Outdoor game helps students learn math

Just in time for the first day of school, children at Cliffwood Avenue School will have a new place to play this year — and learn, too.

Ralph Mazzoni, of Eosso Paving, removes the stencils used to paint a large game board on the blacktop outside Cliffwood Avenue School in Aberdeen on Aug. 27. The ordinary blacktop outside the school building has been transformed into a brand-new outdoor math game and hopscotch court.

K-3 interventionist Helen Brereton and art teacher Tara Aprilante received a $250 grant from the Matawan-Aberdeen Education Foundation (MAEF) to develop Moving Math, an interactive counting game that serves to enhance basic math skills outside the classroom.

According to the MAEF, the funds were part of $14,160 allocated for the 2008-09 school year throughout the district.

The game, shaped like a grid, was painted with the signature maroon Matawan-Aberdeen Husky colors on the K-5 school's blacktop. Numbers from 1 to 100 were stenciled in white paint atop a fresh coat of pavement.

Brereton noted that the teachers at Cliffwood use a similar model in class. A program called Everyday Math, developed by the University of Chicago, is used within the district to encourage real-life problem solving.

Tom Eosso (l-r) and Nick Eosso spray each stencil with paint to create the Moving Math game at the Aberdeen school they attended as children. "The kids have a math grid that looks like this in school," Brereton said, gesturing toward the board. "This way, the kids can come out, physically move and play math. It's my philosophy the kids have more fun and they learn more when they play. They can't sit in their seats all the time."

By participating in the Moving Math game, Brereton explained, children will learn how to count, add and identify numbers. Additionally, students will be able to bring out large blow-up dice to roll on the grid, and large colorful cones will be used to keep track of where the children land during recess.

"They can skip two-by-twos, they can skip down by five and can jump by ten," she said. "We might put some ladders on here, like a Chutes and Ladders-type game, where they can go backwards and forwards."

In addition to their hard work and planning, Brereton and Aprilante were helped on this project by Tom Eosso, of Eosso Brothers Paving Inc. in Matawan, who donated more than $6,000 of services to the school, transforming the grid design into a reality.

"He [Eosso] took the project a million times further and really did it professionally and beautifully," Brereton said.

The Eosso family has lived in the area for five generations and currently has two daughters in the Matawan-Aberdeen Middle School. As both an entrepreneur and a father, Eosso believes giving back to the community is extremely important.

"My brothers and I own this company, and we all went to this school," Eosso said.

He pointed past the school near the woods.

"On the other side of that tree line is where I used to live. I'm from the neighborhood, and I'm happy to give back to the community. It's much needed."

The project, originally slated for June, was pushed back due to the heavy amount of rainfall this summer, Eosso said. It was later expanded from one grid to a large portion of the pavement.

"We were just going to do one little square area," Eosso said. "Then we came over and looked at the project and decided it wouldn't look right. They have boxes over here and someone hand-painted them. It didn't look right, so we said we are going to do this right."

In the past, the company donated a basketball court to the Lloyd Road School in Aberdeen. When they heard about the Moving Math idea, the entire group agreed that donating time and money to the district would be beneficial for the students. Eosso's nephew, Ralph Mazzoni, cousin Nick, sister Kim and brothers Gary and Anthony all contributed to the project.

Brian Farrell, who will be serving his first year as principal at Cliffwood Avenue School this year, expressed his gratitude for the grant and donated services.

"It's twofold," Farrell said. "Mrs. Brereton went above and beyond to get a math grant to do this. Then when someone from the town decided to dedicate their time, resources and do a whole playground for free, that's something that brings the whole school together with the parents and the children."

Brereton will be teaching at Strathmore School this year but is proud that Cliffwood Avenue School will have something new to offer for students during playtime.

"I believe children should have fun and learn math," she said. "Active learning is the most important thing."