CAYC-MB MTS PD Day Conference 2023

Event is FULL - Currently not accepting registrations

FULL - How is a Rez Kid Ever Going to be a Writer?

As a teenager, Sonya Ballantyne's favourite writers were Stephen King and JRR Tolkien. But she was always disheartened to see white male faces that were university educated looking back at her when she examined the author's pictures at the back of the books she read. After reading Stephen King's On Writing where King's advice to Sonya was to "read a lot and write a lot", she tossed that book in the trash and set about to prove that a Native kid from the Rez could have her pictures on the back of a book.
Sonya Ballantyne is a Swampy Cree writer, filmmaker, and nerd from the Misipawistik Cree Nation. Her work focuses on contemporary and futuristic portrayals of Indigenous women and girls. Her published works include the children’s book Kerri Berry Lynn as well as contributions to anthologies such as Portage and Main's Resurgence. She has also written for television and video games, such as Paul Rabliauskas' Acting Good, Sesame Street, and The Walking Dead: LAST MILE.

Presenter: Sonya Ballantyne

Location:Amber Trails School
1575 Templeton Ave
Winnipeg, Manitoba

Time: 9 : 00 am - 10: 00 am

Participant Max:

FULL - FD1 - CMHR: How to hack a museum: Critically engaging with cultural institutions

Canadian museums can be colonized spaces that often produce and reproduce the voices of hegemonic power, perpetuating oppression, marginalization, and further neo-colonization. How can we challenge the narratives to reflect the history and stories of our own communities? How can we go beyond being passive visitors to actively engaging in artistic interventions inside the museum? How can we work with museums to illuminate K-4 social studies curricula that are critical, creative and relevant to students?
In this interactive experience, participants will be guided through “Museum Hack” at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights. Museum Hacking is a hands-on learning experience where visitors explore the narratives presented through museum artifacts, ask intriguing questions, and seek alternative and inclusive perspectives to these narratives, by physically changing the museum displays. Participants will learn how to use a Museum Hacking approach with their own students which can be developed and applied to art galleries, libraries and other cultural institutions.

Presenter: Rafael Tosi Iwamoto & Bruno de Oliveira Jayme

Location: Canadian Museum for Human Rights

Time: 9 : 00 am - 3 : 35 pm

Participant Max: 25

FULL - AM 1 – Moving In, With and Through

How do we begin to build a sense of self? How do we find awareness of sensations, emotions, thoughts, and noticings so that we can understand ourselves and then connect and understand others? We begin with our bodies; with how we move through and with the world. Children move and dance without being taught how and with more information of developmental patterns and playful movement, teachers can support body awareness, and playful learning in the classroom. With the use of dance/movement teachers can encourage social/emotional learning, personal expression, awareness, cross-curricular learning, and community building even with the littlest movers. One does not need to be a dance specialist to utilize these teachings. Join dancer and educator Sarah Roche, to learn about The Brain Dance, a series of movements based on physical developmental patterns that promote healthy development, as well as other creative dance experiences that explore relationships to self, others and place. Creative explorations will be anchored in the text I Can Dance The Outdoors by Hannah Beach, integrating language, literacy and the body as a place of knowing. This session is experiential and open to all levels of movers. All movements can be adapted to fit personal needs.

Presenter: Sarah Roche

Sarah Roche, Integrated Arts Teacher , Winnipeg School Division, Dancer

Location: Amber Trails School

Time: 10 : 20 am - 11 : 35

Participant Max: 30

FULL - AM 2 - Emerging Identities in Kindergarten

Join us as we share a collaborative journey exploring questions of: Who are we? What are our connections to each other and this place? Come and spend some time immersed in the Kindergarten classroom where children are supported to explore a sense of connection with the past, a relationship with the present, and a responsibility to the future. We will share stories, examples and documentation of daily practice and projects that reflect our evolving understanding of honoring the identities of a 75 mins PM 1 and 2 diverse group of learners. (presentation)

Presenter: Lindsay Weppler - Kindergarten teacher, Seven Oaks School Division
Catherine PaulSawatzky

Learning support teacher Amber Trails School, Seven Oaks School Division

Location: Amber Trails School

Time: 10 : 20 am - 11: 35 am

Participant Max: 30

FULL - AM 3- Identities & Literacies

In this session, participants will examine the term of identity and its connection to teaching philosophy and pedagogy. It is an interactive session, and participants will have opportunities to enact their funds of knowledge, reflect upon their teaching practices, activate their reflectivity and put it into practice as well as affirm and celebrate their multifaceted teacher identities. Participants will examine the meaning of identity and literacy and re-look at ways to engage identity and literacy in learning and teaching. Connections will also be made with the existing curriculum documents like the English Language Arts Curriculum Framework (Manitoba Education, 2020). Handson activities and meaningful discussion will take place in group settings. Participants will leave the session with new understanding of identities and literacies as well as practical classroom activity ideas in ELA and beyond


