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wâhkôhtowin School
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Trustees hear how creative approaches to instruction build math, French skills

December 13, 2018

Dec11CE-1web.jpgStudents and staff from École Alvin Buckwold School shared an innovative approach to building math computational skills along with oral fluency during the Celebrating Excellence portion of the Dec. 11 Board of Education meeting.

Katherine Fiander, a Grade 2 French Immersion teacher, identified computational fluency and understanding of numbers and basic facts, along with the development of French language skills, as areas to focus on with students. She has used creative instructional approaches such as math games to help teach computation. Students build their oral fluency in French through teaching these games to peers in other classrooms. In addition, each student has received a bag of math dice games that parents report are popular in their homes. 

Students shared their learning with the board and then invited trustees to join them in a math dice game.

Other highlights from the meeting were:

  • Trustees received a core strategy update about the elementary and secondary learning supports in French Immersion and the impact on student learning. In French Immersion, French is the language of instruction for all subjects, with the exception of English language arts. The goal is for students to become highly proficient in English and functionally fluent in French. Professional learning for teachers includes a focus on our late French Immersion programming, with a renewed emphasis on professional development and expected practices.

Reports and information presented at board meetings can be found at saskatoonpublicschools.ca. The next meeting of the Board of Education is Tuesday, Jan. 15, 2019, at 7 p.m. The public is welcome to attend.