Learning to have fun

Students and parents at Riverside Elementary School’s Family Learning Night were greeted at the door by Principal Mary Lou Jordan dressed as Pecos Bill and Assistant Principal Pam Hester dressed as Slewfoot Sue.

The theme was Storybook Characters and the children were invited to come dressed as their favorite character.

The teachers even got into the game.

The first-grade teachers dressed up as characters from “Dr. Seuss on the Loose,” and the second-grade teachers dressed up as the characters from “Amelia Bedelia meets Junie B Jones.”

The third-grade teachers where the characters from “Junie First Grade Aloh-a-ha-ha,” and the fourth-grade teachers wore their pajamas to go with the book “Ira Sleeps Over.”

The fifth-grade teachers came dressed as the characters from “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever.”

Each grade had a table set up in the school’s gymnasium, and at each table parents and children played math and reading games.

“This is a time for children and parents to work together on games,” Jordan said.

At one table parents and children added up sums as they played addition bingo, while at another children placed Race for a Rhyme or Coin Collector.

At the same table where children gathered to wait their turn at bingo, other children guessed how many pieces of candy were in a jar.

Adele Salzer, the librarian from the Pearl River branch of the St. Tammany Parish Library, also attended and read “Scarecrow” by Cynthia Rylant to the children as part of the school’s Rockin’ for Reading Program.