Presenter: Xiaoxiao Du
Assistant Professor, Language and Literacy, Faculty of Education

Location:Amber Trails School

Time:10:20 am : 11: 35 am

Participant Max: 30

FULL - AM 4 - Loose Parts in the Play-Based Classroom

Loose parts can be anything and can become anything. Whether purchased, or scrounged from those bins of stuff you keep in the cupboards just in case they come in handy one day, can be vehicles for the imagination of our students. In this session, participants will be shown how loose parts can support student learning across the curriculum. Topics such as how to get started, how to store them, and where to find them will also be covered.

Presenter: Erin Clarke and Georgette Rahman

Erin Clarke - Kindergarten Teacher and Teacher Librarian - River East Transcona School Division

Georgette Rahman - Early Years Consultant - River East Transcona School Division

Location: Amber Trails School

Time:10 : 20 am - 11: 35 am

Participant Max: 30

FULL - AM 5 - Our Classroom Narrative: Exploring the interconnectedness of ourselves and each other on Treaty 1 land.

Together, we will move through our Treaty 1 learning journey, as we share how it nurtures our identities, diversity, agency, and advocacy. We will explore ways to strengthen connections with the past as we listen to the truths and stand in solidarity as we make a commitment to Reconciliation. Join us in exploring how our classroom spaces, libraries, and outdoor school environments honour and support our understanding of Treaty 1 Land.

Presenters: Krista Ballantyne- Grade 1/2 multiage teacher, Nicole Reay – Grade 4/5 multiage, Jessica Dilts - Learning support teacher Amber Trails School, Seven Oaks School Division

Location:Amber Trails School

Time:10 : 20 am - 11: 35 am

Participant Max: 30

FULL - AM 7 - Nurturing Young Minds Through Cooking - A Hands-On Culinary Experience for Educators

Join Registered Dietitian Janine LaForte, of Real Life Nutrition, for an engaging hands-on cooking workshop tailored exclusively for educators. Discover the art of cooking with kids, explore the importance of fostering food literacy skills at a young age and create delicious, simple and kid-friendly meals and snacks. Leave with a newfound inspiration to create delightful food memories in your classroom.

Presenter: Janine LaForte, of Real Life Nutrition

Location:Amber Trails School

Time:10 : 20 am - 11 : 35 am

Participant Max: 30

FULL - AM6 - Blocks

Did you know that blocks provide rich opportunities for creative play, scientific inquiry, fine and gross motor development, and co-construction for children of all ages?! Join us as we explore the wonderful world of block play in early years classrooms and childcare settings. In this workshop, you will learn about the historical origins of blocks, the developmental stages of block play, and the wide varieties of blocks and their accessories. Participants will have an opportunity to be fully immersed in block play with hands-on activities and leave the workshop with a multitude of ideas about using blocks to support various curriculum areas, to foster development of the whole child, and to extend and enhance play opportunities for children.

Presenter: Tanya Larter

Tanya Larter (she/her/hers) Early Childhood Education Instructor – RRC Polytechnic

Location:Amber Trails School

Time:10 : 20 am - 11 : 35 am

Participant Max: 30

FULL - PM1-1 - Building Reciprocal Relationships with our own School’s Greenspaces

Greenspaces are often thought of as places we must travel distances to find – forests, ponds, parks. What about our own school’s front yards and back fields? Are there trees and gardens planted? When it rains, do puddles form? When the snow melts, does the field become a lake? What animals do you see and what are they doing? In this workshop, we will look closely at all subject areas and uncover how our own school’s greenspaces offer the perfect canvas for conversations surrounding climate change, habitats, Indigenous communities, art inspirations, physics, power and agency and so much more. Participants will be actively engaged in connecting the Land with the abundance of teachings that it offers us, while simultaneously, being inspired by each other’s ideas and enjoying time outdoors.

Presenter: Bela Ferreira

Bela Ferreira (she/her) Land-based Education Learning Support Teacher, Forest Park School, Seven Oaks School Division

Location: Amber Trails School

Time:1 pm - 2 : 10 pm

Participant Max: 30

FULL - PM1-2 - Soil Art

In this session, Katya will uncover the hidden curriculum within public spaces in Winnipeg. Katya will share her passion and practices as an a/r/tographer (artist/researcher/teacher) including stories of her pop-up installations using soil that have transformed places into public provocations and uncovered a hidden curriculum. Participants will have an opportunity to engage in a soil art experience as a way to bring silenced stories to life and create spaces for understanding complex topics with both young children and adults.

