GETCA 2025

Session description: This interactive session will first explore the commutative property and fact families that are integral to learning multiplication and division facts and then cover our Thinking Strategies series approach: “chunking” facts into groups, developing efficient thinking strategies for each chunk, and the importance of drill/practice. You will leave this session with important insights on how best to teach basic multiplication and division and we will provide activities from the MathImagine Foundation resources. Why is this session relevant to teachers? Why this is an important session: It provides an effective and straightforward approach to teaching basic multiplication and division facts. What will be the learning: Number relationships, chunking facts, commutative or turnaround property of basic facts, thinking strategies for basic facts, and John Van de Walle’s theory of building mastery. Focus: Basic multiplication and addition facts. Takeaway: Teachers will be able to improve on their current approach of teaching student multiplication and division facts. Teachers will also take away activities to use in the classroom.

Session description Are your junior high students still struggling with basic facts? This session will show you our simple yet effective Thinking Strategies approach to help your students develop fluency including “chunking” facts into groups for ease of learning, developing efficient thinking strategies for each chunk, and the importance of practice. You will leave this session with a tried-and-true approach for achieving basic fact mastery and ways to incorporate this into your classroom practices. Why is this session relevant to teachers? Why this is an important session: It provides an effective and straightforward approach to teaching basic facts. What will be the learning: Chunking facts, commutative or turnaround property of basic facts, thinking strategies for basic facts, and John Van de Walle’s stages of building mastery. Focus: Basic addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division facts. Takeaway: Teachers will understand the theory behind basic fact mastery and will have approaches to effectively build mastery in their classroom.

For almost 10 years, Writes of Passage has been empowering young playwrights all across the Edmonton area to explore their own ideas through writing plays. Now, we offer a new workshop series - writing musicals! This exciting new program breaks down the playwrighting exercises and applies them to writing Jukebox and Original musicals. These short exercises will give teachers a fun and embodied way to explore the world of musical theatre from the perspective of a writer. Perfect for your Drama, Music, Musical Theatre, Advanced Acting, and LA classes!

Session description: Have you wondered how to best teach your preschool or kindergarten students early number concepts? Come and learn the developmental approach to numeracy, using the Instructional Framework in Early Numbers as a guide. This session will provide you an appreciation of early number development, how to determine where your students are at, and provide a sample of the MathImagine Foundation’s Cross-Number puzzles you can use with your class. Why is this session relevant to teachers? Why this is an important session: It explains the increasingly popular Math Recovery approach to numeracy intervention and provides a unique and powerful tool for teachers to use with students. What will be the learning: Development of early numeracy concepts to enable teachers to identify students’ current level and what they need to progress. Focus: Numeracy concepts. Takeaway: Familiarity with numeracy development and how to use it to move students forward. (preschool and kindergarten)

In this one-hour session, we will delve into practical techniques tailored to foster deeper understanding and engagement among high school science students. Special focus will be given to addressing the needs of English Language Learners, ensuring all students can thrive as complexity in the curriculum increases. Walk away with ready-to-implement strategies that will transform your classroom into a vibrant learning community where every student’s voice is heard, and thinking, dialogue, and metacognition are at the forefront.

Teachers must captivate students' attention to facilitate effective learning. This session doesn't require every lesson to be action-packed but emphasizes the need for intentional engagement. Kevin will guide attendees through several of his favorite engagement activities and academic games, applicable to any grade level or content area. Participants will experience these activities firsthand, leaving with hands-on manipulatives and samples. Please bring a device that connects to the internet.

And...Action! While teachers don't train to be entertainers, capturing students' attention is crucial! This session explores the importance of engaging students in active learning for effective 21st-century teaching. Participants will discover how to transform their lessons to create authentic learning experiences and incorporate quick activities to get students moving. Engage in interactive activities and learn how to apply them in your classroom. Kevin will discuss the significance of building a positive classroom culture and share strategies to make students feel safe, included, and heard. He will also provide his favorite resources suitable for any grade level or subject. The session concludes with a reflection on Kevin’s personal WHY, emphasizing the importance of remembering our motivations in the teaching profession.

Come explore Ever Active Schools NEW suite of digital resources, now available for free through new.LearnAlberta.ca. These Physical Education and Wellness resources are locally developed for K-6 Learners in both English and French and aligned to the new K-6 Physical Education and Wellness Programs of Study. Participants will preview the suite of resources, sample activities and have the opportunity to give feedback.

Join our interactive session of our top 10 numeracy activities for the preschool and kindergarten classroom. These activities are easy to implement, cross-curricular, low-cost, and fun! And you will be able to use them in the classroom the next day. Why is this session relevant to teachers? Why this is an important session: It provides teachers with activities to facilitate numeracy in their classroom. What will be the learning: Easy, low cost, fun, cross-curricular numeracy activities. Focus: Numeracy concepts. Takeaway: Numeracy activities to use in the classroom.

The numeracy bead string is an incredibly useful tool to support numeracy development. This session will explore how to use them in your classroom from preschool to grade 6. First you will make your own bead string, and then try out activities in groups that will cover counting forwards and backwards, part-part whole relationship, place value, grouping, basic facts, fractions and more! Why is this session relevant to teachers? Why this is an important session: This session explains how to use numeracy bead strings, an underused and little-known tool. What will be the learning: The use of numeracy bead strings in the classroom to support numeracy development. Focus: Numeracy bead strings. Takeaway: Teachers will understand how to use the numeracy bead string in their classrooms. *This session can be split into early Elementary and later Elementary.