Here in Quesnel we currently have 2 high schools: QJS (grades 8-9) and Correlieu (Grades 10-12).  Each school, as well as the school district has a different way of letting parents know what is going on.  Gone are the days of paper newsletters sent home on Friday afternoons (to rot alongside the week's lunch leftovers, or on some occasions actually get delivered to the parent). 

Below is the 2016-17 school calendar.  This gives all the general holidays, Pro-D days and NI Days that all schools will be participating in. 

Basic information is available on their website, however, for up to date weekly newsletters (posted right at the end of the school day), or info on "Snow-Days", their Facebook Page is constantly updated. 

Keep in mind that you DO NOT have to be a Facebook User to see these updates (you just won't be able to comment on them).  You may see a bar at the bottom of your page saying "please sign in or sign up" but you can safely ignore this. 

An alternative, if you are a parent, make sure to get on their newsletter email list!  If you haven't received the past few newsletters via email, then contact the school to make sure they have your email address correct. 

Correlieu has a variety of ways to stay updated with student events.  They no longer update their website with recent newsletters, but you can sign up to be on their newsletter list by phoning the school and talking to Jasmin in the office.

Additionally, some teachers as well as the school Principal, Mr. Hawkins-Bogle use the app REMIND to send out class or grade specific information and reminders. Here is the info they sent out in their August 31st newsletter about how to sign up for these notifications.  Pick the grade that your student is in, and although all messages may not be of interest, it will keep you surely "In The Know" about what's going on at school.  This is the system that also announces 'No Bus' days (or Snow Days), if you're not able to confirm with the school district website. 

This applies to all students in the school district who may or may not take a bus to get to school.  At 5am, on any day where the weather is questionable (dangerous roads, -32 or below), the school will update this part of their website. 

To get their manually, go to www.sd28.bc.ca, then scroll to the bottom of the page where you see a picture of a bus.  Click on this bus!

Additionally, click on the following link to read the school board's policies and procedures regarding cancelling bus operations for the day, read "COLD WEATHER/UNSAFE ROAD CONDITIONS: SCHOOL AND BUS OPERATIONS - COLD WEATHER NOTICE"

Regardless of whether your student takes the bus, walks, gets a ride, or drives themselves to school, the district encourages parents to "carefully weigh the hazards" before determining whether they should attend school that day. 

Graduation is always an accomplishment that should be celebrated.  However, it is made even more special for me when I get to see "my kids" walk across that stage.  Although I consider all of the students I work with "my kids" that are part of my big Momentum Family,  I am not always able to work with a student through to grade 12.  When I do work with students into their graduation year, I feel so privileged to be part of their growth and maturity.  I hear about their wishes, wants and woes, and become a part of their life for this short time.  It is these students who continuously re-affirm my purpose here at Momentum Learning Centre, and for that I am forever grateful!

A quote to remember that is applicable in all stops along the road of life, from my days as a 4 year old in Montessori Pre-school:

I've mentioned this website before, but I'm going to show you how to access it again!  Follow along to get to some cool resources including videos (aligned with your course textbook), quizzes and online live tutoring! It covers Math 4 and 9, as well as most core grade 10, 11 and 12 courses!!

Go to www.learnnowbc.ca and click on the Login button

I can give you my login information so you can try it out (just send me an email, message through facebook or text message).  Setup your own free account afterwards if you want to use this often! 

Once you've logged in, Click on Tutoring and Study Centre

Click on one of the three headings (they all take you to the same place)

Select your Grade

These are the courses that offer videos, quizzes or Live tutoring for your grade!

The Red checkmark will indicate that you can have live tutoring (a window will come up with a chat program similar to Skype), Green is the Quizzes, and my favorite the Yellow lightning bolt for the Video Lessons!  I'll show you what they look like in the next picture...

Here, I clicked on the Yellow Checkmark for Foundations of Math 11.  Here, you see there are a variety of lessons.  Just click on the lesson you're currently on and you can watch a video instruction lesson as well as examples.  Such a great resource!!

As I said above, if you would like to see what it's like for yourself, please contact me and I can give you my username and password to try out.  Its also very simple to set up your own account.  Often a parent account is easiest as you don't need the PEN number for your student!
Happy Studying!!

I'm so happy and proud of all the graduates this year!  Waaaaaay back in grade 10, a few of these girls were my "Math Girls" as we struggled through the course together. The others I met as I would hear them come giggling and chatting down the hallway to drop their friends off.  I just love this group (and everyone else who I didn't get in this picture). 
I will miss them, but I know that they're on to accomplish many wonderful things! Congratulations Ladies!

Many students may be struggling to study for provincial exams due to the current BCTF Teacher's strike/Job Action.  However, did you know there was an online source to help you?

 LearnNowBC is open up until the 23rd with more options to help you prep for your exams! They offer Free live tutoring, as well as videos and quizzes! Whichever way you find best to learn!
You do need to sign up, but its completely free. If you don't want to bother and just want to check it out, send me a message and I'll let you borrow our username and password!

Welcome everyone to the new school year!  I am excited to announce our  new Creatures of Curiosity programs for this fall.  The first one starts on September 27th, so act fast!!

The second new program is to help those taking Math 10!  As last years demand for homework-help in Math 10 was high, we now have this new 'homework club' program!

As well, for new clients, here are the Fall 2012 Tutoring Specials we are offering!

