South Meridian Elementary 22-23

OUR CONTEXT

South Meridian is an inclusive, dynamic school supporting our learners' academic, social , affective, and behavioural learning. Our classrooms support practices that keep students at the centre of their learning and influence the depth of student opportunities for growth. We know student success is designed through a broad array of skills, experiences, and outcomes across different domains, including social-emotional,  creative and critical thinking; the ability to exchange information and ideas to understand and engage with the world around them; and developing students' positive personal and cultural identities and social responsibility.

We value a safe and caring school, restorative justice practices, the diverse strengths of our learners,  and connections with each other and our wider school community. Parents and families play a critical role in student school experiences and helping to develop learning environments where children flourish.

Our school is located on the unceeded, shared traditional territory of the Katzie, Semiahmoo, and other Coast Salish peoples and our work weaves the First Peoples' Principles of Learning throughout. South Meridian has two small urban forest stands of trees including the riparian zone hosting nearby McNally Creek - shrubs, ferns, mosses, lichens and fish. We love to learn outside about this place we call home and take on stewardship to mitigate plastics and litter in the riparian zone and deepen student understanding with authentic, hands on, place-based learning, such as Take the Dip and Salmontracks.

A lot of our learning is inquiry based and rooted in real world problem solving. We participate in Science Fair and the Young Entrepreneurs program which help us build our critical and creative thinking skills. We have a school garden that we cultivate to support bees in some of our garden tubs with bee-friendly flowers. Our vegetables are grown and what we don't use, we share with our animal friends at the local SPCA - we've grown lettuce and carrots for the rabbits there.

We love to learn through play! Our youngest learners are provided opportunities to develop a sense of the world around them through play.  Play provides opportunities for children to inquire, explore, interact, problem solve and connect what they already know with new knowledge and developing skills.

Our older students play too! We enjoy cross country and track and field. Our student athletes have opportunities to play on school volleyball, basketball, badminton, and ultimate teams. Everyone loves Sports Day!

Our grade 7's have the exciting opportunity go to camp every year. Camp is always the highlight for our grade 7 students.

We hope you've enjoyed learning a little about some of what makes South Meridian a great place to work, learn, and play at!

OUR FOCUS

Number routines and numeracy development refer to the acquisition and progression of numerical skills and understanding in individuals, typically during early childhood and continuing through later stages of development. Numeracy encompasses the ability to understand, use, and apply mathematical concepts in practical contexts, as well as the confidence and flexibility to engage with numbers and solve problems effectively.

Over the school year we worked with the Numeracy helping teacher to implement the routines in our book study, Number Sense Routines.

Number routines are regular activities or practices that involve numbers and counting, designed to promote the development of numeracy skills. These routines can include counting objects, reciting numbers, recognizing and comparing quantities, identifying patterns, and performing simple calculations. Number routines often occur in everyday situations, such as counting toys during playtime, counting steps while climbing stairs, or counting items at the grocery store.

Numeracy development begins in early childhood and progresses as children interact with their environment and engage in various mathematical experiences. It involves several key stages:

1. Number Sense: This stage involves understanding the concept of quantity, learning to count, recognizing and comparing numbers, and understanding basic mathematical relationships such as more/less and bigger/smaller.

2. Number Operations: As children develop their number sense, they begin to learn basic arithmetic operations such as addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. They learn to solve simple problems and use mathematical symbols and language to express and manipulate quantities.

3. Patterns and Relationships: At this stage, children explore patterns and relationships in numbers, shapes, and measurements. They learn to identify and extend patterns, sort objects based on attributes, and understand concepts like symmetry and spatial relationships.

4. Problem Solving: As numeracy skills progress, children develop problem-solving abilities. They learn to apply mathematical strategies to real-life situations, analyze and interpret data, and make informed decisions based on numerical information.

Promoting numeracy development involves creating a supportive and engaging environment that encourages exploration, experimentation, and problem-solving. Some effective strategies for fostering numeracy skills include:

1. Providing hands-on experiences: Engage children in activities that involve counting, measuring, sorting, and manipulating objects to develop a concrete understanding of mathematical concepts.

2. Using real-life contexts: Connect numeracy skills to everyday situations, such as measuring ingredients while cooking, estimating quantities during shopping, or counting money.

3. Incorporating games and play: Introduce math games, puzzles, and interactive activities that make learning numbers enjoyable and motivating.

4. Encouraging questioning and reasoning: Promote critical thinking by asking open-ended questions that encourage children to explain their mathematical thinking and explore different problem-solving approaches.

5. Offering support and guidance: Provide scaffolding and support as children engage in numeracy tasks, gradually allowing them to work independently as their skills develop.

By implementing these strategies and supporting children's natural curiosity about numbers, educators and parents can foster the development of strong numeracy skills, setting a foundation for success in mathematics and problem-solving later in life.

Splat is a great online tool to engage learners in mathematical talk and link to the development of subitising and developing number sense in counting, addition subtraction and fractions. Here a class of grade 4's and 5's use Splat.

The teacher listens to students' strategies to catch misconceptions and to have students share out a wide range of successful strategies. With the shared visual on whiteboards and the Splat, communication of ideas is easily facilitated.

When students shared strategies the teacher was impressed at the value of sharing multiple ways of approaching and solving problems. It gave students multiple ways to think about scenarios and the resulting discussion benefits all of the learners.

The teacher recorded and compared strategies and used the students' ideas to extend the discussion. . For example, when using Splat , the teacher would ask questions such as, "How is 29 ÷ 3 = 9 r2 related to 3x + 2 = 29?" The responses help the class to connect strategies across grade levels and concepts.

In Kindergarten using cognitively guided word problems enabled students to approach problems based on their developmental level, express their thinking and engage with the thinking and strategies of their peers. 

For the same cognitively guided problem, the photos below show the wide range of strategies and numeracy development of Kindergartners. 

Through the exchange of  ideas, students explore different strategies and tools. Many students solved the problem with direct modelling, using concrete objects to model the "action" (joining or separating) in the problem. Several students who did not know how to get started in the beginning, attempted the strategies learned from peers. Others branched out to use different tools such as number paths or tens frames and were able to explain why they chose the tool. 

During a year end assessment, a grade one teacher reported, 

It was incredible to see one of my students who struggled with number sense coming up for my year end math assessment. I verbally asked what’s 6 +9. Most students used a number line, or counters or fingers to get their sum, but this student looked at the tools in front of him and said “well I know that 6+10 is 16, so 6+9 must be 15”. What powerful fluency he has gained this year  using our rotation of number sense routines regularly in the classroom!