May 31, 2023
Academic Services
Student Services
Our Autism Teacher Specialist, Ambrah MacNeil has been working with communities to provide resources for their neurodiverse learners. In March, several schools filled out a form detailing their requests and this month those items were delivered. Teachers received items ranging from sensory items to educational resources. Ambrah also provided a PD session to Early learner educators this month and has helped to coordinate community sessions provided by Autism NS.
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Post Secondary
Our Post Secondary Navigator, Melissa Reid, has been coordinating cultural workshops throughout the maritimes this month. She held sessions at Mt Allison University, UPEI, Eskasoni TEC, CBU, Wagmatcook and EEMS. Students had the opportunity to make Ribbon Skirt/Shirts , drums, medicine pouches and more. These sessions have been quite well attended and the students are so proud of their work!
Elementary Math
Our Elementary Numeracy Consultant Kyla Bernard is always excited to share our MK schools progress summary from IXL. Teachers and students are finding this effective for answering variations of question types related to different skills in mathematics. The interest and engagement shows in the use of the program with lots of excellent feedback :) Way to go students and teachers!
The Aliet holistic MK math assessments have been completed by many students. Kyla is excited to share that this is the first time since covid that they were actually fully completed with over 100 students in grade 1 and 2, all while having fun interacting with the iPad and Aliet. "Students were saying, 'I can't wait to do math now!' said Kyla. "It was so nice to see and hear. I just want to thank all the students and teachers who made this year a success with MK's math holistic assessment."
Other Countries, in particular the United States, have turned their attention to holistic math assessments and the model, reasoning, design and impact that it is making. To read more information about the early years assessment and the developers selected, here is the article: https://www.mdrc.org/news/announcement/pre-k-assessment-developers-selected-measures-early-success-initiative
Kyla is also very excited to share that she has completed an Aliet and Friends practice Math Activities resource. The learning outcomes are from Grade Primary but it can be used in early years and/or other elementary grades as well. This specific resource took a lot of planning to ensure that students can see their Mi'kmaw language in their school work. Students will see the L'nuimk Characters that they see in their classrooms that connect throughout the resource. It will also include parts where they can hear the language. There will be QR codes that can take students and teachers to a link that will play Kyla saying the words so they can hear Mi'kmaw as well.
Mi'kmaw Language and Culture
Early Childhood Education
In early May, we sent 36 Early Years Educators from 11 communities to attend professional development at the NSCC Kingstec. They attended various sessions: Documenting your vision, Risky Play Indoors & Outdoors, Inviting Loose Parts Play, Celebrating Children Through Learning Stories, The Power of Storytelling & Celebrating Families Through Rituals & Traditions. They enjoyed all of the sessions and learned a lot of new ideas to take back to their classrooms.
Treaty Education
This month, the Treaty Ed team visited students from Paqtnkek at the Antigonish East Education Centre to discuss what Treaty Education means to them. They had a lot of great feedback on what they already know and what they would like to learn more about. They provided a great perspective on what it is like to be a student in the provincial system and what they think would be helpful for their peers to know about Mi'kmaw Culture.
The team has also been working on the second edition of the Treaty Ed magazine. They had visits in both Paqtnkek and Pictou Landing to take photos for the upcoming edition. Stay tuned for the release date!