Intellectual Development

Our students will learn key academic skills - like reading, writing and math - to encompass the knowledge and processes associated with intellectual development. As learners and meaning-makers, students take subject-specific concepts and content and transform them into a new understanding. 

Goals

  • Improve student success in literacy. ​
  • Improve student success in numeracy. ​

📚 Literacy: Helping Students Become Strong Readers

At Terry Fox Elementary, we’re working hard to help all students become confident readers. Right now, based on our reading assessments, about 48% of our students are reading at or above grade level.

What we’re doing:

  • Giving extra help to students who need it through small reading groups.

  • Teaching important reading skills like sounding out words, understanding what they read, and building vocabulary.

  • Using fun and meaningful books, including stories by Indigenous authors.

  • Helping students learn new words and understand different topics through strategies like sound walls, games, and pre-reading discussions.

How we know it’s working:

  • We check progress using reading assessments and classroom activities.

  • Teachers watch how students are doing and adjust support as needed.

  • Students share how confident they feel about reading. 

🔢 Numeracy: Building Strong Math Skills 

Based on our past FSA data, 25% of our Grade 4 students are currently meeting expectations in math, so we’re focusing on our number sense skills. We are also looking at a school-wide numeracy assessment (the SNAP) that gives a great snapshot of student number sense skills. 

What we’re doing: 

  • Using tools like counters, blocks, and number lines to help students understand math concepts. 

  • Creating math centers and games to make learning more interactive. 

  • Encouraging students to explain their thinking using examples from real-life situations, teachers modeling thinking, and encouraging students to explain their thinking in different ways. 

How we know it’s working: 

  • Teachers use classroom assessments to track progress in number sense and problem-solving. 

  • We’re starting to use a new school-wide math assessment (SNAP) to better understand student learning. 

  • Teachers observe how students engage with math activities and concepts, and make adjustments to instruction as needed.