A peek into the 1st ever #K2CanToo event

Last weekend I had the pleasure of participating in the first ever #K2CanToo conference as a facilitator-- a learning event especially for TK-2 teachers and other educators supporting primary level classrooms. The brain child of instructional coach, Susan Stewart, the event centered around instruction in STEM topics and the special needs of our littlest learners. There was something for everyone and sessions ranged from digital citizenship to makerspaces, inquiry-based math instruction to robotics & coding, makerspaces to NGSS in the primary classroom.

Lots of opportunities for personalized learning

Small class sizes, and the #HelpDeskEDU unconference running all day, provided opportunities for personalized instruction for attendees. Hands-on learning, and plenty of collaboration and creation time in sessions, meant that many teachers left the conference with not just new ideas but with redesigned lessons prepped and ready to implement on Monday.

I had pleasure of leading two sessions: one on inquiry-based math instruction in K-2 and another on Seesaw, the Learning Journal app.

Think they're too little? Think again!

In my inquiry-based math session, participants took part in a 3-Act math task for littles; explored ways of using Dot Talks and Notice/Wonder to incite conversation and math talk; considered bringing in inquiry and critical thinking with Which One Doesn't Belong tasks; discussed ways of providing young learners with opportunities for open-ended math exploration with Would you Rather? Math; and learned how we can make math relevant by teaching math content in context. Math tends to be the subject in which teachers have the hardest time shifting instruction; we're so used to teaching facts and figures the same way that we have for more than a century that doing things differently means major mindset change. It was exciting to see all of these primary teachers ready to challenge their students, and themselves, to think differently about math!

Hands-on learning

My Seesaw session was a packed house and teachers were excited to learn how they and their Seesaw to communicate, collaborate, demonstrate learning, create, analyze, become more independent learners, and share all of this classroom goodness with parents and, potentially, the world. Teachers left the session with their Seesaw classrooms up and running and ready for students.
students can use

It was an inspiring weekend, and I look forward to seeing the #K2CanToo movement grow!

The #K2CanToo crew!