EDUCATION
Clifton Ridge Middle School held their Great Math and Science event April 27 to engage families and help students prepare for GMAS, the Georgia Milestones Assessment System.
According to its website, GMAS is designed to provide information about how well students are mastering the state-adopted content standards in the core content areas of English language arts, mathematics, science and social studies.
Chelsey Asbell, a teacher at Clifton Ridge Middle School, said she was excited for the Great Math and Science event and to help students prepare for the milestones in a fun way.
“We have events throughout the year to help engage our families, and it’s something we’ve focused on a lot this year,” she said. “For our spring event we decided to have a Great Math and Science event to stand for GMAS since they were taking those. We wanted to get parents here to help them learn about tools they can use to help their children do better on the GMAS.”
Asbell said they wanted to include the math and science teachers in the Great Math and Science event, so they engaged in math and science activities throughout the evening. She said the students were excited, and she hopes the parents got tools to help their children at home.
“For a long time here at Clifton Ridge we have tried to engage our families. It’s hard to get our families engaged here sometimes, so we really wanted to focus on bringing in the community. When families in the community are involved with the schools, academic achievement is better,” she said.
Jaylah Welton, an eighth-grade student at Clifton Ridge Middle School, said she felt she learned some things from the Great Math and Science event to help her with the GMAS and for high school. She said she enjoys math and solving problems. She said she’d like to one day have a career in sports medicine, because she plays basketball and likes helping people out.
“We got to help make butter, do electrical circuits and fun stuff like that. I learned it’s hard to make butter,” Welton said. “This event was important, because some people get to experience different things they have never done before that will help them learn.”
The teacher said students in the eighth grade have to take all four milestones, so it’s very important for them to pass math, science, social studies and English language arts. She said they had several math activities to help the students at the event, such as rolling dice and a pie walk. She said they had science activities like an electric circuit table and building a biome.
“The students looked forward to the Great Math and Science Night. Guests got a swag bag to help with GMAS, such as pens, pencils, a stress ball, and tips for testing. I really hope these students choose a career in math or science someday. We want to prepare them here at Clifton Ridge, so they can choose a pathway in high school,” the teacher said.
Tristen Story, another eighth-grade student at Clifton Ridge Middle School, said he likes science a good bit, but not math. He said he likes science, because it can open doors for him into a career and he can experience new things. He said one day he’d like to become a biologist, because he likes anatomy.
“We got to build a biome and there were a few games to do, too. There were a lot of interesting activities to do,” the student said. “Kids doing new things and learning new things helps them out when they move up to the next grade, so it’s good to learn math and science in this fun way.”
