School board’s ‘Math for Families’ a plus for learners

Local Journalism Initiative
·2 min read

Virtual Math Night is approaching.

The Near North District School Board has added some digital math tools to help students improve their skills. “Mathematics for Families” can be found on the board’s website, and it offers resources and information to help support children as they develop their math skills.

The board has also launched “Virtual Math Night,” a way for students (and their families) to learn about math in the comfort of their home. The sessions are streamed for free, so all you have to do is pre-register for the event.

“We want kids to be flexible problem solvers,” said Kim Pauli, who serves as the board’s lead for the Math Achievement Plan. Pauli has years of experience, both as a teacher and as a principal, and she’s looking forward to implementing the plan throughout the board.

“The challenge for us is to make sure students are good problem solvers, and good critical thinkers.”

Ontario’s government recently launched the Math Action Achievement Plan, and the Near North District School Board doing its part to make it a success. In September 2023, the province decreed all public-school boards to help students improve scores in reading, writing and math.

The Math Achievement Plan was unveiled, designed to boost student math competency. To ensure the plan is working well throughout the boards, each board designated one lead to oversee the progress of the program.

For the NNDSB, Pauli is that lead. As such, she is responsible for implementing the curriculum and achieving the board-wide targets set by the province.

“I just really feel strongly that the ministry is heading in a really productive direction with this work,” Pauli said.

In 2020 a new math curriculum was rolled out province-wide. The previous curriculum was from 2005. The new elementary curriculum teaches more financial literacy, coding skills, places more emphasis on critical thinking to solve math problems, and has developed lessons to make fractions easier to understand.

Pauli detailed how the board has put together a host of digital math tools to help students, including those found on the “Mathematics for Families” page on the board’s website. Learn about the curriculum and play some math games. There are tools there for parents as well, offering tips on how to bring the joy of math to the homestead.

The board also plans to host a Virtual Math Night to further engage math fans. The next one is on April 25, from 6 to 7 p.m. The JK to Grade 3 session is from 6 to 6:30 and grades 4 to 6 have a session from 6:30 to 7 p.m.

Attendance is free; however, registration is required. The Virtual Math Night occurs online.

David Briggs is a Local Journalism Initiative reporter who works out of BayToday, a publication of Village Media. The Local Journalism Initiative is funded by the Government of Canada.

David Briggs, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, BayToday.ca

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