Having clear indicators of proficiency for each curricular content area is very valuable. We have built on the rich work of Janice Novakowski from the Richmond School District by adding examples of learning activities and resources, both online and from books available in your school so you can see it in action.
Our goal was to highlight practices focusing on collaborative exploration and flexible thinking. The documents available are in draft form and will continue to be revised and enriched in 2023-2024.
If you have some suggestions, comments or questions, please contact thelearningline@sd68.bc.ca.
What could your lesson look like? Are you looking for a structure that allows you to integrate rich instructional routines that naturally differentiate and help students develop their core and curricular competencies? The following lesson structure is just one example of how this can be done.
Instructional Routines:
We know that humans love mysteries because our brains crave the joy that comes with discovery. So, let’s pose a challenge so compelling that students are begging you to help them figure it out.
~Gerald Aungst Tweet
Slowly reveals a graph one piece at a time so students slowly use the different parts of the graph to draw understanding of what is going on in the graph.
Visual prompts to help students develop estimation skills.
Sets of objects that are all similar but and have a reason why each one does not belong.
Website that supports multiple teaching routines. Elementary
Provides weekly graphs that revolve around current issues
Groups of images that insight mathematical reasoning and discourse.
A site that provides estimation challenges from a different perspective.
Most students in the small arctic community of Kaktovic, Alaska grow up speaking Iñupiaq. They found doing math using Arabic numerals (1, 2, 3,4, 11, 12, etc) difficult because they didn’t match with their Inupiaq words for numbers. In this thinking task, students will explore arithmetic operations written with Kaktovic numerals to try and figure out how their numeral system works.
Spoiler: it is not a base 10 system!
This game is designed to be a practice activity for using the rise and run to plot linear equations. It is embedded with information related to an important Coast Salish cultural plant.
Wondering what tools might be useful for teaching Math and exploring numeracy concepts in elementary schools? The following document outlines which resources are recommended, along with links for purchasing and guidelines on how to organize them for classroom use. Also included are links to virtual manipulatives for teacher use during demonstrations.
Recommended Math Manipulatives for Elementary Schools
Tthoxe?lets, otherwise known as the Basket Woman or Wild woman , is a frightening being that has been told of in Coast Salish stories for many generations. She was known to kidnap young children who did not listen or who did not return home after dark, bringing them back to her home up in the mountains to eat.
Tthoxe?lets, has a large basket woven out of cedar that she used to carry the children that she captured. In this activity, students will design their own cedar baskets or a mat while investigating patterns and measurement.
Use this virtual calling card to review abstract numbers from nuc?a (one) to ‘apun (ten). Have students draw a 3 x 3 grid and fill it with numerals 1 – 10 in random order (one number will be left out). Then use the virtual activity to draw the cards and listen to the pronunciation of each word. Play 3 in a row or full house to win!
Printable cards for the Days of the Week and Months in hulq̓umín̓um̓. The cards on the right also contain a QR code that can be scanned for a link to a sound file.
Are you trying to consider Indigenous perspectives when you teach Primary Math? Are you trying to adopt principles from the Early Learning Framework in your Numeracy instruction? Are you trying to spend more teaching time outdoors? This video has ideas for teaching measurement to children while exploring nature.
Link to Trilingual Printable tracks
Link to the Story of the Basket Woman (sasquatch) told by George Seymour
This activity allows students to practice graphing skills in a whole-class or small-group, fun, game environment. The game can be played with printable sheets used in dry-erase pockets or can be played online with desmos.
For more dry-erase graphing activities see the SD52 resource, Weaving Our Way: From patterns to Linear Relations in a Ts’msyen Context.
In this video Coast Salish Snuneymuxw artist Joel Good creates kerfs, then steams and bends a yellow cedar plank in preparation for creating a bentwood box. He is one of the relatively few bringing back the art of bending boxes.
