Janelle Christie
Students at the Liberty Learning Center in Tower Isle, St Mary, were engaged in an activity-filled Math Day Celebration at their school on Monday, March 20.
The day’s event included mathematics based games which are consistent with the school’s curriculum. Each group of student was given a particular topic on which to prepare exhibits.
Kindergarten one was assigned shapes, while kindergarten two and three were given fractions and the clock respectively. For the Preparatory Department, grade one worked under the theme “Playing with numbers”, grade two worked with money and grade three did measurement.
Worksheets were also issued to the students based on the topics they were working with.
The aim of the event was to change people’s perception of mathematics being a challenging subject. School principal Ocean Brent-Harris told The North Coast Times that even some adults think of math negatively and it is for that reason that the school has decided to “put math in a positive and fun light so that persons can look at math as not just being tedious.”
The event was open for other persons to attend. Invitations were sent out to the parents and guardians of the students prior to the day. Persons were not only invited to view displays but were also eligible to participate in the day’s activities.
Persons who attended agreed that the celebration was a good initiative taken on by the school and the parents were elated to see the work of their children being displayed.
Ms Brent-Harris told The Times that they did not face any challenges in preparing for this day. She says preparing was “really fun” as all the children are into art. She added that the school has an art club and the students incorporated some of their artistic talents into the math projects. She went on further to credit the parents who she says are “really cooperative and supportive”. Many of them were enthusiastic about the proceedings and volunteered to purchase tokens for students who participated in activities.
“The projects included models of different things so the children had a lot of fun preparing those and the worksheets were prepared by the teachers. It wasn’t hard but it was a lot of work,” Ms Brent-Harris said.
Members of staff and students were busy decorating the area from the day before. The final details were added on Monday, by teachers who went to the school from as early as 6 am to complete their work.
Funding for the Math Day Celebration came from parents who are business owners. Sponsorship came from companies such as Total Gas Station in Ocho Rios, Come See Jamaica Tours, Kitchen Plus, and the Liberty Learning Center Portland branch.
The idea for the celebration came about at the Portland branch after a number of students expressed their dislike for math. This then led teachers to add ‘fun activities’ to mathematics so that the students would not only learn in a classroom setting, but by other interactive exercises.
By adding these exercises, management believes that students will not be bored by math and will see it as being less challenging.
This celebration has been a part of the school’s calendar of events, since its inception in 2013.
Ms Brent Harris says that since the launch of the celebration, there has been growth each year as they try to add something new annually. When the celebration started four years ago, the school did not make the event an all day celebration. They have, however, worked toward making it a whole day affair and have been successful.
The celebration also stretches across to the other branch of the Liberty Learning Center. It is, however, held on a different day to interchange teachers who render assistance.
A celebration is held for other subjects or any other topic which is relevant to the students.
According to Ms Brent-Harris, the celebration will benefit the students “in quite a number of ways, pertaining to their development, especially socially because they have to stand up in front of their own displays and explain so that’s helping with their public speaking and a lot of students are not very bold so in order for them not to be too shy, we give them these little opportunities to speak in front of a crowd”. She explained that even the one-year-olds have to speak about their displays. By outlining the materials and shapes they use to make their exhibits. She also said the celebration is a good idea “because it helps them (the students) to look at things in a hands-on way. We like when the children learn through discovering so most of the stuff are actually children’s work. We find that when they do things for themselves it helps with their memory.”
Learning took place in the various age groups as each class was introduced to another class’ topic in order to become au fait with it.
The students were just as enthusiastic about the celebration as the parents were. Three of these students took the time out to share their experiences with The Times.
Rhyanna Badoo-Grant said, “I love Math Day because I learn a lot of things from the teachers. I learn how to divide, I know how to do centimeters, millimeters but I am so happy and I can’t wait to learn about decimeters”. Malique Archambault, was just as enthralled about the displays and said, “I learnt from Math Day how to do decimeters, meters and a lot more , like multiplying by tens” .
“I learnt that we can do anything if we put our mind to it, I learn how to subtract, add, divide, multiply and do units of measurement from these charts and displays in the school,” another student, Jayden Trey Cruickshank said.
