Family Math Night at Food Lion

was in full swing Thursday night. Parents and students from  filled the aisles at   The PTA contacted Food Lion with an idea of bringing parents and children together in a real world learning situation. The school wanted to encourage families to teach children math activities in a fun manner. 

The students were signed in and a math worksheet created by Food Lion was handed out. Each grade level had a different math activity. Students walked around the store and completed the activity.  

"I am very excited to get my homework pass," said fourth grader Alexis East. Her math activity consisted of learning how to stay under budget. She had a $20 limit. Her guidelines: pick out different food items from the list, choose no more than two of each item, add it all up (without a calculator), and stay under $20. Store employees and parents could assist the children in finding the items, but not with adding up the items. This lesson was to teach children that we use math in everyday life and on a regular basis.

Rebecca Brock attended the event with her son Trevias Laster.  She was very excited to participate in math night with her son. "Parental involvement with the school and teachers is very important. We can't expect the teachers to completely educate our children, it starts at home. It is important for schools and families to work together as a unit,"  commented Brock.

There were about 100-150 people in attendance. Food Lion was pleased to see such a great turn out. Since the event was such a success, they are planning to work with other local schools to host more family math nights.