Parents and students filed into the Russellville Elementary School cafeteria the night of Feb. 15 for Math “Boot Camp.” The teachers and administrators were decked out in camouflage as they assisted the students and led individual learning stations.

Special education teacher Paula Pounders was lead organizer of the event, according to assistant principal Paula Young, but all of the teachers worked together to make math night happen.

“We couldn’t have done any of this without Mrs. Pounders. She and the other teachers held regular meetings and made the schedule for the night and figured out the best ways to help the students,” Young said.

Young said the purpose of the night was to show the parents how and what the students were learning and also give them tips for how to best help their children with math at home.

Pounders said she was excited for the night. “We have witnessed our students become excited about math. They aren’t afraid to tackle difficult problems and don’t give up easily,” she said. “We want to share this excitement with our parents.”

Families visited six different stations in the elementary school building: QR code math, multiplication race, solve-a-story, math wrap-ups and estimation jars, math technology and Kahoot! and “Can you read in math?”

Some of the stations required technology, like the QR code math. Others involved action, like the multiplication race, in which the students advanced on the course only if they solved equations correctly.

At the estimation jars station, while students were learning and practicing math, they were also competing for a chance to win the jars full of candy. In the end the six winners were Naylin Ambrosio, Jr. Figueroa, Eiby Felipe Tomas, Evan Stephenson, Elizabeth Antonio and Karley Fletcher.

Special guest reader Richard Parker, who often volunteers his time at the school, entertained and interacted with the students in the “Can you read in math?” station, as he read aloud from different math-related books.

“I enjoy the way it engages the children,” Parker said. “It’s wonderful seeing that look in their eyes when it just clicks and you see them learning.”