January 10th, 2011
Goodnight Middle School Family Night features educational fun

Sarah Rice and her dad, Paul, enjoying the hot dog supper at Goodnight Middle School’s Family Night.

STAFF REPORT

The first of four Family Night events at Goodnight Middle School last semester saw a packed house with more than 100 Goodnight students and their parents and siblings. The total number of attendees was more than 250. The evening featured the Language Arts and the Art department.

The Goodnight Ambassadors served a free hot dog supper to the crowd. The National Junior Honor Society took on baby sitting responsibilities for students’ younger siblings in a reserved area to allow the Goodnight students and parents to concentrate on the evening. Goodnight counselors read books to the younger children during a story time, as well.

“Goodnight has always looked for ways to expand its parent and community involvement in our school,” said Goodnight Principal Steve Dow. “The English Language Learners’ department was the first to invite parents to the campus in an effort to involve them in their children’s school life.”

Said Dow, “The Language Arts and Art departments continued this involvement with the Family Night series, which highlighted activities the students had worked on during the year, as well as presenting a chance for parents and teachers to come together in a fun and festive environment.”

Attendees were treated to a look at the “bio poem” the sixth graders and their teachers worked on in class. Seventh grade teachers demonstrated the power of visualization in remembering what is read. Parents and students also assembled a foldable study aid, which now is used for studying prefixes, suffixes and classroom term definitions. There were also laptops set up at a table to show parents beneficial websites to help students with their studies.

Additionally, the art department demonstrated constructing origami and paper hats.

The next Goodnight Middle School Family Night will be held on Feb. 17, highlighting the math and music departments.

Eric Rodriguez and his mom, Norma, work on a project at Family Night.