Well, I hope you all are able to take a break to relax, So far, we have clarified the Math courses that have changed and the reason the Ministry of Education (and other Canadian provinces) made these changes.  The link to the previous posts are here and here. 
You’ve also probably been wondering why your son or daughter is having such a tough time in the Grade 10 Foundations/Pre Calculus, or in the grade 11 Foundations or Pre-Calculus.  There have been changes to the grade 10-12 course content as well as the grade 8 and 9 content as well.  The courses have been re-arranged and many students are feeling like they are having to learn difficult math concepts for the first time.  I think that some of this angst is because these courses are not completely in effect yet, and the math they may have taken in the grade previous is not exactly matching up with the course they are taking today.  Each student will still have the necessary skills to complete these new courses, however due to the transition period, it they may not be as strong in some concepts as they feel they should be. 

To try and sort this all out, I went to our local senior high school, Correlieu Senior Secondary, to ask the math teachers how the content of each new course is different.  Here is what I found out:

·         Some content of the grade 8 and 9 math courses has been removed in order to allow a little more time can be spent on each section of the course allowing students to learn at a slightly slower pace.  In this way they are able to build the skills needed for the math courses in grade 10-12. 

·         The grade 10 math courses are divided into two streams; Apprenticeship and Workplace Math and Foundations/Pre-calculus. 

·         Apprenticeship and Workplace math is similar to the old Applications of Math course including the math skills related to wages, taxes, building and other trades.

·         Foundations/Pre-Calculus math is different in content than the previous Principles Math.  There is a greater course content which is contributing to the stress on those grade 10 Math students. 

·         The grade 11 courses now have some grade 12 content as well.

·         According to a retired math teacher who has been teaching for over 40 years, “It’s the same stuff we’ve been teaching for years” just in a re-structured format.

Another document I found useful was by Dr. Charles Best on the Coquitlam School District Website, when answering the question “Mathematically, what is the difference between Foundations of Math 11 and Pre-Calculus 11?” he answered “Quite a big difference. Compare Physics to Chemistry, both sciences, but each concentrating on different fields of science.  Similarly, Pre-Calculus 11 will look at topics needed for the study of theoretical calculus (ex. Trigonometry, Algebra, Permutations, Combinations). Foundations of Math 11 will look at the mathematics needed for non-calculus based fields of study (ex. Geometry, Relations and Functions, Finance, Statistics and Probability). Note: All of these topics were originally taught in the Principles of Math courses, and they have now been divided” 

Last week we went over the choices available for the new BC Math courses.  The link to that post is here.  Now that you understand the basics to what is being offered and the purpose of each course we can go into the reasons why the BC Ministry of Education decided to make these changes. Although it may seem like this change happened suddenly, they have actually been in the works since 1993 and the Ministry involved teachers, parents, students and professionals.  This was also a huge collaboration between the Ministries of Education in BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, the Northwest Territories, Nunavut and the Yukon.  Combined, they built the Western and Northern Canadian Protocol (WNCP) and created this new math curriculum. 

One goal, by collaborating with the other provinces, is that it allows many Canadian students to have the same math background when they graduate.  Therefore students are not limited to their province of study for any career or post-secondary education they may want to take.  This is a wonderful opportunity as students can now access programs that may not be available in their own provinces.

Another reason for changing to the new math curriculum is that the previous BC Math had streams based on ability.  There were three options in math depending not on what career they were going to take, but the individual students ability level.  If you were good at math, you took Principles, if you weren’t good at math, you took the Applications or Essentials course (again depending on your ability). 

Although, it may be confusing, and require an adjustment, these new math pathways will provide practical math skills and opportunities for students no matter what their choices after graduation may be.  See our post next week for information on changes within the course content!

Have you noticed that you or your child is finding Math 10 stressful this year?  You are not alone.  In this first semester, a majority of calls to Momentum Learning Centre have been about Math 10.  Let me give you some background to this new math program and some tips on what may help. First of all, you probably notice that this is a different math program than last year.  Most likely you received pamphlets from your child’s school last year or the year before outlining the new set of math programs.  In case you don’t recall this pamphlet (or perhaps it never made it home) this is a good place to start in understanding the changes.  The link to the pamphlet for parents and students is here.  You will notice that the structure of the new courses is similar to that of the old curriculum, just the course content that has been re-arranged (which we will discuss in more detail later).  There are now three basic streams for your child to choose: Apprenticeship and Workplace Mathematics, Foundations Math and Pre-Calculus.  Each course is designed to have the students career/job pathway in mind.  So, depending on what career areas your child is interested, they can now pick the appropriate math course.  Here is a quick run-down of the purpose for each course:

Apprenticeship and Workplace– gives students math skills they will use on-the-job.  These are the math skills that are most practical for trades and technical careers as well as those students who will be going straight into the workforce after graduation.

Foundations – teaches the skills for those students who will be going on into general post-secondary studies like social sciences or the arts.  This  course is also sometimes a pre-requisite for entry into some science programs, but please check with each individual university.

Pre-Calculus – This course is for students who plan on going into university and college in math based programs such as the biology, chemistry, physics, engineering, computer science, math, nursing.  As well, students who intend on taking calculus should take this stream.

You will notice in Grade 10 that there are only two courses to choose from: Foundations/Pre-Calculus and Apprenticeship and Workplace.  This allows your child to think about their career path in grade 10 a little more before choosing their math pathway.