School Name: Lochside Elementary

School District: SD#63 Saanich

Inquiry Team Members: Jenni Erickson: jerickson@saanichschools.ca

Inquiry Team Contact Email: sarahmiller@saanichschools.ca

II. Inquiry Project Information

Type of Inquiry: Numeracy & Literacy Project

Grade Levels Addressed Through Inquiry: Primary (K-3)

Curricular Areas Addressed: Language Arts – Literacy

Focus Addressed: Indigenous understandings (for example, Traditional Knowledge, oral history, reconciliation), First Peoples Principles of Learning, Land, Nature or Place-based learning

In one sentence, what was your focus for the year? The focus of our inquiry was to build literacy skills through storytelling and storymaking; developing oral and written language through local Indigenous stories, SENĆOŦEN language learning, and place-based storymaking.

III. Spirals of Inquiry Details

Scanning: During the scanning phase, we noticed that students entering Grade One were eager to participate in storytelling activities, responding to stories with personal connections and an eagerness to share from their own experiences. We also noticed that time spent learning outdoors seemed to have a positive effect on students’ regulation and focus and we are eager to incorporate this type of learning into our practice. We wondered how hearing and retelling Indigenous stories that are connected to land we live on would support students in developing oral storytelling and communication skills, and how their connection to the knowledge and language of the W̱SÁNEĆ People (SENĆOŦEN) would develop as this learning takes place. We incorporated First Peoples Principles by recognizing that “learning is embedded in memory, history, and story.” We attempted to ground students’ literacy learning in the stories of the land, building connections between their learning and the history of the place in which they live and learn.

Focus: This year we continued to focus on connecting literacy activities with traditional Indigenous stories and knowledge as a means to support literacy development of both Indigenous and non-Indigenous learners. We wanted to continue our focus on story-telling, while honouring local stories. We chose three W̱SÁNEĆ stories that were valued as important and that we were given permission to share. We shared these stories with our students and revisited them in different ways throughout the year. We hoped to ground literacy learning in the history, oral-storytelling traditions, and Indigenous language (SENĆOŦEN) of the W̱SÁNEĆ Peoples.

Hunch: This year, we wondered how repeated opportunities to engage with Indigenous stories in different ways might support student learning. We had a hunch that focusing on just a few stories would help students gain a deeper understanding of the stories, and the connection between stories and place. In the past, we would often share a story once and then move on. This year, we were eager to provide different ways for students to engage with the stories, including oral retelling, play, art, and writing. We were also eager to explore opportunities to integrate W̱SÁNEĆ language learning into literacy activities. We had a hunch that even learning a few words or phrases could help deepen students’ understanding of Indigenous culture and language.

New Professional Learning:
– Worked with Sheralyn MacRae, the District Indigenous Program Coordinator; Jenica Moore, District Early Learning Leader; and the Indigenous Education department to access Indigenous stories and learning resources.
– Focused on our own professional learning of Indigenous stories with a focus on becoming proficient in oral storytelling.
– Focused on learning SENĆOŦEN words and phrases from each story.
– Attended Network of Inquiry and Indigenous Education (NOIIE) Learning Bursts throughout the year.
– Attended the 2024 NOIIE Symposium: ‘Connection + Community: People, Practices, Promises’. Had the chance to learn from presenters and network with other educators.
– Shared ongoing work focused on outdoor learning, nature journals, and storymaking with COPACS as a way to answer questions and listen to feedback.

Taking Action:
– Practiced re-telling W̱SÁNEĆ stories with a focus on incorporating SENĆOŦEN language. Our focus was on learning these stories by heart, so that we did not need to read them from a book.
– Connected with the district SENĆOŦEN teacher in order to build our knowledge of the SENĆOŦEN language.
– Shared place-based and Indigenous stories with our students each month connected to changing seasons, special places in our community, learning topics, etc.
– Supported learners in developing oral and written language through local Indigenous stories, SENĆOŦEN language learning, and place-based storymaking.
– Developed ‘story cards’ for local Indigenous stories featuring images, text, and SENĆOŦEN language.
– Began developing a rubric for oral language that could be used to measure student learning and success.
– Shared ongoing learning with fellow educators through the NOIIE Learning Burst and the 2024 Symposium.

Checking: Our main objective was to strengthen literacy skills through our focus on oral language skills and local W̱SÁNEĆ stories. Part of the evidence we used was our District Literacy Assessment which showed significant improvement in all areas of literacy over the course of the year. Anecdotally, the students demonstrated a deeper understanding of the stories and incorporated them into their own retellings and play. It was a joy to see these stories become a part of their shared background knowledge, and to witness the ways in which they would connect these stories to their own lives and experiences of place.

In the future, we would like to further develop our oral language rubric in order to better understand and assess oral language abilities and the way in which it supports reading and writing proficiencies.

With repeated opportunities to engage with just a few stories, students were able to go deeper into their understanding and questioning of the stories. Their understanding of what they were learning and why it was important was deeper and richer than it had been in the past. We were able to observe this through the strength of their oral retellings and the ways in which they embedded the stories into their own play.

Picture Descriptions: Photo of the student and camas bed is a re-telling of the W̱SÁNEĆ story, “The Sisters Who Married Stars,” in student’s nature journal (left), play mat and story toys are a playful invitation for story re-telling (middle), and Basket of fir-cones are re-telling props for the Coast Salish story “Little Mouse and the Great Fire” (right)

Reflections/Advice: We hope to continue with this work, deepening our own understanding and knowledge of W̱SÁNEĆ stories and the SENĆOŦEN language. We will continue to seek out connections with W̱SÁNEĆ knowledge keepers to continue this learning.

We would like to continue to build up resources to support storytelling including story cards, play-based materials, and retelling tools and strategies. Next steps will be to collaborate with our school teacher-librarian and other district staff in order to share our learning journey.