Presenter: Katya Adamov Ferguson

Katya Adamov Ferguson (she, her, hers), Early Years Support Teacher, Winnipeg School Division

Location: Amber Trails School

Time:1: 00 pm - 2: 10 pm

Participant Max: 30

FULL - PM1-3 - Loose Parts in the Play-Based Classroom

Loose parts can be anything and can become anything. Whether purchased, or scrounged from those bins of stuff you keep in the cupboards just in case they come in handy one day, can be vehicles for the imagination of our students. In this session, participants will be shown how loose parts can support student learning across the curriculum. Topics such as how to get started, how to store them, and where to find them will also be covered.

Presenter: Erin Clarke and Georgette Rahman

Erin Clarke - Kindergarten Teacher and Teacher Librarian - River East Transcona School Division

Georgette Rahman - Early Years Consultant - River East Transcona School Division

Location:Amber Trails School

Time:1 pm - 2 : 10 pm

Participant Max: 30

FULL - PM1-4 - Everyone is a Storyteller: Expanding Writer’s Workshop to Include Multiple Literacies

In this workshop we will explore the power of multiliteracies pedagogy in engaging all children in the development of language and literacy. Educators will be invited to critically reflect on the needs of their learners, as well as their learning environment, and how multiliteracies best practices are responsive to both. We will collaboratively reimagine the writer’s workshop model so educators feel confident facilitating storytelling in the many ways children can and do express themselves (e.g. visually, gesturally, aurally, etc.). Educators will co-construct a greater sense of how multiliteracies pedagogy can operate in their own school settings towards greater inclusivity, authenticity, truth and reconciliation

Presenter: Jenni Magnus and Dave Arbez

Jenni Magnus (MEd) early years learning support teacher, Seven Oaks School Division

Dave Arbez (MEd), Early years French Immersion teacher, Seven Oaks school Division

Location:Amber Trails School

Time:1 pm - 2: 10 pm

Participant Max: 30

FULL - PM3-1 - WILD Education - Connecting K-4 Students to Nature through Experiential Learning

Ready to make education a little more WILD? Join the Canadian Wildlife Federation as we introduce you to the key aspects of environmental and experiential education and highlight a variety of interdisciplinary games, lessons, and activities you can use to inspire K-4 students to learn about and connect with nature! With time spent both indoors and outdoors, this workshop gives you the opportunity to participate in hands-on activity demonstrations, group discussions, and reflection. By the end of the session, you’ll add a number of new tools to your teaching toolbox that you can easily implement in your own classroom! Note: This workshop includes a mixture of indoor and outdoor activities so please come dressed appropriately for the weather.

Presenter: Kailey Setter and Ashley Adams

Kailey Setter, Experiential Education Manager

Ashley Adams, Youth Leadership Specialist Canadian Wildlife Federation

Location:Amber Trails School

Time:1:00 pm - 3 : 35 pm

Participant Max: 30

FULL - PM3-2 - Stories from the Land: The Indigenous Peoples Atlas of Canada Giant Floor Map

In this workshop participants will become familiar with the Indigenous Peoples Atlas of Canada Giant Floor Map. The map will surprise you! It is void of the familiar political and territorial boundaries yet presents data that tells the story of Indigenous Peoples of the northern part of Turtle Island. The session will give participants an orientation to the map and invite ways that educators can engage youth in thinking differently about this land we share and walk of reconciliation. Participants will also be introduced to the teacher's kit including, specific topics with supporting resources available for lesson plan development. One mini lesson developed from the kit will be shared showing the impact of forced relocation of Sayisi Dene peoples from Duck Bay, Manitoba. * Please be prepared to take off your shoes to preserve the quality of this treasured resource. *

Presenter: Jennifer Lamoureux and Giselle Oakley

Jennifer Lamoureux Teacher Team Leader Indigenous Education Seven Oaks School Division

Giselle Oakley Grade 4/5 Teacher Seven Oaks School Division

Location:Amber Trails School

Time:1 : 00 pm -3 : 35 pm

Participant Max: 30

FULL - PM1-5 - Nurturing Young Minds Through Cooking - A Hands-On Culinary Experience for Educators

Join Registered Dietitian Janine LaForte, of Real Life Nutrition, for an engaging hands-on cooking workshop tailored exclusively for educators. Discover the art of cooking with kids, explore the importance of fostering food literacy skills at a young age and create delicious, simple and kid-friendly meals and snacks. Leave with a newfound inspiration to create delightful food memories in your classroom.

