I. General Information
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.