Families filled the halls of Viewmont Elementary recently for the school’s Family Academic Night or FAN Night as an evening designed to help parents experience some of the learning happening in classrooms every day.

About 130 students and family members moved from room to room trying hands-on activities tied to science, math and literacy lessons.

Principal Lia Smith said the evening was created partly in response to parent feedback.

“FAN Night – come be your student’s biggest fan — was created to inform parents more on what’s going on in the classroom and show parents how to help their child if they don’t know how,” she said.

Each grade level hosted its own themed activity and families visited classrooms on their child’s grade level and those which interested them. The mission was to make learning interactive and accessible.

“Our goal is to get kids excited about learning and empower parents to help,” Smith said. “Learning doesn’t have to be sitting down in a lesson, but rather cultivating learning and curiosity.”

Sixth-graders explored solar energy by building solar ovens out of pizza boxes and tin foil. Students received s’more kits to try the ovens at home, which sixth-grader Ollie McDonough did.

“I learned how different materials absorb heat differently and how to reflect the sun on other items for heat,” he said. “The best part was eating the s’mores.”

Ollie enjoyed fun activities in other classrooms, such as building simple instruments and testing engineering ideas.

“There was a kazoo-making station using Popsicle sticks, rubber bands and straws to make a really fun kazoo,” he said. 

Second-grade classrooms took a fairytale theme and turned it into classic STEM challenges. Second-grader Owen Dansie designed a house for the Three Little Pigs and built a boat for the Ugly Duckling.

“I put marbles in it, like 20 marbles, and then a duck on it to see if I could make it float,” he said, adding it took him many attempts. “It took me 20,000 tries, but I got it eventually. I learned to try again and again and don’t give up.”

Kindergartners took part in “game night” activities.

“We got these bags with stuff in them and used them for our activities,” said kindergartner Finnegan Duggar. “It was lots of fun. I liked the big Connect Four game.”

The night included games such as giant Jenga, corn hole and even paper plane challenges to see which planes flew the farthest. 

Other grades explored sound waves, camouflage butterflies, creating leprechaun traps and racing soda cans down the hallway using static electricity.

In the library, there was a session about the school’s social-emotional learning program, goal setting and family games about ways to connect with children and pique their curiosity.

Smith said during the evening, parents learned school goals such as improved attendance and maintaining and improving strong academic performance. Currently, Viewmont averages 80% proficiency in literacy and 75% in math.

“FAN Night helps to strengthen our ties with families and the school,” Smith said. “Learning together makes a big difference.”