Ferri makes math fun

Kerry Westerman (left) joins Julie Rodriguez, Katie Rodriquez and Alexander Rodriguez at one of the five stations featured in Ferri Middle School’s Family Math Night.

Leanne DeMarco (left), the assistant principal at Ferri Middle School in Johnston, looks over a computer station manned by seventh grader Giovanni Colon during Tuesday night’s Family Math Night at Ferri. Looking on is sixth grader Maikou Kue and teacher Christine Murphy, who helped coordinate the event.

Lucas Patrone (left), a sixth grader at Ferri, shows Jackie Blakney and Chip Crowley his computer game.

Ferri seventh grader Abigail Heiser and Willo Crawford enjoy a lighter moment during Tuesday evening’s Family Math Night.

Posted Thursday, January 17, 2013 1:00 pm

Getting kids to do math homework is hard enough, so when a crowd of Ferri students and families turned out Tuesday night for the first-ever Family Math Night, Superintendent Dr. Bernard Di Lullo was impressed.

“That says a lot about the parents and teachers to get them motivated,” he said.

More than 100 parents and their children showed up Tuesday evening for the Ferri Family Math Night that was initiated by Assistant Principal Leanne DeMarco.

“Really, this is just about showing parents and students that math can be fun,” said DeMarco, who spent three years as a technical teacher and another eight as a resource teacher before assuming her role as assistant principal. “We have five different stations at each grade level.”

The stations, at which parents and their children spent 15 minutes each, included two computer games, math magic featuring positive and negative integers and coordinating graphics.

Sun Rise photos by Pete Fontaine