outdoors Archive - Mathematics and Science in SD#38 (Richmond)

Archive for the ‘outdoors’ Category

2019-2020 primary teachers study group: session one

Posted on: October 16th, 2019 by jnovakowski

This year’s primary teachers study group has chosen the focus of trans-disciplinary learning in outdoor settings, connecting to the land and to place. For our first session of the year we met at McNeely Elementary on October 3, hosted by Anna and Shannon. Teachers were able to choose a focus book from four selections that we will draw upon over our time together this year.

Jess Eguia framed our focus around thinking about planning through big ideas and concepts and shared some planning frameworks to support our work together.

Concept and planning handouts from Jess Eguia:

Change Concept Handout

Conceptual Teacher Tool

Anna and Shannon shared the planning they have been doing with Jess and the three questions that are framing their year of learning with their students.

We moved outside to the wooded area near McNeely. Teachers were asked to think about how the land inspired them to think about concepts. Some of us began with a concept and looked for where we made connections to that concept.

With thanks to Jessica Szeto of Anderson Elementary for sharing her knowledge of local mushroom species. “For Richmond/Vancouver specific mushrooms that are more urban, the ones in the list are the ones that come to mind. There are also some other mushrooms that have been spotted in Richmond, but they look quite similar to each other (ie. russulas, cone caps) and need some closer looks at the gills and spores to identify. But the ones above are the most memorable and easy to identify!”

Mushrroom pictures and list: Mushroom PDF

Our study group is in its seventeenth year and has endured because of the teachers involved and the participatory nature and the valued contributions within our group.

Looking forward to our next session together in November and how we might share our thinking.

~Janice

outdoor classroom day: November 1 2018 and May 23 2019

Posted on: July 3rd, 2019 by jnovakowski

Outdoor Classroom Day is an international initiative to promote the importance of children experiencing the outdoors. The event began in London, England in 2012, grew internationally in 2015 and became a global project in 2016 with the support of educators, environmentalists, play experts, NGOs, Project Dirt and Unilever. The organization supports and shares research around the benefits of playing and learning outdoors. More information can be found on the website HERE.

We participated in our first Outdoor Classroom Day on November 1 with three classes at Grauer. Each class began with some time in The Studio where we shared ideas about where and how we might see and experience mathematics outdoors. I shared a different book of images with each class to inspire their mathematical thinking.

It was pouring rain most of the day, but being the day after Hallowe’en it was actually a good day to be outside and moving.

Each class took on different tasks with the grades 1&2 classes looking for and thinking about estimating, counting, size (measuring) and shape.

The grades 3&4 class worked in small groups with a task card prompting them to search for things outside involving mathematical ideas such as symmetry, fractions and measurement.

As we were coming inside, one of the grade 2 students said, “This was the best math day ever!”

The next Outdoor Classroom Day for this school year was May 23. The grades 3 and older classes at Grauer were at the district track meet, so the three K-2 classes spent the day outside together. We took our new Outdoor Studio Wagon with us outside and it was filled with materials, tools and resources to support and inspire our mathematical thinking.

We began our morning by finding out own counting collections outdoors and then recorded our counts in different ways. Some students gathered leaves, twigs or pieces of park to group and count while others found multiples in plants such as buttercups (counting the flowers by 1s and the petals by 5s) and clover (counting the leaves by groups of 3s).

After recess, we considered different types of branding and growing patterns that we noticed in the growth of trees, plants, leaves, flowers and roots and captured these patterns with clay prints and plant prints using rubber mallets.

Here are the contents in the Outdoor Studio Wagon:

SD38_Outdoor_Studio_Wagon_list

The next Outdoor Classroom Day is November 7 2019. You can sign up HERE.

~Janice

2018-2019 primary teachers study group: session six

Posted on: June 7th, 2019 by jnovakowski

Our final session of the year was hosted at Thompson Elementary on May 16. Inspired by our core resource, Messy Maths by Juliet Robertson, we created outdoor ten frames using pieces of cotton fabric and sharpies. These ten frame can be used to count quantities of found objects to ten as well as using for grouping smaller objects like pebbles or acorns. And they are washable and re-usable and can be used in the rain which makes them ideal for outdoor learning where we live!

We also used rubber mallets on cotton cloth to create leaf and flower prints to explore the shape, size and symmetry of local plants. This is the just right time of year to do this when the cells of plants and petals are full of moisture.

Teachers shared the different ways we have been using our focus picture book Flow, Spin, Grow by Patchen as we have found growing, swirling and branching patterns outdoors.

We also shared information about the Lost Ladybug Project – a fun way to engage students in looking closely for ladybug species, taking photographs and sharing the location of the find with the world through the website HERE

The Thompson team toured us through their outdoor learning space and showed us their student’s mapping project.

Thank you to Denise, Tanya and Danielle and their teacher candidates for hosting us!