Our advice to other schools with a similar interest is to start small and build a strong understanding of your area of focus. Do not feel that you have to begin and end your inquiry in one year. Being able to travel around the spiral of inquiry multiple times, going deeper into our own learning and understanding, has been incredibly powerful. Take your time and grow your understanding alongside your students and with the support of your learning community.

School Name: Babine Elementary Secondary School

School District: SD#91 Nechako Lakes

Inquiry Team Members:
Jesse Kennedy Burgoyne – jkennedy-burgoyne@sd91.bc.ca
Cheryl Peterson – cpeterson@sd91.bc.ca
Deb Koehn – dkoehn@sd91.bc.ca

Inquiry Team Contact Email: jkennedyburgoyne@sd91.bc.ca

II. Inquiry Project Information

Type of Inquiry: Numeracy & Literacy Project

Grade Levels Addressed Through Inquiry: Primary (K-3), Intermediate (4-7), Secondary (8-12)

Curricular Areas Addressed: Applied Design, skills & Technology, Language Arts – Literacy, Language Arts – Oral Language, Language Arts – Reading, Language Arts – Writing, Mathematics / Numeracy

Focus Addressed: Core competencies (for example, critical thinking, communication, problem solving), Differentiated instruction, Experiential learning, Formative assessment, Inquiry-based learning, Land, Nature or Place-based learning, Self-regulation, Social and emotional learning

In one sentence, what was your focus for the year? We focused on developing engaging, hands-on and experiential learning opportunities that were designed to create connections to literacy and numeracy learning and relationships for the students to both school and community.

III. Spirals of Inquiry Details

Scanning: 100 percent of the students felt that they could identify adults in the school that cared for them – initiated conversations with them and asked about well-being and topics of personal interest throughout the school year. Most students felt safe most of the time, with 75% stating a sense of belonging. Our scanning demonstrated that students wanted a voice in learning experiences offered, but still struggled to differentiate between school appropriate and possible offerings and home offerings. Both student and adult learners noticed that there needed to be a stronger effort to incorporate manipulatives in math in all grades, K – 12. The adult learners continued to focus on building Indigenous community within the school building frequently – hoping to build a co-relationship that would transfer from an attitude of building use to building residency. Educators were determined to ensure scanning took place around academic growth, as well as social emotional growth. They used assessment for learning strategies and worked with district staff to develop differentiated learning strategies to address needed skill development.

Focus: We were hoping to see a bigger personal investment from individual students and family members. As well, staff was hoping that with specific interventions they would see students’ sense of self as a learner develop and increase overall well-being.

Hunch: This is the second year of this inquiry journey. Educators are working to “un-do” past practices of one size fits all learning. The adult learners are working to undo years of established expectations by the community and the students. Workbooks, such as Jump Math, and hours of unsupervised computer access was the norm in this school. Over the past two years, there is solid evidence that students’ relationships with each other are healthier and more rewarding. Students have grown to trust and respect the educators. Now both groups of learners are focused on developing the academic, social and personal skills and strategies that will foster success after graduation.

New Professional Learning: Staff at BESS relied heavily on networks and district support staff. The principal completed his MEd at VIU, and was able to incorporate his learning into developing a strong sense of community within the school and surrounding communities and a strong focus on students. There is a strong sense of purpose. As well, participation in NOIIE and other networks has helped to keep adult participants focused. The Core Competencies have been a focus point as students are understanding what it means to be a learner.

Taking Action: We have leaned heavily into individualizing student’s learning paths. This has allowed us to keep the focus on where the student is at, rather than where we want the student to be. We improved our assessment for learning strategies to create the skill sets adults needed. We have taken our students outside the school building to learn as much as possible – focusing on play-based learning and relationship building first. We have gamified our learning experiences and provided student generated learning experiences. Passion projects have helped students develop basic skills. We have brought our community together to engage our families – reading day, community celebrations, etc.

Checking: It is never enough, but we are starting to see a noticeable difference in our students. One student has moved from passive aggressive behaviours to being a strong cultural leader and expresses their wish to be a future knowledge keeper. Another student is constantly stepping forward, brave enough to lead the drumming and singing of the school song by themself. Another student has gained 20+ levels in their reading ability – and sees themself as a learner. One student leaned into their culture and was brave enough to announce the entry of every adult at a school celebration. These actions, by individual students in this remote and rural school, demonstrate enormous personal growth and a step into the school community.

Reflections/Advice: These are difficult times for small rural and remote schools in British Columbia, but we think we are making a difference. We plan on becoming an experiential-based school where students can weave foundational skills into project-based learning. Educators need to have a deep understanding of curriculum, in order to make such a huge, essential step forward. All classes will use hands-on teaching methods while building foundational skills, such as adding and subtracting. Educators will work together to ensure that learning is cross-curricular and cohesive throughout the school building. We will go out and learn from the land.

School Name: W.L. McLeod Elementary

School District: SD#91 Nechako Lakes

Inquiry Team Members: Libby Hart: lhart@sd91.bc.ca, Candace Lawrence: clawrence@sd91.bc.ca, Nathalie Caron: nhuard-caron@sd91.bc.ca, Korrie Mueller: kmueller@sd91.bc.ca, Kirsten Funk: kandersonfunk@sd91.bc.ca, Lori Gridley: lgridley@sd91.bc.ca, Lyne Gauthier: lgauthier@sd91.bc.ca, Susie Blattner: blattners@sd91.bc.ca, Donna Good: dgood@sd91.bc.ca, Anny Pye: apye@sd91.bc.ca, Matthew Reimer: mreimer@sd91.bc.ca, Tracy Vienneau: tvienneau@sd91.bc.ca, Ashley Kennedy: akennedy@sd91.bc.ca, Miller-Gauthier: mmgauthier@sd91.bc.ca, Roberta Toth: rtoth@sd91.bc.ca, Nick Meads: nmeads@sd91.bc.ca, Nadyne Leclerc: nleclerc@sd91.bc.ca, Yoshi Sawatzky: jsawatzky@sd91.bc.ca, Shawna Tait: stait@sd91.bc.ca, Brianna Ko: bko@sd91.bc.ca

