FAQ

Start slowly. It will take some time for students, their families, and teachers to adjust to this new and unfamiliar learning situation.

Rather than trying to replicate the classroom experience, provide for learning experiences that are brief and have a specific mathematical learning goal. Over the next several weeks we will be providing examples across the strands in grade bands.

Identify a few main learning goals for the rest of the year and make a soft plan – even just one week at a time. Choose what you consider the most essential learning standards first. For smaller or less essential learning standards, it is enough just to expose them to the concept by way of introduction.

More important than grade-level content expectations are meaningful experiences that connect students to mathematics, especially through competencies.

Consider integrating a routine once or twice per week. This webpage includes links to some routines.

Check this website regularly where we will be posting ideas and content on a regular basis.

Follow us on Twitter (Marc, Chris, Jess)

Speaking of Twitter, if you have a tweet or retweet that you think is helpful for supporting numeracy/mathematics learning at home, use the hashtag #sd36numeracy

If you have a specific question, please feel free to email one of us (Marc, Chris, Jess)

From individuals and teams of educators to provinces and districts to publishers and digital product designers, there is a wealth of math resources being created and shared online. The challenge during this time will not be in finding materials, but in purposefully selecting which of these to draw from.

In the Links section of this website, we have attempted to pull together some of the more promising of these resources. Even with some filtering from us, this list can be overwhelming! Again, start small. If a resource meets the needs of you and your learners, give yourself permission to omit or to hold back on exploring and introducing additional resources.

Surrey Schools has a process in place to ensure the quality of materials made available to Surrey teachers and learners through school LRS funds. This process involves periodically bringing teams of classroom teachers together to review resources in consideration of established criteria (curricular alignment, access for all learners, positive representations of identity, etc.). Sometimes, a resource does not sufficiently meet the criteria and is not approved by the team. These decisions will not be reversed due to COVID-19. Further, due to everyone working remotely, we are unable to approve any new resources during this time.

During this time, many companies are offering free extended trials of products that would have previously required district funds. Teachers will continue to use their professional judgement in evaluating free learning resources. The Numeracy Team asks these three guiding questions when evaluating learning resources, which may be helpful:

• Does it support BC’s learning standards? Does it support the development of both mathematical content knowledge and curricular competencies? Note: Some of our recommended sites are not designed specifically for BC, so teachers need to keep this in mind as they browse sites from outside of the province.

• Does it help students develop conceptual understanding? Is the emphasis on sense-making rather than answer-getting? Is procedural fluency built upon a foundation of conceptual understanding?

• Does it promote positive attitudes towards learning mathematics? What is the hidden curriculum? Does the designer of the digital resource value depth–rather than speed–of learning? Are mistakes valued as opportunities to learn? Does the designer view all children as mathematical thinkers, capable of having interesting and important ideas of their own?

The goal is not to replicate in-person classroom experiences but rather to support parents in continuing to connect their children to learning. We can support parents by being mindful of the variety of challenges families are facing at this time and allowing for flexibility.

Some students and families may want a daily math task while others will be happy to have a few things suggested for them to choose from for the week.

Beyond whatever ideas you provide, direct parents to the Extending Learning at Home page that was put together by the district specifically for parents.

We have added a Teaching page to suggest some ideas.