Welcome to Gr.5-8 Navigate Math

This site is designed to support your home-learning math program

How this resource is organized

This home page includes an overview, tips for home facilitators, a note on communication and a summary of core competencies. Each grade level has the following pages: suggested programs that cover the BC curriculum, supplemental resources, curriculum overview and assessment options. Suggested calendars for all subjects are included on the main page for each grade level. Suggested calendars for each math program in more detail are included on the program overview page.

Tips on being a successful home learning facilitator

It is suggested that you choose one of the three main math programs and commit to completing the program over the course of the school year to ensure the BC curriculum is covered. Support your learning with paper-based workbooks, manipulatives and other virtual and hands-on games and activities. Suggestions for supplemental resources can be found on the resource page for each grade level.

***If your child's learning program is modified or adapted, please speak with his/her teacher about personalizing the math program

• Use this site to develop a big picture of the course you are facilitating
• Make a plan for the year and stick to it (find links to a suggested calendar on the page for the main program you are using)
• Provide timely feedback to your child and encourage conversation about his/her learning
• Ask questions to encourage your child to think about his/her thinking and communicate about mathematical ideas
• Reflect on thinking regularly
• Provide opportunities for hands-on exploration of math concepts using manipulatives, games and activities
• Make math fun and relevant by finding real world examples
• Connect math concepts to stories and culture
• When possible, include photographs. Photographs and reflections on the learning process are powerful assessments of your child's learning and help to guide next steps

The First Peoples' Principles of Learning may help to guide your home learning program

Communicating about mathematical ideas

Communicating about math ideas is an important part of the new BC math curriculum.

Click here for a list of journal prompts, encouraging students to think and communicate about mathematical ideas.

On the importance of communicating about mathematical ideas from the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM):

"Communication . . . is a way of sharing ideas and clarifying understanding. Through communication, ideas become objects of reflection, refinement, discussion, and amendment. . . . When students are challenged to think and reason about mathematics and to communicate the results of their thinking to others orally or in writing, they learn to be clear and convincing. Listening to others’ explanations gives students opportunities to develop their own understandings. Conversations in which mathematical ideas are explored from multiple perspectives help the participants sharpen their thinking and make connections." (NCTM 2000, p. 60)

Core Competencies

From the BC curriculum: https://curriculum.gov.bc.ca/competencies

The core competencies in the new BC curriculum are sets of intellectual, personal, social and emotional proficiencies that all students need to develop in order to engage in deep and life-long learning. The three core competencies are: communication, thinking and personal and social responsibility. Core competencies are evident in every area of learning, however, they manifest themselves uniquely in each discipline. Students practice these competencies daily as they are an integral part of the learning in all curriculum areas.

Communication: The set of abilities that students use to impart and exchange information, experiences and ideas, to explore the work around them and to understand and effectively engage in the use of digital media.

Thinking (creative and critical): The knowledge, skills and processes associated with intellectual development. It is through their competency as thinkers that students take subject-specific concepts and content and transform them into a new understanding. Thinking competence includes specific thinking skills as well as habits of mind and metacognitive awareness.

Personal and social: The set of abilities that relate to students’ identity in the work, both as individuals and as members of their community and society. Personal and social competency encompasses the abilities students need to thrive as individuals, to understand and care about themselves and others and to find and achieve their purposes in the world.

BC Performance Standards

Grade 4 and 5 Social Responsibility

Grade 6 - 8 Social Responsibility

***Teachers are expected to post a student-led reflection of each competency by the end of the school year. These can look different but must be in the voice of the student.