Princess Elizabeth Public School Math Professional Development

GECDSB Mathematics Professional Learning Sessions & Workshops

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Thanks to the staff at Princess Elizabeth for allowing me to join you in your math learning today! Jump to your resources below:


Friday April 28th, 2017 (AM) – Kindergarten/Primary SBL

Great learning with the Kindergarten and Primary Princess Elizabeth Staff today. Please find some resources below:

3 Act Math Task: Toilet Paper Problem

The main math task explored was a modification of Todd Romien’s Toilet Paper Rolls activity where instead of determining how much less toilet paper we now get on a roll, we looked at ways to incorporate multiplication and division strategies when dealing with the number of packages that were on the shelf in the following image:

This gave participants an opportunity to explore multiplication strategies.

I hope to post the task in its entirety shortly, however you can access the slide deck for use in your own classroom here:

Download Task


The GECDSB Mathematics Strategy

GECDSB Math Strategy


Mathematical Proficiencies

The full GECDSB Mathematics Vision is here.

GECDSB Mathematical Proficiencies


Warm-Up: How Do You See the Dots?

We did a quick Dot-Card warm-up asking you to visualize how you saw a series of dots on the screen. We went around the table and it seemed that everyone had a different perspective.

Jo Boaler Dot Card Warm-Up

Here’s some of the ways you might have visualized the dots:


Paying Attention to Spatial Reasoning

We explored some quotes from the Paying Attention to Spatial Reasoning document. Download it in PDF form below:

Paying Attention to Spatial Reasoning Document


We then explored a task called “The Airplane Problem” to break down the idea of a rich task and elements that might exist when we attempt leading a rich task:

[threeactshortcode the_query=”post_type=realworldmath&p=18652″]


We then heard from mathematics education leaders Jo Boaler and Marian Small about their thoughts on open tasks and making tasks rich:

https://youtu.be/5kZH13eTQl8?t=11s

Here are a few more resources we didn’t get to, but you may like:

Tiny Polka Dots

We then shared Daniel Finkel‘s game, Tiny Polka Dots. We made some connections between the counting and quantity principles and the different card decks in this game. Visit the site to buy the game from Amazon or purchase the $5 downloadable PDFs.

Tiny Polka Dots - Math Game - Daniel Finkel



Friday April 28th, 2017 (PM) – Junior/Intermediate SBL

Great learning with the Junior and Intermediate Princess Elizabeth Staff today. Please find some resources below:

The GECDSB Mathematics Strategy

GECDSB Math Strategy


Mathematical Proficiencies

The full GECDSB Mathematics Vision is here.

GECDSB Mathematical Proficiencies


Warm-Up: How Do You See the Dots?

We did a quick Dot-Card warm-up asking you to visualize how you saw a series of dots on the screen. We went around the table and it seemed that everyone had a different perspective.

Jo Boaler Dot Card Warm-Up

Here’s some of the ways you might have visualized the dots:


Paying Attention to Spatial Reasoning

We explored some quotes from the Paying Attention to Spatial Reasoning document. Download it in PDF form below:

Paying Attention to Spatial Reasoning Document


What Do You Notice and Wonder?

We explored this image:

Prime Climb - Showing Numbers 1 to 20

After taking some time to notice and wonder in your groups, participants shared out what they noticed and wondered. Quite a bit of excitement filled the room.

We then let you see this image:

Prime Climb - Numbers 1 to 60

These images are from Daniel Finkel’s Prime Climb game from his website, LoveforMath.com.

Math4Success offers some blog posts [here, here and here] involving ways that you might consider using these images in your classroom.

Daniel Finkel’s TED Talk: Five Principles of Extraordinary Math Teaching

We then watched Daniel Finkel’s inspiring TED Talk:


3 Act Math Task: Toilet Paper Problem

The main math task explored was a modification of Todd Romien’s Toilet Paper Rolls activity where instead of determining how much less toilet paper we now get on a roll, we looked at ways to incorporate multiplication and division strategies when dealing with the number of packages that were on the shelf in the following image:

This gave participants an opportunity to explore multiplication strategies.

I hope to post the task in its entirety shortly, however you can access the slide deck for use in your own classroom here:

Download Task


We didn’t have a whole lot of time today with both groups, but I hope I’ll be able to connect with you all again sometime in the near future!