Mr. Stephens and Mrs. Baker, Superior North Catholic District School Board(SNCDSB) Math Leads, regularly visit SNCDSB schools to support teachers and students in their math learning. This year SNCDSB has rolled out a new math program that aligns with the 2020 Ontario Math curriculum. MathUp supports all educators from Kindergarten to Grade 8, and beyond.

Mr. Stephens worked alongside the Kindergarten team (Mrs. Sarah Traintinger and Mrs. Stacy McGuire) at St. Edwards Catholic School in modelling an inquiry-based math lesson from MathUP. The class was trying to figure out how to orally measure and estimate the passing of time in seconds. They investigated that most 3-syllable words when counting match up to the passing of one second. They tried counting outloud ‘one-briella, two-briella, three-briella’ and ‘one-mercedes, two-Mercedes, three-mercedes.’ They explored other ways to count and then embraced our learning in a friendly competition to measure how long it takes to get dressed for recess by gearing up with our winter wear. This MathUP inquiry lesson is one of many within the program. Kindergarten learning is often spontaneous and centered around student interests. The MathUP program was created with this type of teaching in mind and offers many sample inquires like the one explored during this lesson but it also offers possible jumping-off points to spark curiosity for future lessons.

Mr. Stephens asked Mrs. Traintinger and Mrs. McGuire what they thought about the newly purchased MathUP program: “Math Up is a great program because all of the resources, i.e. - games, number talks, inquiries, and lessons are all in one place, and we can easily access it as our student interests change. Our students love it, and we had such a fun time with Mr. Stephens learning about measurement.”