Inquiry Team Contact Email: lgridley@sd91.bc.ca

II. Inquiry Project Information

Type of Inquiry: Numeracy & Literacy Project

Grade Levels Addressed Through Inquiry: Primary (K-3), Intermediate (4-7)

Curricular Areas Addressed: Mathematics / Numeracy

Focus Addressed: Experiential learning, Flexible learning, Growth mindset, Inclusion and inclusive instructional strategies, Universal design for learning

In one sentence, what was your focus for the year? Developing a deeper and broader understanding of number sense from K-6 with a focus on improving numeracy outcomes for Indigenous learners.

III. Spirals of Inquiry Details

Scanning: We did a variety of assessments throughout the school year including our “Ways to make 5” assessment, SNAP number sense assessment, and Leaps and Bounds numeracy diagnostic assessment. We also scanned the results of our “real life examples” question from the SNAP assessment. These results highlighted a need across all grade levels to strengthen basic number sense skills and understandings, including real life examples of numbers and the benchmarks of 5 and 10.
Because of the results of our Leaps and Bounds diagnostic assessment that was done at the end of last year for the project, we knew where we wanted to begin this year. We noticed that our grade two learners were having difficulty identifying the basics of patterning (ie. identifying the core of the pattern). As a team of primary teachers, the decision was made for all primary classes to begin with patterning.

Focus: Decolonizing learning practices, including non-traditional pedagogies, will result in strengthening learners’ number sense, positive attitude and self-efficacy about numeracy.

We wanted to strengthen the connection between numeracy concepts and the world around us, and for students to develop a growth mindset and a positive attitude towards numbers – Indigenizing and Decolonizing along the way. We wanted to do this as a group – sharing ideas and resources, following a cross-school schedule, and collaborating.

Hunch: Closed-ended activities (worksheets, algorithm focused instruction, word problems with a single answer, traditional approaches to math with a focus on outcomes over process) and the way we taught math before, created learners who disliked math, didn’t trust numbers, memorized formulas, and didn’t make personal or meaningful connections to numbers in their lives. Math didn’t matter to them.

New Professional Learning:
• PLC time involved teachers sharing and playing games. These games transferred to the classrooms almost immediately.
• District numeracy support teacher brought in and taught games, and did SNAP lessons in classrooms.
• Staff members attended the NOIIE Symposium, viewed NOIIE learning bursts, participated in the SD91 NOIIE learning celebration, and participated in the NOIIE numeracy/literacy network meetings.
• Time embedded into the schedule for numeracy teacher-led and blitz-led collaboration.
• The NOIIE symposium highlighted our unique whole-staff approach to inquiry.

Taking Action:
• The numeracy blitz intervention
• Playing numeracy games
• Use of counting collections in primary classrooms
• Taking our learning outside for experiential and place-based learning
• Meaningful real-life numeracy experiences
• School-wide scheduled focus on patterns and number sense
• Primary TLT review of SNAP assessment which led to exploration of real life examples, which then led to the focus on “ways to make 5″

Checking: Data Collection:
– Each class did a pre- and post-assessment for and of learning for “ways to make 5”
– Revisited real life numeracy in primary classrooms
– Regularly reviewed Leaps and Bounds data (assess, intervene, assess)
– At each TLT, we checked in with teachers to see how the focus was progressing and any challenges that had come up

Data was used to inform our next steps throughout the year and to monitor our progress. Comparing the results of our Leaps and Bounds grade 1 patterning assessment in May/June 2023 and May/June 2024 shows growth in our success rates with the skills tested. For example, the number of students in grade 1 who could successfully identify and describe patterns increased from 46% in May/June 2023 to 64% in May/June 2024.

Reflections/Advice: Our students and our staff do not understand real-life number examples; much more work needs to be done in this area, including how we assess what they know about real-life number examples.

We have realized how important it is that students of all ages understand 5 as a base. The kids can makes significant gains when the adults are focused. We are looking at starting with the “ways to make 5” in the new school year, and then moving to “ways to make 10.”

We realized that even though we are on year three, we haven’t yet established a culture of numeracy nor have we been able to track the impact in the intermediate classes yet. There is a lot of work left to do.

School Name: Courtenay Elementary School

School District: SD#71 Comox Valley

Inquiry Team Members: Heidi Jungwirth: heidi.jungwirth@sd71.bc.ca, Alison Walkley: alison.walkley@sd71.bc.ca

Inquiry Team Contact Email: heidi.jungwirth@sd71.bc.ca

II. Inquiry Project Information

Type of Inquiry: Numeracy & Literacy Project

Grade Levels Addressed Through Inquiry: Primary (K-3), Intermediate (4-7)

Curricular Areas Addressed: Mathematics / Numeracy

Focus Addressed: Differentiated instruction, Experiential learning, First Peoples Principles of Learning, Formative assessment, Growth mindset, Inclusion and inclusive instructional strategies, Land, Nature or Place-based learning

In one sentence, what was your focus for the year? To develop and implement math routines which help students to acquire the skills for mathematics and to develop a mindset of growth, inquiry, and collaboration.

III. Spirals of Inquiry Details

Scanning: Our scanning process this year could be described as seasoned. We asked our students the 4 questions, but after 3 years of ongoing inquiry, we know that they are engaged in their learning.  We know that they understand what they are learning and they think about next steps.  There is a strong community bond and students feel supported and cared for.  3 completed years of inquiry means that the starting line has been moved ahead.