The Bentwood box is an ingenious technological innovation that was developed and used extensively by the Indigenous peoples of the west coast. In the past it was used as a container to store a multitude of items including everything from everyday items such as food, to ceremonial items of great value. In some areas, including the Coast Salish, bentwood boxes were also used as grave boxes to hold the remains of deceased loved ones.
The boxes can also be made water-tight and used to boil water or steam foods through a process of adding fire-heated rocks. Today bentwood boxes are still made and in use, though rarely used for everyday cooking or storage. Instead they are often regarded as treasured pieces of art and used for ceremonial purposes.
FNESC Bentwood Box Math Resource (Starting on Page 37).
More information:
Related Videos:
Pit cooking at Wildwood Ecoforest
PI’KWUN: Traditional Cowichan Salmon BBQ, Bentwood Box Cooking & Medicinal Plants
More info about the artist, Joel Good.
The two Large Yellow Cedar bentwood boxes created by Joel Good are available for sign-out though the Indigenous Education Collection.
This collection of resources provides access to a sxwiem, (story) of the time when Seagull stole the sun and Raven, always the thinker and schemer, came up with a plan to get it back. They include literacy resources as well as prepared numeracy activities focusing on linear relations.
In this online resource, Hul’q’umin’um’ students of all ages can learn and place in order the numbers from 1 to 10.
This newly updated document is designed for teachers of Mathematics in British Columbia . It has been developed by the First Nations Education Steering Committee (FNESC), supported by the BC Ministry of Education and it is grounded in the view that increased student success can be achieved through adjustments in pedagogy and approach that make mathematics feel more inclusive and engaging. Development of this resource has been guided by the recognition that
The 2020 revision of this document also supports implementation of the Calls to Action of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, specifically the call to “integrate Indigenous knowledge and teaching methods into classrooms” (clause 62) and “build student capacity for intercultural understanding, empathy, and mutual respect” (clause 63).
Accordingly, the goals of this guide are:
This cross-grade numeracy resource provides multiple lessons with hands-on engaging activities to teach mathematics with Indigenous perspective, through oral histories, contemporary art and highlighting Indigenous role models. Developing the resource involved consultation with local Ts’msyen educators and advisors, the development of new literature in coordination with the Ts’msyen Sm’algyax Language Authority, consultation with outside numeracy experts, and piloting lessons in classrooms.
The resource was developed in SD52 (Prince Rupert) on Ts’msyen Territory and uses Ts’msyen narratives, and cultural connections to teach numeracy concepts. Many of the lessons would be easy to adapt to fit within a Coast Salish context.
Check out the 3 Act Tasks created by Graham Fletcher. They are a great way to engage students in active problem solving.
A great collection of estimation activities that are offered in an engaging and interactive way.
Find a variety of lessons and games for students K-12.
Check out the amazing resources that the BCAMT has up on their website. Lesson ideas and rich tasks for K-12. There are even lessons aligned with books that are available to download right off the BCAMT website!
Have students start a conversation and see if they can figure out a reason why each of the images doesn’t belong. K-12
A collection of interactive simulation activities for science and math K-12.
This site has many open middle problems. An open middle meaning that there are multiple ways to approach and ultimately solve the problem.
Lots of tasks, activities and videos for teachers, students and families building on research to teach math differently and to increase student engagement and achievement.
Activities range K-12.
The CEMC courseware materials feature grade 7 to 12 lessons, interactive activities, enrichment challenges, and unlimited opportunity for practice with feedback. The courseware is online, free to use, and does not require registration.
The Problem of the Week provides grade 3 and ups with an ongoing opportunity to solve mathematical problems.
Includes also resources for home (4-12).
Students can now explore this idea in new and unique ways and can manipulate their creations to represent their thinking in multiple ways.
Games from BEAM for students in grades K-6 to help develop fact fluency and number sense.
Choral counting is intended to support students in making sense of increasing and decreasing patterns in cardinal numbers. The teacher leads children to count aloud together by a given number.
Exemplar unit plans created by NLPS teachers – digital versions
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