Math Speakers at Canyon School

Michelle Stuart explained all the ways she used Math as an EMT and firefighter.

Lorraine Robbins

It was an exciting Math week at Canyon School! All students in grades kindergarten to grade six had the pleasure of hosting guest speakers in their classrooms to learn how Math is used every day in their lives and in their jobs.

Over the course of three days, 18 Math guest speakers shared all of the ways they use Math. Speakers were mostly parents of students in the school and were enthusiastic in sharing their expertise.

Mrs. Nazarek (above) uses counting all the time in her job as an airline attendant for Westjet. 

Dressed in her uniform, she shared with students all the ways she used Mental Math every time she flies. She also emphasized the importance of being able to read a ticket correctly so you don’t miss your flight: time, gate #, seat number, etc.  She said, “I even surprised myself when I thought about how I use Math.”

Mr. Grose (above), the Swimming Pool Manager, helped students understand how many litres of water the swimming pool held, and how many hours it took to fill the pool. 

Mrs. Nelson (above). a dietician, spoke about accurate measurements in food and using numbers to regulate insulin.

Some classes of students received insight from Mrs. Leishman, an occupational therapist, as to how she used estimation in her job. Mrs. Kuzyk, who called herself a “Bean Counter”, but is really an accountant, also explained her job and how her team used estimation in predicting how many product consumers will buy to get travel points. Then the students actually got to estimate the number of “jelly beans’ in a jar. It was lots of fun!

Mrs. Teran explained to students that when her husband measures wood for cupboards, how important it was to measure correctly and efficiently so wood is not wasted.

Kirby Smith (above) spoke about the importance of budgets in his job.

Mr. Smith, Mrs. Wyatt and Mrs. Lybbert spoke about budgets. Students gained an understanding of money “in” needs to equal money “out”.

The facts about Math from Kyla Lewis and Kate Nicas

Two high school students, Kyla Lewis and Kate Nicas,  warned the elementary students to learn Math now while you are in Canyon, because “when you get to high school, you need to know lots of Math.” Kyla also spoke about Math on the farm.

Tanya Warkentin (above) spoke about how she used Math when she buys groceries, when her family plays games and in her job as a treasurer. She also spoke about Math on the farm.

Mrs. Lybbert (above) explained to the children the importance of a household budget and how measuring and counting grams of carbohydrates was so important in her daughter’s diabetic diet.

Mr. Jeff Perry (above) spoke about the budget he needs to keep track of in the Livingstone Range School Division.

Every guest speaker provided an extremely interesting perspective on Math in their world.

Students and staff are very grateful to the speakers who helped us this week. We are now looking forward to projects being presented at our Math Fair on March 5th and 6th, in the Canyon School gym.

Students and staff are very grateful to our speakers for preparing their presentations and sharing them with us: Mr. Chuck Nelson – Banker, Mrs. Angela Nelson – Nurse/consultant, Mr. Parker – Power Engineer, Mr. Lebid, - Power engineer, Ms. Stuart – EMT/Firefighter, Kyla Lewis - grade 11 student, Kate Nicas – Grade 11 student, Mrs. Tiffany Wyatt – Homemaker, Dr. Rob Cameron – Doctor, Mrs. Warkentin – Treasurer/Homemaker, Mrs. Leishman – Occupational Therapist, Mr. E. Sinnott – Financial Consultant, Mrs. Teran – Homemaker/Bookkeeper, Mr. J. Nelson – Mechanic, Mr. K. Smith – Director/Supervisor Child and Family Services, Mr. A. Koegler – Pharmacist, Mrs. D. Kuzyk – Accountant, Mrs. S. Lybbert – Homemaker, Mr. J. Perry – LRSD Associate Superintendent of Finances, Mr. A. Grose – Swimming Pool Manager, Mrs. Nazarek – West Jet Flight Attendant.

Students had many wonderful comments about what they learned during our Math Speaker sessions, but the most fitting quote came from grade 4 student Dalton Bonertz: “You need Math pretty much everywhere!”  Dalton is right!