My Day at Summer Math Camp
Through funding provided by the Literacy and
Numeracy Secretariat and great coordination by the Council of Ontario Directors of
Education, the Ottawa Catholic School Board was able this summer to offer
3-week long math camps for primary-age students at Dr. F. J. McDonald and St.
John Paul II schools. There were 2 goal for this
summer learning program: to prevent summer learning loss and to close
the achievement gap in mathematics. Our
camps were called Count Me In.
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| Math Camp T-shirts given to all students |
At the camps, the children participated in rich and engaging learning activities that not only
reinforced the children’s mathematical skills but also increased their interest in
numeracy. The summer learning program also featured a healthy living component with nutritional snacks and many recreational activities.
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| Agenda for the day at Dr. F J McDonald Summer Math Camp |
Each day, the children were presented with a challenging but fun collaborative math inquiry. The inquiry tasks were activity-based, and in the interest of differentiation, the children were provided with a variety of resources and encouraged to show their thinking in as many different ways as possible.
Newer technologies, such as iPads and Smartboards, were incorporated into these hands-on learning opportunities in order to increase student engagement.
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| Smart board math tasks |
At St. John Paul II, I participated in a sandcastle
building contest with the campers. First, the teachers had the students brainstormed on various ways math is seen or used on the beach. Next, students worked in
teams to create castles that were high, wide and incorporated many different geometric shapes.
Finally, teams worked to measure, count and
compare all of the castles and come up with one team that won in the most
categories. The campers not only learned a great deal about geometry throughout the process but as
well had loads of fun – and I had loads of fun in the sand, too!
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I was quite engaged,along with the students, at
St. John Paul II during the sandmcastle building challenge |
I also had a great time at Dr. F. J. McDonald School participating in a math scavenger hunt. The students were grouped in teams of 3 or 4 and were given 10 tasks to complete in the playground near the school.