Building on what we have learned in the past, we know the importance of embedding the First People’s Principles of Learning and the OECD Principles of Learning in our teaching practice, including the scanning process.  One extension of our practice that we intentionally focused on this year was including families.

We had already included families by making class books, but at the intermediate level, we wanted the process to become more active, and therefore designed a way for students to have conversations with their families about math topics.  We had a hunch that math anxiety (which is where this inquiry began) also existed at home, passed on from generation to generation.  This meant that truly changing a student’s mindset about math must also provide the opportunity to change the parents’ mindset.  One way to do this was to create a place for conversations.

Focus: A 3 year ongoing inquiry covers a lot of ground, and it is easy to repeat the things said in years past. Rather than repeat myself, I am going to encourage those who are curious about our first 2 years of inquiry to instead read those previous years’ writeups.

2022/2023: https://noiie.ca/courtenay-elementary-school-sd71-comox-valley-4/

2021/2022: https://noiie.ca/courtenay-elementary-school-sd71-comox-valley-3/

Our word for this year is “mathematicianship”.  It may be that this word has just now come into existence, but read on. Mathematicianship is the mindset of thinking of oneself as a mathematician, combined with a solid knowledge of the skills necessary to do mathematics and the desire to inquire and collaborate with other mathematicians.

In both classes we nurtured mathematicianship in our students by using number talks, daily formative conversations about number sense, hands-on learning, and in-depth experiential mathematics inquiries.

Hunch: After year 1 of our inquiry, our hunch was that the lack of number sense was causing students to have anxiety about math.  After 3 years of working intensely with students of diverse abilities and background knowledge, I believe we can say with some authority that our hunch was correct.  In all cases, sometimes with students making almost radical gains, students who achieve a solid sense of number make remarkable progress in mathematics.

We have already written about how math anxiety disappeared in our students (year 1). We have also written about how our students grew to love math class (year 1 and 2).  In year 3, I can add that students exhibit increasing mastery of mathematicianship, which means that they are working joyfully on their math booklets, working collaboratively on their inquiry projects, and are no longer afraid or frustrated when they make mistakes.

If you look at either of our classes (Alison gr 1/2, Heidi gr 4/5) you will see students who are excited about learning math.  There is a certain energy in the room that is unmistakeable: there is intense learning going on.

New Professional Learning: We have spent a large portion of our NOIIE budget on professional books!  The authors we have been referencing for the first 2 years (Boler, Van de Waal) are still relevant and insightful.  There is a new series of books “Figuring out Fluency in Mathematics”, by Jennifer M Bay-Williams and John J.SanGiovanni which we have begun reading and are on the summer reading list.

The program “First Steps in Mathematics” continues to be a valuable resource and the Snap Assessment is an ongoing source of knowledge for us as well.

These resources have supported our professional development.  They have provided us not only with knowledge, but also confidence to take the next steps when we realized what was missing in our school.

Taking Action: This is perhaps the most exciting development from our inquiry.  Alison and I propose a completely new way of teaching mathematics.  We have developed our own pedagogy and written the first series of booklets for the students to use.

In short, we have created a pedagogy of a daily (20 min) practice focused on number sense in its various forms.  Students complete one page (and always only one page) in a leveled booklet and when they are finished, they have a short formative conversation with the teacher.  These conversations are based on the curricular competencies (which are a key component of mathematicianship) and support a growth mindset.

In addition to this foundational 20 minutes of Number Sense work, students develop their mathematicianship through number talks, family math conversations, pedagogical documentation, hands-on learning, and experiential math activities.

It would take a lot of room to explain everything that is happening in our math classes, therefore I encourage you to watch the video we made for the 2024 NOIIE conference.  This video explains in more detail the steps we have taken to improve math instruction in our classrooms.

Link to video: https://vimeo.com/934696997?share=copy 

Checking: When I try to summarize the difference that this inquiry has made for our learners, the change we have seen doesn’t quite seem possible.  Each child that we have taught is now a stronger math student than before.

When I say that each student is stronger than before, I am not only talking about the traditional math skills that they would be expected to learn.  I am talking about their mathmaticianship.  Students are excited about learning math and look forward to our time each day.  Students are engaged and feel “smart”.  They work collaboratively, they are curious, there is a different energy in the room.

The pedagogy of teaching math has spread to other classes in our school and is also spreading to other schools in our district.   We have had positive feedback from all the teachers who have worked with us this year.  We are excited and grateful that this inquiry has led us to this new place where all of our students are enthusiastic about learning math.

Reflections/Advice: This inquiry has been an unbelievably positive experience for Alison and myself, but we should be clear that there has been a lot of uncertainty and hard work to get to this point.  We have had to go way beyond our comfort zone, especially when other teachers asked us to share the materials that we have developed.  I think it is important to say that even when an inquiry is successful, it takes a great deal of courage to travel the path you are on.

We are currently in the process of creating a series of student materials that we plan to make available to other teachers.  These materials are the ones that we have been using in our classes and include instructions on how to teach them using formative feedback as a pedagogy.

The advice we would like to give other teachers, no matter the area of inquiry, is to trust your hunches and use them as a starting point to launch your inquiry.  If things aren’t working in your class, seek out answers.  Find colleagues who have similar questions.  Read the research and don’t be afraid to try new things.  Remember that you can’t change everything at once, so be patient with yourself.  Try to figure out which changes will have the biggest impact and start there.  Perhaps, most importantly, it is important to expect that this journey will be challenging, so lean into that challenge.

We have now completed year 3 of our inquiry and are busy planning for year 4.  Meaningful change takes time.  Take moments to reflect on how far you have come and use them to also plan your next steps.  In the end, we think that inquiry is one of the most powerful tools in education and encourage you to embrace it in your own practice.

