Fall 1999
Beware of the Creepy, Crawly Creatures
Parents and children in the Allison and Sanchez communities began arriving early for their respective Family Fun Nights, on September 30 at Allison, and on October 5 at Sanchez. This is the third year ACEE has organized Family Fun Nights (also known as Family Learning Events) for the schools.
Project director Marilyn Fowler and her colleague, Maggie Myers, developed the concept of Family Learning Events six years ago. Fowler and Myers work at the Charles A. Dana Center, which is part of the College of Natural Sciences at The University of Texas at Austin. Since the institution of the first Family Learning Event, they have created six different thematic events. As project director, Fowler attends workshops and conferences throughout the state, encouraging schools to host Family Fun Nights.
Family Fun Nights are casual, inviting gatherings that "follow a theme and present science and math activities through a literacy approach," Fowler said. "These things are valuable to build kids' experiences in math and science, and they are fun. The parents are also learning what math and science looks like in the classroom these days."
The theme for both schools' fall Family Fun Night was "Creepy, Crawly Creatures." Eleven stations offered an opportunity for children and parents to engage in a variety of educational activities together. Each station had instructions written in English and Spanish that children were encouraged to read with the help of their parents.
"Family Fun Nights are important because they encourage parents to take an active part in their children's education," said Gina Ahn, an ACEE member at Sanchez. "Hopefully the parents can take this and start doing science and math activities with their kids at home."
The activities emphasized hands-on learning, encouraging children and parents to use all of their senses—especially sight and touch—to examine bugs and their environments. One station provided students and their parents with an opportunity to grab a live worm from a basin filled with potting soil, and then observe whether the worm crawled faster on sand paper, a wet paper towel, computer paper, or black construction paper.
"The worms moved faster on the black paper because it's like his home," Mercedes Perez, a Sanchez third grader, decided.
Other activities focused on incorporating previous knowledge with creativity. For example, Rosa Delgado (who helped organize the event at Sanchez) supervised a station where families created their own insects using toothpicks and multicolored gumdrops.
"They have a lot of fun using their imaginations and creating their own creatures," Delgado said.
The turnout at both schools was more than expected, and warmly accepted, by ACEE members.
"Family Fun Night was a great experience for [ACEE] members and families," said Rae Jackson, AmeriCorps member and event organizer at Allison. "Personally, I was excited to meet the parents and siblings of Allison students."