We have surveyed the group and it looks like next year’s focus will be interdisciplinary learning outdoors. We will be able to connect our work around storytelling and math outdoors from the last two years as we move forward together in our professional learning.

~Janice

2018-2019 primary teachers study group: session five

Posted on: June 5th, 2019 by jnovakowski

Our fifth session of the year was hosted by Sarah Regan at Homma Elementary o April 11. Teachers shared how they had been using the book Flow Spin Grow and our French Immersion teachers were happy to have the French version now available! Teachers shared how they took photographs of the types of patterns they found outdoors and used them for inspiration in the classroom for creating patterns with materials, doing looking closely observations for science, inspiring artistic creations, etc.

After our professional sharing, the group visited the Homma Gardens and outdoor classroom and shared ideas around how mathematics can be experienced in the garden at this time of year such as building trellises (shape, design, symmetry, measurement) and reading seed packages (time, duration, elapsed time, measuring time, measuring depth, measuring distance apart, estimating height).

Thank you to Homma for hosting!

~Janice

March thinking together: engage in problem-solving experiences connected with place, story and cultural practices and perspectives

Posted on: March 14th, 2019 by jnovakowski

This month’s curricular competency focus is engage in problem-solving experiences that are connected to place, story, cultural practices and perspectives relevant to local First Peoples communities, the local community, and other other cultures. This curricular competency is the same across grades K-12 and courses and falls under the organizer of “Understanding and Solving” which suggest the focus of using contextual and meaningful experiences to support mathematical understanding.

Elaborations are suggestions for educators to consider as they plan for developing this curricular competency:

in daily activities, local and traditional practices, the environment, popular media and news events cross-curricular integration
have students pose and solve problems or ask questions connected to place, stories and cultural practices

The focus and thinking behind this curricular competency are the ideas of authenticity, meaningfulness, engagement and connectedness. Not all mathematics learning needs be contextualized or connected to “real life” but for many students who may see math as something that they do at school between 9 and 10am and don’t yet see the relevance of the math they are learning, providing tasks and problems that connect to place, community and culture may support their mathematical thinking and learning and broaden their understanding and appreciation for what math is and how it can be experienced. Experiential and holistic learning are foundational to the First Peoples Principles of Learning and these are considerations for all learners. The First Peoples Principles of Learning also remind of us of the importance of connecting learning through place and story, working with others and developing a self of self, family, community and culture. This curricular competency is aligned with the Personal and Social Core Competency – positive personal and cultural identity, personal awareness and responsibility and social responsibility.

Some resources to consider:

Messy Maths by Juliet Robertson (elementary resource for taking math learning outdoors)

Tluuwaay ‘Waadluxan Mathematical Adventures edited by Dr. Cynthia Nicol and Joanne Yovanovich (mathematical adventures from Haida Gwaii developed by community members, elders and educators)

BC Numeracy Network – Connecting Community, Culture and Place

First Peoples Mathematics 8&9 developed by FNESC – this teacher-created resource is being revised to reflect the current BC mathematics curriculum and provide more learning experiences across grades and disciplines.

Blog posts from this site with related information:

Place-Based Mathematics

Place-Based Mathematical Inquiry

Primary Study Group 2018-2019 – Outdoors Math

Indigenous Content and Perspectives in Math

Some questions to consider as you plan for learning opportunities to develop the competency of engaging in problem-solving experiences connected to place, story and cultural practices and perspectives:

How does place/land/environment inspire mathematical thinking? What potential numeracy or problem-solving tasks emerge when we think about local land-based contexts?

What problems or issues are facing the local community? How might mathematics help us to think about and understand these problems or issues? What information or data might be collected and shared? How can we use different tools to communicate mathematical information to create an opportunity for discussion and engaging in a problem-solving process?

How does Indigenous knowledge connect, intersect and support the curricular competencies and content in our mathematics curriculum? Who is a knowledge holder in your local First Nations community that you could learn from and with?

What are authentic resources? What stories and cultural practices are public and able to be shared? What doe it mean to use authentic resources, stories, and elements of culture in our mathematics teaching? How are resources specific to a local context? Who can we go to to find out more information and learn about local protocols?

What cultural practices in your community have mathematics embedded in them? How might we use the structure of “notice, name and nurture” to expand awareness of what mathematics is and how it can be experienced?

How can stories help us think about the passage of time, relationships, connections and mathematical structures, actions and models?

~Janice

2018-19 primary teachers study group: session 4

Posted on: March 11th, 2019 by jnovakowski

Our fourth session was held at Blair Elementary, hosted by Karen and Tanyia. They shared the development of their outdoor learning space and how it and the gardens are being used by teachers and students in the school.

We walked around the school grounds, looking for inspiration for mathematical thinking. At this time of year, you can really see the structure of the deciduous trees and it is an opportunity to notice lines, shapes and angles. With moss and lichen growing on some trees and on fences, there are lots of math-inspired questions that can be investigated around the life cycle, size and growth of these unique living things.

