Innovative Education

Grade-Alike-Planning Initiative (GAP)

Grade-Alike Planning in a three-year initiative, which is like a Professional Learning Community (PLC) in that it brings educators together to learn with each other and collaboratively plan and create learning activities for Grades 7, 8, and 9.

Through this job-embedded professional development opportunity, participating teachers:

Explore strategies, tools, and resources to support personalized classrooms.
Collaborate to develop cross-curricular classroom learning activities that infuse elements of personalized learning such as 21st century skills, assessment, parent engagement, Indigenous Perspectives, and more.
Curate grade-level and outcome-specific resources to support lesson planning.
Share developed learning activities and associated resources with colleagues at staff meetings and with PLC teams.
Lead learning at the division-wide professional learning day in June.
Mentor other grade-level teachers.

The GAP Team engages in formal learning experiences on various topics that aligned with Sun West School Division’s educational priorities as outlined in the Sun West Education Plan and the REORDER Framework. The topics are based on the work of the 2022-2023 GAP Team and are called Infusion Elements. These are the many elements that support personalized classroom.

Guest presenters from Sun West and other organizations share information on these topics. We call each topic a round to reflect the day of learning for Grade 7, 8 and 9 teachers. The GAP Team has developed specific learning outcomes and interactive learning activities for each round and have provided the resources to align with the skills and content for each topic area.

PowerPlay: Youth Entrepreneurs

Above video features teachers discussing their experiences with PowerPlay.

PowerPlay is a six-week program for Grades4-8 students. Students create their very own business though fun, interactive games, exercises, and prototyping. At the end of the program, the students showcase their products and sell them at a trade show where they donate at least 10% of their profits to charity.

Information on PowerPlay from a student perspective.

Within the six-week program, students work through five modules.

They will start off by setting goals for their business.
And then create a Product Description (which includes a market research survey to figure out what customers would want to buy).
Students will then work on Operations (such as making a business plan).
Money Plan. (In this module, students have to figure out how much it costs to make one product, so they can figure out how much you should charge at the trade show in order to make a profit).
In the final module, students will think about marketing (on how to attract customers and how to talk to them when they come to your table).

For more information on PowerPlay contact: Vanessa Lewis at vanessa.lewis@sunwestsd.ca

‍Robotics and Coding

Above: the Rosetown Central High School Robotics Team at the SK Polytechnic Robot Rumble.

Building and programming robots is an awesome way for students to acquire real-world skills by enhancing their math and problem-solving abilities. Several Sun West schools have purchased robotics kits such as Dash, Dot, and Osmos while others have received robotic kits from Saskatchewan Polytechnic to compete in their annual Robot Rumble.

Building Micro:bits is excellent way for students to acquire coding skills. The Micro:bit Educational Foundation provides a information about how to incorporate Micro:bits into student learning and a Micro:bit Classroom Kit is available to sign out from the Sun West Division Office Library. More information including activities and lesson ideas are also available from SaskCode.

For more information, please contact Jade Ballek, Learning Consultant at jade.ballek@sunwestsd.ca

Science Olympics

Above video features highlights from the 2024 Science Olympics Jamboree.

Teaching science through exploration and discovery is at the heart of the Saskatchewan curriculum.

Inquiry learning fosters curiosity and wonder while at the same time offers classroom teachers a way to assist young learners develop 21^stCentury Skills.

The challenge approach promoted by Science Olympics focuses on giving students a design task or a problem to solve and allowing students time to experiment and test their ideas.

‍Reflection is a critical part of the learning process as students begin to think meta cognitively about their learning – both in terms of things that went well and areas for improvement.

The same is true for educators! The first challenges most likely will not be as successful as the later ones as we fine-tune the processes to meet the unique needs of the students in your class.

The Sun West Science Olympics Jamboree culminates in a division-wide Jamboree, which is held in May.

For more information, please contact Jade Ballek, Learning Consultant at jade.ballek@sunwestsd.ca
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Destination Imagination

Above: Participants in the Destination Imagination Challenge Competition in June 2024.

Destination Imagination is a program to help build tomorrow's innovators and leaders!

Using a project-based approach, this student-driven program teaches students to be innovative problem solvers. Using Science-Technology-Engineering-Arts-Math (STEAM), teams of students collaborate, think outside the box and create unique solutions to one of seven different challenges in preparation for a fun, problem-solving competition.

In 2024, Sun West hosted it first-ever Destination Imagination Challenge Competition.

For more information, please contact Jade Ballek, Learning Consultant at jade.ballek@sunwestsd.ca or Vanessa Lewis, Learning Consultant at vanessa.lewis@sunwestsd.ca

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