The sounds of car horns and sirens alerted the residents of the Fort Jackson Housing area that something special was afoot, Oct. 27.
A parade of cars driven by teachers from C.C. Pinckney Elementary School and led by the School Resource Officer D.A. Brown made its way through the streets to the delight of kids who ran to wave at the members of the parade. For five lucky kids this was more than a fun spectacle, as this group of teachers and school personnel was delivering prizes to the winners of this semester’s Math Prize Patrol.
At each winner’s house, the parade would halt, and teachers would jump out to surprise lucky students that had been randomly selected for this year’s prizes.
Kerrie Ammons, Speech-Language pathologist for C.C. Pinkney helped organize this semester’s event which delivers math games, books, and tools that are age appropriate and allows the students to practice with their families some of the things they are learning in their class.
Students, with parent’s approval, enter the contest in hopes of their name being the one randomly selected. Each grade has one winner.
Prize patrols started in 2012 and was recognized as a best practice by the garrison commander. The main motivation behind the event is to build community.
Ammons said the patrols, “give an opportunity for our teachers to go into the neighborhoods and see where our students live, see how they play, see their siblings that we hear about during the day and also have an opportunity to see the parents and let the parents talk and see us as people.”
For those students disappointed that they did not win, they’ll have another chance in the spring. In early March, around Read Across America week, the school will conduct a reading themed prize patrol.
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