School Name: Southlands

School District: SD#39 Vancouver

Inquiry Team Members:
Wendy Phung: wphung@vsb.bc.ca
Alexandra de Montigny: @demontigny@vsb.bc.ca
Sarah McKendy: smckendy@vsb.bc.ca

Inquiry Team Contact Email: mpaxton@vsb.bc.ca

II. Inquiry Project Information

Type of Inquiry: Numeracy & Literacy Project

Grade Levels Addressed Through Inquiry: Intermediate (4-7)

Curricular Areas Addressed: Language Arts – Reading

Focus Addressed: Indigenous understandings (for example, Traditional Knowledge, oral history, reconciliation), Flexible learning, Inclusion and inclusive instructional strategies

In one sentence, what was your focus for the year? Our focus was on creating flexible groupings for targeted reading instruction in grades 5, 6, 7.

III. Spirals of Inquiry Details

Scanning: When we asked students the four questions, 97% could name two or more adults at the school who knew that they would be a success in life, but 65% struggled with the questions about learning, in that they could not be specific about what they were learning and why it was important. According to the Student Learning Survey, 26% of grade 7s believe they are not getting better at reading.

Focus: We selected this focus because we believe that reading is a foundational skill that impacts a student’s success across the curriculum as well as their self-esteem, dignity and identity as a learner. Due to a number of factors, including COVID 19, too many of our intermediate students are reading below grade level – 23%. We wanted to learn how to support these students without pulling them out of class for remedial instruction.

Hunch: Our hunch was that if we collaborated to assess and group students according to their DRA levels, then dedicated 40 minutes a day in the afternoons (time formerly used for individual silent reading) using resource teachers, the teacher-librarian, and support staff to make groups smaller, we could provide targeted, just right instruction.

New Professional Learning: We as intermediate teachers had to learn how to teach beginning readers. We used the Rime Magic program, as well as Heggerty and other resources such as Reading Power. We attended pro-d days with Robin Bright and Marian Small. We requested the support of the District Resource Teaching Team who met with us to help design classroom practices.

Taking Action: We divided 4 classes of intermediate students into 6 groups according to DRA results. The 10 students with the lowest scores were in one group with a teacher and an EA. Eight of the 10 are Indigenous. With small group and individual instruction, these students made many gains averaging an increase in 12 DRA levels. The students confidence and self-esteem improved – our evidence was engagement and smiles.

Checking:
– Increased confidence in reading
– Increased fluency and decoding
– Increased comprehension
– Decreased misbehaviour

We have not yet asked the Four Questions again, but we predict students will be able to be more specific about how they are learning to read.

Reflections/Advice: We were uncertain if this structure would work. We took a risk and tried it!

School Name: Capitol Hill Elementary

School District: SD#41 Burnaby

Inquiry Team Members:
Stephanie Lundrigan: stephanie.lundrigan@burnabyschools.ca
Nicole Quin: nicole.quin@burnabyschools.ca
Christine diSalvo: christine.disalvo@burnabyschools.ca
Elysha Fong: elysha.fong@burnabyschools.ca
Brandon Mulholland: brandon.mulholland@burnabyschools.ca
Lindsey Bogunovich: lindsey.bogunovich@burnabyschools.ca
Jessica Filippelli: jessica.filippelli@burnabyschools.ca
Shelley Janvier: shelley.janvier@burnabyschools.ca

Inquiry Team Contact Email: stephanie.lundrigan@burnabyschools.ca

II. Inquiry Project Information

Type of Inquiry: Numeracy & Literacy Project

Grade Levels Addressed Through Inquiry: Primary (K-3), Intermediate (4-7)

Curricular Areas Addressed: Language Arts – Oral Language, Language Arts – Writing, Other: Social Emotional Learning – belonging//confidence

Focus Addressed: Indigenous understandings (for example, Traditional Knowledge, oral history, reconciliation), Core competencies (for example, critical thinking, communication, problem solving), Experiential learning, Growth mindset, Inclusion and inclusive instructional strategies, Social and emotional learning, Universal design for learning

In one sentence, what was your focus for the year? Our focus for the Numeracy and Literacy Project was strengthening literacy through the strengthening of oral language, hands-on learning, community building and Indigenous story.

III. Spirals of Inquiry Details

Scanning: At the start of the year, students in grades 1-7 completed a survey which included the four questions. The majority could name two adults in the school who believed in them, but often they were names of teachers from years past. While the majority of students are developing-proficient in their learning, many seemed only superficially interested in their learning (maybe as something that was being done to them?). This will be part of a new Inquiry for the 2024-25 school year.

Our focus this year as part of the Literacy and Numeracy Project was taking measures and implementing steps to improve literacy outcomes for Indigenous students and, in conjunction, their classmates. We did consider the results of this survey. However, the inspiration was, really, an incoming kindergarten student.

Focus: For the Literacy and Numeracy Project, we chose Literacy based on the survey above, the September reading assessments we carried out with each student (gr 1-7) and largely because of an initial meeting we had with a kindergarten student and their family at the start of the school year. We were hoping that we could strengthen oral language, student engagement, community building and a wider appreciation for the power of experiential based learning through Story Workshop.

As part of a staff survey which indicated they were interested in building their understanding of Indigenous worldview, we incorporated Indigenous story and picture books into each Story Workshop lesson. Those books remained highly visible and available for staff to borrow.

Hunch: The school is focused on learning and, in response to family expectations, could be secure in more traditional methods of education. Understanding the OECD Seven Principles and supporting families in arriving at those understandings would be beneficial. Having ‘permission’ to participate in more play-based, land-based and collaborative structures which viewed all learners as capable would be helpful.

