Two schools recently held their first math nights, and a fun time was had by all.

“We are heading into a new curriculum, a new set of standards for math, so we really wanted to get the word out to parents of what’s different,” said Kayla Pinnick, principal at Scioto Darby Elementary.

Families of students in kindergarten through fifth grade attended 40-minute sessions after school on Jan. 31. Pinnick said the students learned games from their teachers that they can play at home to improve their number sense skills, and visited some websites they can access at home.

Meanwhile, parents will learn about the curriculum changes and watch a video of the kids learning math.

Pinnick said Alton Darby and Beacon elementary schools have already held math nights.

“Each school has its own approach to how they’re delivering this information to parents,” Pinnick said.

According to information from the Hilliard City School District, “Events such as these not only create excitement for sometimes challenging subject matters, but also provide opportunities for the entire family to become engaged in the learning process.” Hundreds of children and parents attend.

Even schools which are not part of the district hold similar events. For example, St. Brendan School held its first family math and science night for children in kindergarten through third grade on Feb. 1.

“Usually it’s either a math or a science night, but it’s not traditionally together,” said Karen Harwell, middle school math teacher and math coordinator at St. Brendan. “We did that so we could integrate math with science in the younger grades. We thought that it would be fun for the parents to also see how they’re integrated together and be able to do some of the activities at home, so they can have fun with math and science at home as well.”

Among the fun activities, Harwell said, is measuring with penny tapes.

“We have 100 pennies taped together, and they’ll measure how many pennies tall they are,” she said.

Harwell said that if students associate math and science with fun, the subjects will be easier for them to learn.