FERRIDAY &045;&045; Dana Lewis Morales didn’t really even want to come to Ferriday Upper Elementary School’s Family Math and Science night.

But she succumbed to her fourth grader Kelle Lewis’ pleas and walked away an involved parent, she said.

&uot;I was just going to come because Kelle wanted to,&uot; Morales said. &uot;But it was really fun and now I’m going to stay involved.&uot;

And that’s just what Kelle wants.

&uot;She never came before,&uot; Kelle said. &uot;She said she wasn’t going to do it, but she did.&uot;

Kelle and her mom spent their night making a brag book to chart Kelle’s academic progress throughout the year.

Other parents and students who attended the annual event participated in science and math games and learned how to do experiments of their own at home.

In Ima Thomas’ classroom the students used a fast food restaurant straw wrapper to make a moving caterpillar.

&uot;I observed that when you had a medicine dropper and used one drop of water the caterpillar moved,&uot; fifth-grader Morgan Stigall told the class after the experiment.

Teacher Sharon Davis said the family night was very important to the students’ progress. Davis showed the students how to measure out the right ingredients to turn fruit juice into a soda.

&uot;Parent involvement is so very important,&uot; Davis said. &uot;This shows them they can very easily help their parents cook by reading the directions and working together.&uot;

Ricky Miles brought his son Keiwaun to family night for the second year in a row.

&uot;(I came) for him,&uot; Miles said. &uot;He had to remind me of it, but I came.&uot;

The students who attended the event will receive extra points in their math and science classes.

&uot;He kept on bugging me to come,&uot; Shelley Washington said of her fifth-grader Richard Jefferson. Jefferson said he wanted the extra points in science class.

The event, held in the fall and spring, has been going on at the school for six years.

&uot;We want to have parents aware of what’s going on, what their children are doing,&uot; said Gloria Price, organizer and fourth-grade teacher. &uot;They can come see the teachers and see what we are about. We are all a family.&uot;

Price said she was happy with the crowd. Roughly 270 parents and students attended.

Parents can find science experiments to do at home at www.doscience.com. The school also has a parental involvement site at

http://pageforparents.org/?C135890

.