New Professional Learning: We explored learner-centred experiential learning, collaboration with teachers and students within the building, across the district and in the community. We all gained an appreciation of the power of oral language, of collaboration, and Indigenous story. We have a better understanding of the potential of taking time to recognize the gifts each child brings.

Taking Action: Our team decided upon implementing Story Workshop as a way to build oral language and as an understanding of the elements of story to strengthen literacy skills, including literacy acquisition skills in kindergarten. My role was included as a learning support teacher and as the Indigenous Learning Inquiry Teacher.

Our SLP was involved. This project was helpful for her as SLP services in our district has switched over to a more MTSS, less clinical method of providing support to learners. Our librarian was involved and provided Story Workshop opportunities to a range of upper immediate classes as part of their library instruction.

Lessons were provided weekly and included an ‘author share’. Documentation of the students working was captured and shared. As the year progressed, recording the story in writing was also added to the learning activity. This provided a really authentic opportunity to discuss how authors revise and edit their work.

Kindergarten Story Workshop Author’s Share: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/-Fq4ba4ICtM 

Checking: Our students were engaged. Our staff were engaged. They were enthusiastic about this project. The two or three wonder children made significant progress – in their individual steps to literacy acquisition as well as classroom engagement and self-confidence. It is clear that they see themselves as learners. Two of the ‘wonder children’ were grade 2 boys who had been involved in many playground altercations. Since April they have independently taken on a leadership role on the playground and come to the office with a crew to initiate problem solving circles. They no longer are reluctant to participate in literacy activities in the classroom.

The baseline data used for this project was a student intake meeting, a private SLP report and Children’s Hospital report, the grade 1-7 student surveys, reading/literacy assessment (DART/EPRA, PM Benchmark, Concepts of Print), as well as observations and casual conferences in September.

Reflections/Advice: The OECD Seven Principles guided us in our everyday, lived practice – learners see themselves as learners, learning is social and collaborative, there is emotional awareness, there is a sensitivity to individual differences including an incredible range in background knowledge, it is accessible to all learners, feedback was immediate and naturally involved adults and peers, it promoted horizontal connections for students (across grade levels) and staff – across school roles (LSS, classroom teachers, librarian) and district (SLP, district Indigenous Resource teacher), we invited in families and members of the community (Indigenous weavers).

Using this overall experience as a further baseline for future inquiry, I think it would be important to be more explicit with the OECD Seven Principles with staff, to really support that there is well researched evidence to promote these practices.

Our plan for September is to continue with this project – with a similar focus for kindergarten students, but a larger focus on writing for the primary students. In our context, it provides a lovely solution for creating authentic learning support opportunities and collaboration among staff. It also really allows for supporting students who require additional support with their learning in a respectful and engaging way. As a result, relationships with those children are strengthened as they do not feel ‘less than’ in the way they would in a traditional pullout intervention.

School Name: Bear Valley School

School District: SD#82 Coast Mountains

Inquiry Team Members:
Terri Scott: terri.scott@cmsd.bc.ca
Cari Hopkins: cari.hopkins@cmsd.bc.ca
Ian Wen: ian.wen@cmsd.bc.ca

Inquiry Team Contact Email: terri.scott@cmsd.bc.ca

II. Inquiry Project Information

Type of Inquiry: Numeracy & Literacy Project

Grade Levels Addressed Through Inquiry: Primary (K-3), Intermediate (4-7)

Curricular Areas Addressed: Applied Design, skills & Technology, Arts Education, Language Arts – Literacy, Language Arts – Oral Language, Language Arts – Reading, Language Arts – Writing, Mathematics / Numeracy, Physical & Health Education, Science, Social Studies

Focus Addressed: Indigenous understandings (for example, Traditional Knowledge, oral history, reconciliation), Community-based learning, Core competencies (for example, critical thinking, communication, problem solving), Differentiated instruction, Experiential learning, First Peoples Principles of Learning, Flexible learning, Growth mindset, Inclusion and inclusive instructional strategies, Inquiry-based learning, Land, Nature or Place-based learning, Self-regulation, Social and emotional learning, STEM / STEAM, Universal design for learning

In one sentence, what was your focus for the year? Our focus was communication skills, collaborative problem solving and cross-grade team building.

III. Spirals of Inquiry Details

Scanning: We surveyed the students in the fall to explore their attitudes and beliefs. We watched them working together in cross-grade groups and realized that they had trouble expressing their needs and ideas to children who were not their own age. Many misunderstandings occurred due to mixed messaging and an inability to empathize and understand the perspective of their audience. We also noticed, coincidentally, that we as professionals were sometimes guilty of that when older staff and new teachers were sharing ideas. We all needed to improve!

Focus: We were hoping to build leadership skills in our students from kindergarten to Grade 7, while also capitalizing on our unique natural surroundings. Additionally, we were hoping to build staff cohesiveness and allow for a more open sharing of ideas and experience between teaching staff.

Hunch: We were noticing difficulties at lunch and recess between students, especially with students in the middle grades (Grades 3 to 5). It seemed as though they did not feel connected to students in the lower and upper elementary. This lead to misunderstandings and hurt feelings. We wanted to find a way to connect students in all grades through a single, all-encompassing project.

New Professional Learning: We drew on each other’s professional and personal experience. We used survival guides and nature guides for our area. We researched outdoor education through websites (Canadian Institute of Forests CIF-IFC.org, Tree Valley Academy treevalleyadademy.com, OutsidePlay.org). We also read “In Our Own Words: Bringing Authentic First Peoples Content to the K-3 Classroom” from the FNESC.

