Kennewick, Washington

Not pictured: Chenoa Meagher and Randy Hammon

Math for Fun Night

The primary goal for this event was to get 3^rd-5^th grade students and their families together to play math games while enjoying good conversation centered around math. Classroom teachers, including the Life Skills program, selected games that would be played that evening in their rooms. All needed materials for the games were put together in a baggie ready to go. Students who couldn’t attend were given the materials the next day so they could play at home. The intermediate teachers began the event by giving a short presentation on model drawing to familiarize parents with this method of solving word problems.

Everyone enjoyed the teamwork required to make this event a success for the 55 families in attendance. Detailed meeting agendas helped plan the event and stay on track. Everyone helped and worked together from beginning to end…including the clean-up. Outside resources added to the success, including 2^nd Harvest that distributed food to participating families. High school teams of ambassadors came to help with math games and food distribution.

READY! For Kindergarten Plus

READY! For Kindergarten Plus at Washington Elementary School set goals to enable parents to help their children master skills for success in kindergarten. Teachers reported that, previously, by late fall, more than one third of kindergarten students began to fall behind in literacy and math. In this program, parents attended three classes to learn and practice age-appropriate academic and social skills that reinforce what children are learning in preschool. The goal is that by age 5, students will master 26 skills that help them start and stay on grade level when they enter in kindergarten.

Washington teachers wanted to add to and adapt the materials. They attended two workshops to extend the content for four-year-old preschoolers and to make the program applicable to five- and six-year olds in kindergarten. They also aligned all materials with Common Core State Standards to ensure that students would build strong, grade-level skills. All materials for parents were translated into Spanish. Take home bags of all materials were prepared for about 50 parents who participated in the training workshops.

Pre- and post-test scores were collected on a district assessment for 24 children whose parents were in the fall workshop sessions and who used Spanish and English versions of the Ready! For Kindergarten Plus materials with their children. All 24 children showed measurable gains on these tests from fall to spring.

READY! For Kindergarten Plus! is featured in Promising Partnership Practices 2016.