Supermarket shuffle
Try this on for size.
Take a hundred elementary school kids, give them pages of age-appropriate, numbers-based, scavenger hunt-style activities, and then let them loose in a real live functioning grocery store.
Really let that sink in.
And embrace the nightmare.
It's called Math Night. And honestly, it's more of a dream come true than a nightmare. A local grocery store opens its doors to the boys' school, feeds dinner to the families, offers kids goodie bags of all kinds of freebies, gives away gift cards, and then lets the kids burn off energy while tricking them into learning.
That's one heck of a grocery store, y'all.
Oh, it was the absolute chaos you can imagine. I very purposefully dressed the boys in easily recognizable colors, a move that proved priceless over and over. And the poor, annoyed non-PTA people that had chosen the worst possible time to do their weekly grocery shopping. Gritted teeth and smoke signals coming out their ears, air-writing "Seriously??" above their heads. Yep.
But for the kids, it was an adventure. Counting steps around the store, figuring out sales discounts and net pricing, estimating quantity by multiplication, deciding which brand was the better value. Educational and eye-opening too! For my Trey said to me as we left the store, "No wonder it takes you so long to shop for our groceries!"
Finally, someone understands.
Math Night was a blast for all of us. Both boys had several friends there, and it was so neat to see them in their element with their buddies. Aden and his posse, playing confidently and feeling like they owned the world even among much bigger kids. Trey and his guys, enjoying the chaos and trying to act cool at the same time, sticking closer than glue to each other.
Close enough that BFF Aaron decided to join our family for the night.
Yes sirree, the three miles we shuffled and searched through the aisles of the supermarket were wonderful and surprising fun. And we sure hope to do it again next year.
Take a hundred elementary school kids, give them pages of age-appropriate, numbers-based, scavenger hunt-style activities, and then let them loose in a real live functioning grocery store.
Really let that sink in.
And embrace the nightmare.
It's called Math Night. And honestly, it's more of a dream come true than a nightmare. A local grocery store opens its doors to the boys' school, feeds dinner to the families, offers kids goodie bags of all kinds of freebies, gives away gift cards, and then lets the kids burn off energy while tricking them into learning.
That's one heck of a grocery store, y'all.
Oh, it was the absolute chaos you can imagine. I very purposefully dressed the boys in easily recognizable colors, a move that proved priceless over and over. And the poor, annoyed non-PTA people that had chosen the worst possible time to do their weekly grocery shopping. Gritted teeth and smoke signals coming out their ears, air-writing "Seriously??" above their heads. Yep.
But for the kids, it was an adventure. Counting steps around the store, figuring out sales discounts and net pricing, estimating quantity by multiplication, deciding which brand was the better value. Educational and eye-opening too! For my Trey said to me as we left the store, "No wonder it takes you so long to shop for our groceries!"
Finally, someone understands.
Math Night was a blast for all of us. Both boys had several friends there, and it was so neat to see them in their element with their buddies. Aden and his posse, playing confidently and feeling like they owned the world even among much bigger kids. Trey and his guys, enjoying the chaos and trying to act cool at the same time, sticking closer than glue to each other.
Close enough that BFF Aaron decided to join our family for the night.
Yes sirree, the three miles we shuffled and searched through the aisles of the supermarket were wonderful and surprising fun. And we sure hope to do it again next year.
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