Taking Action: We decided to create a survival scenario for students in Grades K to 7. Students were put in mixed-grade groupings and told to expect daily challenges. The first challenge was to discuss survival in a theoretical way with all members of the group. They had to decide what their needs would be and in what order they should address their priorities. Next they were given their assignment; to find a way to survive after a vehicle breakdown in a remote, wooded area. Students had to discuss all aspects of the incident; their feelings, worries, needs, plans. This was shared with the whole group with drawings and notes on chart paper. Students then explored their ideas further in their journals. The next challenge was to choose a “useful” item from a wide selection of objects provided to them. These items would be the ones in the “car” at the time of the incident. Each child had to justify and defend their choice to group members and then write about its possible uses in their journals. (For example, a recorder could be used as a digger, an emergency whistle, a straw, or a hammer). The next challenge was for each group to find their site. We incorporated learning from our Salmonids in the Classroom program. Each group was asked to use a compass and a scent to find their way home to their “crash site” where they would build their shelter. An orienteering course was provided to each group with a corresponding scent. If they followed the course correctly, they should find a container with the matching scent. After finding their site, we provided each group with a tarp, some bungee cords, and 50 feet of rope. Over the next two weeks, the groups’ challenge was to create a shelter that could protect and comfort up to 6 children. This is the point at which we began to see increasing frustrations due to their lack of communication skills and empathy. We began to mediate discussions with the entire group about issues and possible solutions. These were heart-filled discussions that opened students up to the possibility of others’ perspectives. After this, we began to see a change in students’ attitudes and behaviours. Students spoke more kindly to each other and were more understanding. Some, more reluctant students stepped up to accept more challenges while others, who were previously over assertive, stepped back to allow more people to take the reins. The fort building assignment ended with a collaborative film-making project. Students were tasked with creating a movie trailer which outlined and highlighted their survival challenges and goals. These movie trailers were showcased at a year-end celebration of learning with students, families, and staff.

Checking: Following this project, we reconnected with our group of learners. They all saw each other as people they could rely on. They cheered each other on and had real conversations. Groups helped other groups and shared ideas respectfully. We had no office referrals for behaviour during the duration of our project, or even after it concluded. We would like to try similar projects again next year to see if we can create long-term change for our learners. We also grew as professionals. We can share ideas more freely and are becoming a more cohesive team. We can take risks with each others’ support.

Picture description: The photos show the parts of our project; the planning phase, finding the site, and building a shelter. They were taken in Stewart by Terri Scott.

Reflections/Advice: Next time, we would like to start earlier in the year and have a plan that encompasses even more learning goals. We would like to continue to build the capacity of our educational team so that we can creatively support learners to respect themselves, others, and their environment. As for advice we could give to other schools, it is important to build comfort with the topic and the natural environment prior to attempting such a project. Utilizing many different resources (pictures books, novels, films, documentaries) about survival and adventure is helpful to build background knowledge and attitudes. It is also important for staff to work on smaller, mixed-grade projects before attempting such a large endeavour so students have a chance to get to know one another.

School Name: Nakusp Elementary

School District: SD#10 Arrow Lakes

Inquiry Team Members:
Jenna Alstad: jenna.alstad@sd10.bc.ca
Patti Zeleznik: patti.zeleznik@sd10.bc.ca
Tim Van Brummelen: tim.vanbrummelen@sd10.bc.ca

Inquiry Team Contact Email: megan.martin@sd10.bc.ca

II. Inquiry Project Information

Type of Inquiry: Numeracy & Literacy Project

Grade Levels Addressed Through Inquiry: Primary (K-3)

Curricular Areas Addressed: Language Arts – Literacy, Language Arts – Oral Language, Language Arts – Reading, Language Arts – Writing

Focus Addressed: Differentiated instruction, Flexible learning, Formative assessment, Growth mindset, Inclusion and inclusive instructional strategies, Self-regulation, Social and emotional learning, Universal design for learning

In one sentence, what was your focus for the year? We looked at a diverse group of 2/3 students with a range of reading abilities from pre-K to middle of grade 3.

III. Spirals of Inquiry Details

Scanning: We observed a variety of student reading abilities and queried that due to a lack of practice and home engagement, many students were struggling with literacy skills at their appropriate grade level. We also saw that many students were struggling with completing literacy tasks that were not differentiated. We also conducted a formal reading assessment which supported our observations. We then created small differentiated structured environments to support their specific literacy needs.

Focus: Many students were unable to read and write at their appropriate grade level.

Hunch:
– When lessons are not differentiated, students below grade level could not engage with the material.
– We noticed a lack of home participation, such as not doing home reading or catching up on missed work.
– We had attendance concerns.

New Professional Learning: We continue to look at different literacy programs that support different literacy skills such as phonemic awareness, orthographic mapping, fluency pyramids, comprehension, inferences, and writing in complete sentences.
We met to collaborate every week to check-in, reflect, plan, and re-evaluate our practices to meet group and specific students’ needs. We also shared new findings and resources. We attended POPEY workshops and Allison Ryans (Primary Pond) webinars.

Taking Action: Through formative and summative assessments, we took the students and placed them into 4 different learning groups based on their skills and work habits. We had groups ranging from kindergarten to above grade 3 with different access points to their learning.

Checking: We met weekly to collaborate and discuss students’ reading performance and make decisions to move a child when the group they were in was no longer meeting their needs (progress monitoring). Our groups were ever-evolving and we saw progress for everyone.

Reflections/Advice:
– We plan to continue with this model next year.
– We would advise other schools to have a set literacy time that’s across the primary grades. Have enough adults to break the students into smaller groups and to support collaboration time.
– You need a universal screener to create a baseline (K-2 screener, the DRA and Sounds to Spelling Phonetic Screener).

