I. General Information
School Name: Maddaugh Elementary
School District: SD#36 Surrey
Inquiry Team Members: Lilliana Bolton: bolton_l@surreyschools.ca
Gina Smith: smith_gina@surreyschools.ca
Inquiry Team Contact Email: whintors_n@surreyschools.ca
II. Inquiry Project Information
Type of Inquiry: NOIIE Case Study
Grade Levels Addressed Through Inquiry: Primary (K-3), Intermediate (4-7)
Curricular Areas Addressed: Language Arts – Oral Language, Mathematics / Numeracy, Science
Focus Addressed: Local Indigenous Knowledges, Land, Nature or Place-based learning
In one sentence, what was your focus for the year? Natural dying and weaving with Nadine McSpadden.
III. Spirals of Inquiry Details
Scanning: I am working with a group of teachers who have always wanted to engage their class in Coast Salish Weaving. This year, our school goal is computational fluency. We want to incorporate meaningful learning around computational fluency to engage and inspire students.
Focus: We plan to bring computational fluency in relation to land-based Indigenous Learning, to ‘make’ and ‘create’ through the lens of Coast Salish weaving. To inspire and root ‘computational fluency’ in a meaningful way that allows learners to see where math lives in place.
Hunch: Our hunch was that students would learn through creating, build a relationship with math, and create an experience that would live in their hearts and minds. Often, when we engage in computational fluency, we use manipulatives, paper and pencils. When learning touches the heart, it stays with the learner. Creating experiences where children take something from the land, learn about Coast Salish culture and practice, and ‘make’ and ‘create’ is powerful, inclusive learning.
New Professional Learning: Lilliana and I were introduced to Beadographer (https://beadographer.com/). We hosted an Indigenous Family evening and worked collaboratively with both Nadine McSpadden and Gina Smith, our Indigenous teacher. We went on a nature walk with Nadine to learn the ‘dyers’ in our local forest.
Taking Action: We brought in Nadine McSpadden with our NOIIE grant money, she is amazing! She took us on a nature walk and we used the Pacific North Coast plant cards with students to learn about the plants in our backyard that are natural dyers. Nadine supplied the wool and our student weaved quarter bags. Nadine incorporated math in the lessons.
Checking: We did make a difference. Students reflected on this learning through video and shared how meaningful this inquiry was. Parents shared with us how students came home and wanted to weave with their families. We brought in more than 50 Indigenous families for a weaving evening where everyone made friendship bracelets and shared snacks.
Reflections/Advice: Lilliana will continue to make quarter bags with her class. I will continue to take students into the forest using the North West Coast Nature cards and look for natural dyers in our forest. If you are interested in this inquiry, I suggest you reach out to Nadine McSpadden and chat. Lilliana really deepened the work by having her students use Book Creator to document the entire process, looking at both ‘wellbeing’, ‘math’, and ‘making’. This was a very powerful experience, and we will continue it. I would like to ask students who connect with the project to lead learning next year in relation to this work.