Presenter: Janine LaForte, of Real Life Nutrition

Location:Amber Trails School

Time:2 : 25 pm - 3 : 35 pm

Participant Max: 30

FULL - PM2-1 - Building Reciprocal Relationships with our own School’s Greenspaces

Greenspaces are often thought of as places we must travel distances to find – forests, ponds, parks. What about our own school’s front yards and back fields? Are there trees and gardens planted? When it rains, do puddles form? When the snow melts, does the field become a lake? What animals do you see and what are they doing? In this workshop, we will look closely at all subject areas and uncover how our own school’s greenspaces offer the perfect canvas for conversations surrounding climate change, habitats, Indigenous communities, art inspirations, physics, power and agency and so much more. Participants will be actively engaged in connecting the Land with the abundance of teachings that it offers us, while simultaneously, being inspired by each other’s ideas and enjoying time outdoors.

Presenter: Bela Ferreira

Bela Ferreira (she/her) Land-based Education Learning Support Teacher, Forest Park School, Seven Oaks School Division

Location:Amber Trails School

Time:2: 25 pm - 3: 35 pm

Participant Max: 30

FULL - PM2-2 - Soil Art

In this session, Katya will uncover the hidden curriculum within public spaces in Winnipeg. Katya will share her passion and practices as an a/r/tographer (artist/researcher/teacher) including stories of her pop-up installations using soil that have transformed places into public provocations and uncovered a hidden curriculum. Participants will have an opportunity to engage in a soil art experience as a way to bring silenced stories to life and create spaces for understanding complex topics with both young children and adults.

Presenter: Katya Adamov Ferguson

Katya Adamov Ferguson (she, her, hers), Early Years Support Teacher, Winnipeg School Division

Location: Amber Trails School

Time:2: 25 pm - 3: 35 pm

Participant Max: 30

FULL - PM2-3 - Our Classroom Narrative: Exploring the interconnectedness of ourselves and each other

Together, we will move through our Treaty 1 learning journey, as we share how it nurtures our identities, diversity, agency, and advocacy. We will explore ways to strengthen connections with the past as we listen to the truths and stand in solidarity as we make a commitment to Reconciliation. Join us in exploring how our classroom spaces, libraries, and outdoor school environments honour and support our understanding of Treaty 1 Land.

Presenters: Krista Ballantyne- Grade 1/2 multiage teacher, Nicole Reay – Grade 4/5 multiage, Jessica Dilts - Learning support teacher Amber Trails School, Seven Oaks School Division

Location: Amber Trails School

Time:2 : 25 pm - 3: 35 pm

Participant Max: 30

FULL - PM2-4 - Blocks

Did you know that blocks provide rich opportunities for creative play, scientific inquiry, fine and gross motor development, and co-construction for children of all ages?! Join us as we explore the wonderful world of block play in early years classrooms and childcare settings. In this workshop, you will learn about the historical origins of blocks, the developmental stages of block play, and the wide varieties of blocks and their accessories. Participants will have an opportunity to be fully immersed in block play with hands-on activities and leave the workshop with a multitude of ideas about using blocks to support various curriculum areas, to foster development of the whole child, and to extend and enhance play opportunities for children.

Presenter: Tanya Larter

Tanya Larter (she/her/hers) Early Childhood Education Instructor – RRC Polytechnic.

Location:Amber Trails School

Time:2 : 25 pm - 3 : 35 pm

Participant Max: 30

FULL - PM2-5 - Everyone is a Storyteller: Expanding Writer’s Workshop to Include Multiple Literacies

In this workshop we will explore the power of multiliteracies pedagogy in engaging all children in the development of language and literacy. Educators will be invited to critically reflect on the needs of their learners, as well as their learning environment, and how multiliteracies best practices are responsive to both. We will collaboratively reimagine the writer’s workshop model so educators feel confident facilitating storytelling in the many ways children can and do express themselves (e.g. visually, gesturally, aurally, etc.). Educators will co-construct a greater sense of how multiliteracies pedagogy can operate in their own school settings towards greater inclusivity, authenticity, truth and reconciliation

Presenter: Jenni Magnus and Dave Arbez

Jenni Magnus (MEd) early years learning support teacher, Seven Oaks School Division

Dave Arbez (MEd), Early years French Immersion teacher, Seven Oaks school Division

Location:Amber Trails School

Time:2 : 25 pm - 3 : 35 pm

Participant Max: 30