October 15, 2024
.JPG)
We held our annual AGA on October 9th where we presented our Annual Report. The report shares highlights of what we did at Mi'kmaw Kina'matnewey and in our communities throughout the 2023/24 fiscal year.
We celebrated Halloween at MK and our staff dressed up as Disney Characters this year. We had a blast!
Post Secondary
Late in September, a graphic workshop entitled "Planning Alternative Tomorrows With Hope" was held at TEC. Melissa Reid, Adult Education Consultant at MK worked with Adult Education students who took time to plan their goals and develop a visual reminder of what they are working towards for a brighter and better future.
A drum making workshop was held at STFX this month. The session was coordinated by our Post Secondary team and facilitated by Michael R Denny. The students did an amazing job with their drums!
Elementary Math
Our Elementary Numeracy Consultant has been very busy since the beginning of the new school year!
An elementary Math PD was held at Wagmatcook school and Kyla has also offered one on one PD sessions as requested. The annual math conference, where there were some elementary MK teachers in attendance, was a success. In just a few weeks, on November 13, there will be an elementary math PD called "Math for Young Learners" and the presenter is Dr.Marian Small.
Math resources/manipulatives have been sent to MK schools and Kyla has also taken the time to meet with teachers individually.
Teachers have been requesting IXL and a total of 367 MK students in elementary are currently actively using the program. IXL Math Leads from Ontario came to visit MK and will be doing PD sessions with teachers as well. The teachers are excited about IXL having math videos and all the games from abcya linked to the platform.
Kyla also offered an EA module for the MK teachers on October 8. It was an evening virtual event called Improving the odds of diverse learners in Math which was attended by over 50 TA's and EA's!
Aliet assessments training:
Please reach out to Kyla at kyla@kinu.ca if you need Aliet math assessment training. She can set up a time to come to your class, school, or even set up a virtual session if that works for you. Wela'lioq.
.jpeg)
Tech Services
Apple Creative Learning PLN began on October 19. This year we have 35 participants from MK communities! Our strategy this year is to use our past participants, who are Apple Teacher certified, as mentors and actively work on strategies they can take back to the classroom quickly. We will be building a bank of lessons that will be shared with all of MK elementary teachers. We looked at photography and mark up in this session and teachers were super excited to take this skill back to their students and give it a try.
Mi'kmaq Language and Culture
The App development team received some awesome feedback regarding one of their apps this month. Check it out!
"My name is Sheila from École secondaire de Clare in Meteghan River. Thank you for the fabulous app. We were able to make L’uskinikn today with our 9th grade class.
I love that we can toggle between the Mi’kmaw and the English. If you would like to add French in the mix - we could work out a plan to help out."
.jpeg)
Land & Sea-Based Learning
Our Land & Sea-Based Learning Lead had 2 events this month. The first event was held in Potlotek with SuperNOVA from DAL who came out to launch a buoy. About 50 people including students from Mi'kmawey, ALHS, teachers, educators and community members attended this event. This is a project using data sent to a website from a buoy launched in Potlotek that measures things like temperature and wave height in the Bras d'Or next to Miniku. Teachers had PD to learn how to use the real-time info in classroom and community projects.
The second event was Clean Foundation's "Connecting to Nature" workshop for P-3 teachers (12) in Paqtnkek. We learned ways to incorporate land-based learning strategies and climate change info into everyday lesson plans.
