Students from John O. Arnn Elementary School comparison shopped, weighed and measured produce and calculated price per unit of everything from coffee to canned goods, Oct. 10, 2024, during Math Knight in the commissary at Sagamihara Family Housing Area near Camp Zama, Japan. (Jeremy Stillwagner/Stars and Stripes)
SAGAMIHARA FAMILY HOUSING AREA, Japan — Young grocery shoppers, with worksheets and measuring tapes in hand, packed this base’s commissary Wednesday evening to apply their classroom knowledge to a real-life setting.
As many as 75 students in grades first through fifth at John O. Arnn Elementary School comparison shopped, weighed and measured produce and calculated price per unit of everything from coffee to canned goods.
Math Knight, so named because the Arnn students are dubbed the Knights, is an exercise in putting classroom theory to work in an everyday light. Arnn Elementary is a Defense Department school for children whose parents are with the U.S. Army Japan headquarters at Camp Zama.
“I’ve been here about 10 years, and our math scores in that time were not where we wanted them to be, so we started brainstorming ways we could get parents and kids excited about math,” fifth-grade teacher Noelle Matthews said at the event.
The result of that brainstorming session was the first Math Knight held last year.
“Kids don’t always understand. Why am I learning this? How does this apply to me? What am I going to do with this? The Math Knight allows them to visualize and apply what they’re learning,” Matthews said.
Students from John O. Arnn Elementary School comparison shopped, weighed and measured produce and calculated price per unit of everything from coffee to canned goods, Oct. 10, 2024, during Math Knight in the commissary at Sagamihara Family Housing Area near Camp Zama, Japan. (Jeremy Stillwagner/Stars and Stripes)
Students were handed math worksheets that corresponded with their grade level and set out with their parents to complete them.
Some of the tasks included measuring the circumference of produce items, budgeting and finding out the cost of individual items sold in packs.
The commissary was packed with participants from start to finish of the hourlong event, although ordinary shoppers paid little heed to the bustle.
“We’ve had a steady stream of kiddos and parents, and they seem very excited and interested in the activities,” Matthews said.
Math Knight also served as a way for the students to spend more time with friends after the school day.
“The kids wanted to come,” Marian Adjei-Tawiah, a parent attending the event with her kids, said at the commissary. “It’s an opportunity for them to meet with their friends, have fun and apply what they learn at school.”
Although new to the area, Adjei-Tawiah has attended similar events with her kids at schools they attended in the past.
“It tells us parents that the school thinks about the kids outside of school, engaging with them, and giving them opportunities to apply what they learn,” she said. “It’s a very brilliant idea and as parents we truly appreciate it.”
