By Laurel White
On a Thursday evening in December, hours after the school day was done, more than a hundred Shorewood Hills Elementary School students fanned out across the school to revel in the joy of math.
Cian, a kindergartener, sprawled on the floor of the library with a wooden ruler to measure the nose and whiskers on an illustration of Espeon, a pink, cat-like Pokémon character. Friends clustered around him, eager to add Espeon’s stats to their worksheets.
“It was a big hit with many of the kids,” Cian’s mother, Lu Lu, says of the activity. “And such a clever way to combine measurement concepts with Pokémon!”
Across the school, students between five and eleven-years-old weren’t just wielding rulers. They also threw dice in pursuit of a perfect 100, counted weights to balance a tipping scale, and donned chef hats to whip up a prize pizza. Their pursuits — and many more — were part of Shorewood Hills’ first-ever Family Math Night, a special community event facilitated by a UW–Madison School of Education faculty member and undergraduate education students.
Erin Edgington, a math education teaching faculty member in the School of Education’s Department of Curriculum and Instruction, organized the event. She says Family Math Night is a way to show gratitude to schools that host UW–Madison students completing their student teaching.
“These schools open up their classrooms and they welcome our students and that is such a gift,” she says. “This event is a way to say thank you, and it’s a way for students to recognize how important that community connection is.”
Edgington describes Family Math Night as a “culminating experience” for UW–Madison teacher education students in her senior-level math methods course. On the cusp of beginning full-time student teaching, the students are empowered to plan an interactive math lesson for the event centered on a learning standard. Throughout the 90-minute event, they engage students and their families in learning and exploration, tailoring their instruction in real time to an array of student ages and abilities.
“It provides the students a mini lesson study,” Edgington says. “It’s a great opportunity for them to experience that in an authentic and fun way.”
Edgington introduced Family Math Night to UW–Madison and the Madison community when she joined the faculty in 2024. She hosted similar events for 10 years as a faculty member at UW–Platteville. In addition to Shorewood Hills, she and her students have already brought the event to Randall Elementary School and Franklin Elementary School in Madison.
Anne Gillespie, principal at Shorewood Hills, says her school was keen to host a Family Math Night. She saw the event as a way to tap into the “incredible resource” of UW–Madison to foster a new way of thinking about math in the community.
“Our goal was for students and families to leave seeing math as something accessible, playful, and meaningful,” Gillespie says. “When families engage in math together in a low-stress, hands-on environment, it helps build positive associations and confidence. These experiences reinforce the idea that math is not just something done in school, but something that belongs to everyone.”
The event also pulled in members of the National Honor Society at West High School to help facilitate the younger students’ learning. Some of the high schoolers were Shorewood Hills alumni — another way the event knit the community together.
Daniel Torres-Rangel’s two children, Zev and Laila, enjoyed exploring a slew of Family Math Night stations with friends. Torres-Rangel says a number line activity was a particular favorite.
“All of the presenters were friendly, enthusiastic, and well prepared,” he says. “They created a fun, hands-on, exploratory atmosphere. They guided the students with questions rather than correcting them and encouraged them to work through challenges.”
Edgington says similar accolades from parents and Shorewood Hills educators during and after the event confirmed what she knows about her students — they are dedicated, thoughtful, and passionate future teachers.
“Our students are doing amazing things,” she says.
Edgington hopes to expand Family Math Night across the Madison community in the coming years — and deepen connections where they already exist, including Shorewood Hills.
“They’re already talking about next year,” she says.
Let the countdown begin.