BC Numeracy Network
K-12 educators collaborating to inspire numeracy across the province through dynamic teaching and learning.
"Just as literacy has become every teacher's responsibility, so numeracy needs to be seen as integral to every learning area."
(Thornton & Hogan, 2004, p. 313)
Instructional Routine Cards
This set of 26 cards (7" x 9") presents three instructional routines with connections to resources created by Canadian educators: Nat Banting, Mary Bourassa and Pierre Tranchemontagne. They include a description of the routines (Which One Doesn't Belong, Fractions Talks, and Number Talks), a series of images with prompting questions, and considerations for including these routines in your practice. Great for professional discussions with colleagues!
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BCNN Q&A Summer 2022
The following are a collection of questions and requests provided to the BC Numeracy Network by BC educators during the summer of 2022 via Twitter. We have responded to each and included links to relevant resources in hopes this provides support to our colleagues in our current context.
What instructional approaches and assessment tasks can I use at the beginning of the school year to better understand where my students are in their mathematics and numeracy development as well as build a positive classroom community of learners?
Some ideas for beginning of the year instructional routines and assessment tasks and tools can be found on our website here: https://sites.google.com/view/bc-numeracy-network/tools-for-planning-and-assessment
What different K-12 mathematics and numeracy projects and initiatives are happening in districts and schools across BC?
The BC Numeracy Network will be curating a page on our website with links to different mathematics and numeracy projects happening across the province so that we can learn from and be inspired by each other. To submit a link to a project in your school or district, please click HERE.
Where can I find ideas for including numeracy experiences across the grades and across all areas of learning?
K-12 teachers, school departments/staffs and districts across the province are developing numeracy tasks and projects that embed numeracy in many curricular areas. It is our plan to curate some of these ideas, tasks and projects and post them on our website. Stay tuned for more information!
What are some different pedagogical approaches to including the First Peoples Principles of Learning and Indigenous content and perspectives into the teaching and learning of mathematics?
There is significant work being done in this area across the province with key resources including the First Nations Education Steering Committee (FNESC) and the K-12 Indigenous Math Network. Related resources and ideas can be found on our website here: https://sites.google.com/view/bc-numeracy-network/balanced-numeracy-framework/connections/how-do-i-weave-through-the-first-peoples-principles-of-learning
Where can I find resources to support development of number concepts and operations across the grades?
Building pedagogical content knowledge about children’s understanding of number is essential in both planning for instruction and assessing student learning. Key resources for learning more about learning progessions/trajectories can be found on our website here: https://sites.google.com/view/bc-numeracy-network/balanced-numeracy-framework/assessment/how-do-i-know-what-my-students-know-can-do-and-understand
and here: https://sites.google.com/view/bc-numeracy-network/balanced-numeracy-framework/foundations/foundational-principles (scroll to near bottom of this page)
Where can I find more resources to support my understanding of Building Thinking Classrooms?
Building Thinking Classrooms in Mathematics, Grades K-12 by Peter Liljedahl was published by Corwin in 2020. More information about the book can be found here: https://ca.corwin.com/en-gb/nam/building-thinking-classrooms-in-mathematics-grades-k-12/book268862
Peter also shares pedagogical practices and tasks on his website here:
https://www.peterliljedahl.com
And a book study guide is available on the still being developed Building Thinking Classrooms website here:
https://buildingthinkingclassrooms.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Book-Study-Guide.pdf
Where can I find examples of K-12 proficiency scales?
Developing proficiency scales for mathematics and numeracy tasks, projects, and units of study are being developed by educators across the province. These scales are often very localized or contextual in relation to the learning goals developed and the learning standards being assessed. During this school year, the BC Numeracy Network will be developing a series of questions/prompt to support the development of proficiency scales and share some examples. This will be posted on our website when available.
The BC Ministry of Education in collaboration with the BCTF and educators from independent schools have been developing proficiency standards for K-12 literacy and numeracy over the last two years. The full scales will likely be publicly available during this school year.