We noticed many trees with some interesting growth patterns and markings (some caused by pruning according to our master gardener Megan). What stories live in these trees? What might a timeline of a tree’s life look like? Seasons, years, decades – such an interesting lens to explore concepts of time through.

Sarah Regan and Megan Zeni were awarded this year’s June Chiba Sabbatical and used their release time to visit several outdoor/nature focused schools across southern BC. We were happy to host them and have them share some of their experiences.

Our next study group book is the Canadian children’s book Flow Spin Grow: Looking for Patterns in Nature. It connects really well with our focus this year of finding and investigating mathematics outdoors. After sharing our focus on twitter, the author shared his website where he has curated some resources to complement the book HERE.

I know my eyes will be open for all sorts of patterns – branching, spiralling, spinning – as spring emerges around us.

Have a lovely spring break!

~Janice

2018-19 primary teachers study group: session 3

Posted on: March 11th, 2019 by jnovakowski

Our third session was hosted by Jessica, Lisa, Laura and Sasha at Anderson Elementary. A couple of the teachers are particularly knowledgable about mushrooms and shared information about the fungi in the neighbourhood.

We walked through Garden City Park and the Anderson teachers shared how they use the space over the school year to observe and document seasonal changes. The students were also very observant of how the windstorms this fall/winter affected the park and the changes created by the storms. The City of Richmond has created an arboretum area on the west side of the park, with plaques identifying and describing the trees. There is also the opportunity to observe birds and other urban wildlife in the park.

A focus of some of the teachers has been on the human impact on the local environment. Some questions for teachers and students to consider:

How can mathematics help us to understand this issue?

What data/information could be collected and how could it be shared?

What information could be collected?

How might different ways of sharing information have an impact on understanding of the issue?

What actions could we take?

Looking forward to seeing how different schools and classes make connections between mathematics and their outdoor environment.

~Janice

2018-19 primary teachers study group: session 2

Posted on: December 12th, 2018 by jnovakowski

Our second session of this year’s primary teachers study group was hosted by Anna and Shannon at McNeely Elementary. Anna shared the book about mushrooms that her students researched and wrote after finding and investigating the mushrooms they found in their mini-forest near the school.

The class was also inspired by one of our study group books, Anywhere Artist, and went out into their mini-forest to create art with found materials.

The land art of UK artist James Brunt (on twitter at @RFJamesUK) also inspired us to take on the #100LeavesChallenge.

Anna and Shannon toured us through McNeely’s new outdoor learning space and through their mini-forest, adjacent to the school.

Together we shared ideas for how different plants, trees and animals could inspire mathematical thinking or questions to investigate.

Thank you to Anna and Shannon for hosting us!

~Janice

2018-19 primary teachers study group: session 1

Posted on: December 12th, 2018 by jnovakowski

Beginning our sixteenth year, the Richmond Primary Teachers Study Group met for the first time this school year on October 11 at Diefenbaker Elementary. As agreed upon by study group participants, this year’s focus is on the teaching and learning of mathematics in places and spaces outdoors, considering both how to take mathematics outdoors but also how the outdoors can inspire mathematical thinking.

Our three study groups books that we are going to draw inspiration from this year are:

Messy Maths by Juliet Robertson

50 Fantastic Ideas for Maths Outdoors by Kristine Beeley

Anywhere Artist by Nikki Slade Robinson

There are so many books and resources available to support our professional inquiry together this year.

We spent some time exploring the Diefenbaker garden, playground and new outdoor learning area and considering what math we could find in these spaces.

One of the tasks we did was using materials or referents to estimate and create the length of one metre. We followed this up by each making our own “Sammy the Snake” – a one metre length of rope (idea from the Messy Maths book). This length of rope can be part of a “go bag” to take outside for measuring lengths, perimeter, circumference of trees and to think about fractions (by folding the length of rope). It is a flexible tool to support students’ developing understanding of comparing, ordering and constructing concepts of measurement and number.

Thanks to the Diefenbaker team for hosting us!

~Janice

2017-18 primary teachers study group: session six

Posted on: June 6th, 2018 by jnovakowski

For our sixth and final primary teachers study group session of this school year, Megan Zeni hosted us at the outdoor classroom at Homma. Megan shared the story of the space and how it has developed over time as well as shared the logistics of her “prep teaching” position in the outdoor classroom.

We explored the different spaces in Homma’s outdoor classroom to consider opportunities for storytelling and play.

We had lots of great conversation about risky play and the gross motor and social-emotional learning that happens when students engage with large materials, building and play in outdoor spaces.

As we left the Homma school grounds and walked towards the south arm of the Fraser River, we considered the story of this place. The boardwalk and buildings along the river help to uncover the story of the people of this place and how the river has been used over time.

It has been a great year of primary teachers coming together in different places and spaces to think about how outdoor learning experiences can inspire different types of stories and curricular connections.

Looking forward to another year of learning together.

~Janice