Darrell Greer
Northern News Services
Published Wednesday, December 12, 2007

RANKIN INLET - Grade 4 students at Leo Ussak school in Rankin Inlet were campers of a different kind earlier this month.

The students spent a Saturday at the school participating in a special math camp designed to encourage them to learn more about math while having a fun time interacting with each other.

Naomi Alakannuark, front left, Nathaniel Fredlund and Tristan Sammurtok work with unisex cubes on a 3D geometry exercise during a math camp at Leo Ussak elementary school in Rankin Inlet earlier this month. - photo courtesy of Tyrone Power

The students spent the day with the school's math contact, Barb Legacy-Porter, and Grade 4 teachers Trudy Bruce, Delores Kent and Dianne Parks.

Each student had to get a special permission slip signed by their parents or guardian to attend the event.

Legacy-Porter said the idea for the math camp arose from a meeting in Baker Lake for the Kivalliq Math Educational Panel.

The panel is comprises kindergarten to Grade 4 teachers from each Kivalliq school.

Legacy-Porter said panel members decided to try and promote math as much as they could in the communities this school semester.

"We came up with a bunch of different ideas we felt could help us promote math in the communities and motivate kids to take part in positive activities that encourage fun while learning," said Legacy-Porter.

"The math camp was one of the ideas to come from that meeting.

"We also held a math art show at the school this past month, during which students had to draw pictures using numbers as their base."

Legacy-Porter said the kids really enjoyed the math camp because they got to work with students from all three Grade 4 classes at the school.

She said they had a lot of fun getting the chance to work with different peer groups for a change.

"They did activities such as problem solving, calculator games, 3-D geometry exercises, math word searches and problem-solving activities.

"They also did subtraction exercises, estimating games such as guessing how many cubes were in a jar, and some Christmas crafts and geometry using pattern blocks.

"Every student at the camp was given a certificate for attending and having a lot of fun while they learned."