Grand Erie schools find the fun in Math during Education Week 2016

Caption: A number of Grand Erie students engaged in math activities during the day and with parents and friends in the evening.

All students at St. George-German from Kindergarten to Grade 8 rotated through a variety of open ended problem solving activities planned by staff during the school’s ‘Celebration of Mathematics’ activities on Tuesday, May 3, 2016.

The variety of problems ranged across all of the strands of mathematics and presented challenges to students who were observed by teachers for the strategies they used, key understandings they demonstrated, terminology they used and areas where they had misunderstandings about the problems.

The activities were documented in pictures and videos taken by staff and also the Student Education-Technology Team who will also be creating a visual presentation to show to all students during an ‘All Star Recognition Assembly’ later in the week. Students on the Ed-Tech Team will build the celebration presentation on ‘Sway’ software they learned to use from board level training.

“This is giving students and staff the opportunity to share in the celebration of mathematics problem solving and allow for collaboration between staff and students,” said staff Melissa Schroeder-Hribal and Shannon Wood when asked about the benefits of the planning, observation and sharing of success.

Staff will also meet to review and share their observations to identify areas of growth and continuing needs of students.

“Student engagement in the learning was also very high which is an important aspect to building a positive culture around learning and using mathematics,” added principal Thadeus Zebroski, “ which is also what we will continue to develop.”

St. George-Garman’s math event is only one of many that were scheduled for students and the community during Education Week. Graham Bell-Victoria Public hosted a Math Meet while Walter Gretzky held an Amazing Math Race where participants travelled to different classrooms themed as different countries to solve math problems.

“Math is a priority in Grand Erie, and is identified in a number of school improvement plans,” said Superintendent of Education Linda De Vos. “It’s finding ways to make math fun and engaging that creates for a lasting lesson and meaningful learning.”