Learning Opportunities

Two-Day Primary Math Institute

Children arrive in Grade 1 with a range of abilities —from those just learning to count to those who can add, subtract, multiply, and divide with small numbers. How do teachers support all of these children to learn with understanding, enthusiasm, and proficiency? In this highly interactive course, we focus on recognizing and assessing children’s initial thinking so that we can help them to develop more efficient addition and subtraction strategies.

During the two days we will...

• analyze student videos to learn to recognize and assess the many strategies children use for basic calculations
• develop a continuum of strategies from early counting (e.g., counting three times) through increasingly efficient strategies to knowing the ‘facts’
• analyze student work and thinking on the continuum
• practice mini-lessons, create word problems, and play games that foster children’s growth and learning
• examine the mathematics children can learn at this early age and how it links to and supports math learning at later grades

Registration includes a copy of

 "What to Look For: Understanding and Developing Student Thinking in Early Numeracy" by Alex Lawson