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PS 255 students skip TV for Family Math Night!

PS 255 students skip TV for Family Math Night!
Photo by Tom Callan

Who says math can’t be fun?

More than 200 students from PS 255 voluntarily skipped a night’s worth of television to crunch numbers at the Homecrest school’s annual Family Math Night on March 1 — a tradition that mixes after-school fun with old-fashioned learning.

The students spent an evening at the school on E. 17th Street near Avenue R working their way through arithmetic problems and playing games with their teachers and dozens of parents who were invited to see first-hand how their children learn math.

“The night shows parents what their children are doing in school,” said PS 255 Principal Linda Singer. “And it makes math fun.”

Younger students at the 830-seat elementary school learned how to count and recognize basic patterns and shapes using building blocks, toys, and even cookies. Older students played bingo and learned how to make budgets with small sums of cash.

All of the students who participated were allowed to skip that night’s homework assignment as a reward.

Teachers said the event helped prove that math applies to the real world, too.

“Math is so important and it’s used every day outside of the classroom,” said Ashley Pecora, who teaches pre-K. “We try to teach the students that math is more than just adding and subtracting and problem solving.”

Reach reporter Daniel Bush at dbush@cnglocal.com or by calling (718) 260-8310. Follow him at twitter.com/dan_bush.