November Numeracy Committee Meeting Minutes

Six Nations District Numeracy Committee Meeting Minutes

Thursday, November 19^th, 2009

JC Hill (2:30 – 4:00)

Agenda Items	Present: Janis Thomas, Alice Anderson, Sandy Hill, Joe Restoule General Regrets: Luanne Martin Absent: Carrie Froman, Judy McNaughton
Review minutes from last meeting	Comment was made to receive the minutes in a more timely fashion. Attention will be made to this in for future meetings. Joe followed up on several items from the minutes. He spoke about our ability to access grade 9 EQAO data. There are several factors prohibiting this, namely student “mydent” numbers that are used to identify and track students. Previous access to the data that was referred to at October’s meeting was actually an initiative of a single individual that took it upon themselves to organize and compile data. It was time extensive and onerous. GEDSB consultants indicated that EQAO data is usually used to move forward upon and that grade 9 data isn’t utilized by grade seven and eight teachers in a retrospective fashion. The 3 Year District Numeracy Plan was revised and distributed. Joe followed up on the number of strands that GEDSB is expected to report on. Joe’s contact said that most schools used the Ministry direction of reporting on every strand at least twice; some schools report on Number Sense and Numeration each term. There is no formal ruling or practice. There is some piloting in the province of a new report card which may affect how Mathematics reporting is done in the future. Once more information is learned, it will be shared with the committee.
SEED Proposal for Math Assessment Tools	A proposal that was written and presented to Imperial Oil for Math Assessment tools was shared. The proposal was approved and will provide each school with a complete set (one for each grade) of Pearson’s Numeracy Nets, and Nelson’s ONAP (Ontario Numeracy Assessment Program), as well as a CD-ROM of the 26 volumes of The Super Source for K-8. Professional development will be arranged at a future date, either through the companies themselves, by the District Numeracy teacher, or both. There was a question of whether this proposal should have included or been used to purchase manipulatives. It was discussed by the committee that most schools/classrooms were well stocked with manipulatives from previous orders and school initiatives. It was raised that some classrooms may still be lacking in this regard. Joe to construct a manipulative/resource checklist and visit all schools to ensure that all classrooms are properly stocked with necessary items/materials.
CAT/Insight Testing Opportunity	Committee reviewed their respective school’s interest in taking advantage of the free CAT/Insight testing offered by CTC (Canadian Test Centre). Samples of the test were given out for all schools at the November PAC meeting. ECG has several teachers expressing interest in participating for the spring session. Other schools had either not discussed this with their staff or were not in attendance to express their interest. Joe to follow up with the principals to confirm their inclusion in the testing.
Math contest (Caribou)	Contestant results from the grade 5 and 6 Caribou contest in October were shared. See Numeracy blog for full results. Students who participated were excited and actively engaged in the test and eager to hear their results. Much enthusiasm was expressed by the students. It was noted that the committee would attempt to increase participation from the schools. OMSK has an entire class registered for the January contest. Future dates can be found on the Numeracy blog.
ILT Literacy/Math Night on November 26th	Janis spoke about the activity she is doing for the upcoming Literacy and Math Night on November 26th at ILT. Joe shared his activity as well. It will be from 6pm to 7pm.
ECOO Conference	Joe shared a number of resources received at the ECOO conference. Each school received a free 30 day trial of Brain Pop to use in the schools. Math software was shared and demonstrated. Other on-line resources were explored by the committee. Many of these titles and licenses are made available to provincial schools through the Ministry of Education and OSAPAC. Joe to follow up on the state of our ability to license and/or receive these resources. Leslie White-Eye and Dan Dunnigan were two names that were suggested for further information. Mike Hickey was working on this in his role as District Technology teacher.
The Grade 7-9 continuum put out by Grand Erie: follow up	Joe spoke about the Math Connections poster and explained the idea and concept behind it from his conversation with GEDSB consultants. He also shared that GEDSB is beginning to look at grades 7 to 10 as an entire block in much of their future planning.
Report Card Inserts	Two Ministry documents are on order to be sent home with the report cards on December 4th. One is from 2003, the other from 2007. The former is more primary focused and the latter is more junior centered. It was decided by the committee that sending home a copy of each document to every student wouldn’t hurt.
Review 3 Year Plan in Final Draft Form	Some schools had received a copy of the updated Three Year Numeracy District Plan that was given out at the PAC meeting. Other schools had yet to see it or were not in attendance to confirm having received the newest version. Feedback from each school’s staff members is expected for future review and reflection on the three year plan. Joe indicated that he would like to have a fully electronic version completed which would mean altering the appendices. He will follow up on this.
Numeracy Committee Goals for 2009-2010	The committee was to set some goals and/or identify the items in the plan that we can focus on for the 2009-2010 school year. As the meeting was poorly attended, it was determined to suspend this agenda item until greater representation is present. It was discussed that we are already advancing and enacting upon several of the goals in the three year plan and should continue to do so.
Ready, Set, Green!	A new ministry document on environmental education was shared. The recommendation was made to order one for every teacher in the district. Joe agreed to do this.