School Name: Cayoosh Elementary School

School District: SD#74 Gold Trail

Inquiry Team Members: Keri Remple: kremple@sd74.bc.ca, Tammy Mountain: tmountain@sd74.bc.ca, Angela Stott: astott@sd74.c.ca

Inquiry Team Contact Email: kremple@sd74.bc.ca

II. Inquiry Project Information

Type of Inquiry: Numeracy & Literacy Project

Grade Levels Addressed Through Inquiry: Primary (K-3)

Curricular Areas Addressed: Language Arts – Literacy, Language Arts – Oral Language, Language Arts – Reading, Language Arts – Writing

Focus Addressed: Community-based learning, Indigenous pedagogy, Land, Nature or Place-based learning

In one sentence, what was your focus for the year? Our focus was on increasing family engagement and voice in students’ literacy development.

III. Spirals of Inquiry Details

Scanning: Scanning the school-home interactions, our team noticed that most of the communication fell into the “involvement” category instead of resembling the “engagement,” as described by ? Ferlazzo’s (2011) – who states that engagement “lead[s] with its ears – listening to what parents think, dream, and worry about… to gain partners” (p. 12). Report cards, newsletters home and learning conferences all were examples of teachers talking instead of listening. Considering the principle: Learning is holistic, reflexive, reflective, experiential, and relational (focused on connectedness, on reciprocal relationships, and a sense of place), as well as, Learning is embedded in memory, history, and story, we wanted to have families authentically engaged in story creation with students.

Focus: We noticed that there was a consistent pattern of families attending learning conferences, listening to their student (and teacher) and then finishing with the question: but how are they doing? Families did not feel connected to learning experiences and did not have a sense of ownership in their own child’s education.

Hunch: We believed that the school may be contributing to this dynamic by having limited opportunities for families to be deeply engaged with learning experiences; in addition, when families and teachers came together, too often the knowledge was being held by the teacher – the power dynamic was impacting the relationships between the school and the families, as well as the families and their participation in their children’s learning.

New Professional Learning: Keri Remple (team lead) is currently enrolled in UBC’s Masters of Education with a Literacy focus. Her project work has focused on exploring family engagement. These are some of the articles that have helped shaped learning during the project:
– Bartram, B. (2019). Chapter 1: Using Questionnaires. In Lambert, M. (Ed.) Practical Research Methods in Education: An Early Researcher’s Critical Guide. London: Routledge.
– Dewilde, J. (2019). Chapter 11: Ethnography. In Lambert, M. (Ed.) Practical Research Methods in Education: An Early Researcher’s Critical Guide. London: Routledge.
– Dworin, J. (2006). The family stories project: using funds of knowledge for writing. The Reading Teacher, 59(6), 510-520.
– Ferlazzo, L. (2011). Involvement or engagement? Education Leadership, 68(8), 10-14.
– Harris, P., Camaitoga, U., Brock, C., Diamond, A., McInnes, E. & Neill, B. (2021). Co-creating multilingual books with children to foster their literacies. The Reading Teacher, 75(5), 555-565.
– Kellas, J. (2005). Family ties: Communicating identity through jointly told family stories. Communication Monographs, 72(4), 365-389.
– Kim, S. & Song, K. (2019). Designing a community translanguaging space within a family literacy project. The Reading Teacher, 73(3), 267-279.
– Lambert, M. (2019). Chapter 4: Involving children. In Lambert, M. (Ed.) Practical Research Methods in Education: An Early Researcher’s Critical Guide. London: Routledge.
– Leavy, P. (2017). Research design: Quantitative, qualitative, mixed methods, arts-based, and
community-based participatory research approaches. Guilford Publications.
– Moll, L., Amanti, C., Neff, D. & Gonzalez, N. (1992) Funds of knowledge for teaching: Using a qualitative approach to connect homes and classrooms. Theory Into Practice, 31(2), 132-141.
– Moody, S. & Matthews, S. (2022) Reading without words: Cultivating bi/multilingual family engagement. The Reading Teacher, 76(2), 122-130.
– Pole, K. (2015). “Why downt you riyt back to me?” Family letter writing in kindergarten. The Reading Teacher, 69(1), 119-128.
– Rowe, D. & Fain, J. (2013). The family backpack project: Responding to dual-language texts through family journals. Language Arts, 90(6), 402-416.
– Simone, J., Hauptman, A. & Hasty, M. (2019). Better together on behalf of our children. The Reading Teacher, 73(3), 281-289.
– Szech, L. (2021). How the funds of knowledge theory shifted teachers’ dominant narratives of family Involvement. School community journal, 31(1), 149-170.
– Winwood, J. (2019). Chapter 2: Using interviews. In Lambert, M. (Ed.) Practical Research Methods in Education: An Early Researcher’s Critical Guide. London: Routledge
– Wissman, K. (2020). ‘We are stories’: Centering picturebooks in the reading support class. The Reading Teacher, 74(2), 201-207.

Taking Action: Throughout the year, families came into the classroom multiple times to create a fictional story that featured their child as the protagonist. Using story studio materials, caregivers and children wove family memories, favourite foods, and meaningful places throughout their narratives – as well as several fantastical elements too (mermaids and robotic skunks to name a few). We used Zoom to meet with Indigenous artist Amanda Ned (who used to go to Cayoosh Elementary as a student!), to share details about the stories so she could create illustrations. After multiple drafts, the final stories and illustrations were published in a book that was shared at our Exhibition of Learning.

Checking: The project was a huge success in terms of family engagement (every child had a guest during family sessions – we got creative with inviting older siblings from the high school, family friends and even meeting off school grounds if needed) and built connections between the classroom and home. Along with strengthening home-school relationships, the project embedded literacy learning throughout as families wrote dialogue, similes and descriptive passages together.

Reflections/Advice: We are very interested in using the format of hosting family shared activities in other curricular areas – we are considering doing a monthly math session next year where families would start by investigating an artefact that connects to our district’s St’át’imc Scope and Sequence, asking “what math lives here?” and then playing games that support learning goals in the classroom. We are hoping to work towards a spring project where every family collects an artefact with the same guiding question.