students were rewarded for their efforts with Oreo cookies and a container of milk to dunk them in.

“I think that this is a great way to get to know all the teachers, other parents and my daughter's friends. While have some fun and learning,” said Giovanni Ainsworth, a parent.

Principal Bender credits the teachers with planning and organizing the event.

“Our teachers came up with the concept last year as a way for us to bring the school community together in a fun learning environment,” said Bender. “It's their hard work that makes this happen.”

With the entire Baltimore County Public School System tightening their budget, creative events that stimulate parental involvement are becoming more important.

“We have almost 60 more students than we did last year, and that is a challenge.” said Bender. “I really wanted to get as many parents in as we can, so they can see all of the good things we are doing here. All of these activities can be easily recreated in the home setting by the parents.”