Minecraft Math Night

​                                                                    By Hampton Herald Staff
​      Students and parents attended Hampton's first Minecraft-themed Math Night on Tuesday, November 12th from 6:15 to 7:30.
     When families arrived in the front lobby, they went to different stations, either primary or intermediate, to sign in and receive their tickets to pre-selected activities.  Students and parents chose which activity they wanted to attend first and then used their tickets to find the room number. Primary students worked independently for one station and with a parent for another station while intermediate students completed both stations independently while parents attended information sessions.
     One intermediate station focused on solving word problems. When students arrived, they received a packet of word problems to solve. Once students correctly answered five of their questions, they were able to move onto an additional set. Another intermediate station was styled like an escape room, where students had to work as a team to solve equations in order to escape the Emoji Pumpkin Patch.
During the intermediate parent presentation, Mr. Wade, a fourth-grade teacher, explained to parents why fourth-grade students use various strategies, like the area model and arrays, to solve multiplication problems.
     “I was trying to show the parents the power of visuals and models,” said Mr. Wade.  The fourth-grade math curriculum is heavily focused on place value and mental math strategies.  The students get lots of exposure to various strategies and practice mentally computing equations.   “You guys [fifth graders] can multiply in your heads better than most of us,” Mr. Wade said.
     Students seemed to enjoy participating in the stations at math night. Sara S., a fourth-grade student, enjoyed the variety of activities.
     “I did an escape room and I also did something where you went to different cards in the room and figured out the problems,” said Sara S.  “I liked that all the activities were different and each had something special about them.”
     Since this year’s math night was a success, hopefully there will be plans for another math night in the future.