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The numbers are adding up for this year’s Show Me Your Math regional math fair at St. Francis Xavier University. On May 2, the university’s Bloomfield Centre will be host to over 270 Aboriginal students sharing mathematical research with teachers, peers, and community members.

Each year the Show Me Your Math program invites aboriginal students from grades primary to twelve in Atlantic Canada to explore mathematics in their cultural practices and community. The projects are then shared with Elders, peers, teachers and community members.

“We let the students become the researchers,” says Lisa Lunney Borden, Assistant Professor in First Nations and Math Education at St. Francis Xavier University. “They’re then given the chance to engage in authentic conversation about their findings with Elders which gives them a great sense of pride in their work.”

Over 3,000 Mi’kmaw students in Mi’kmaw Kina’matnewey schools have participated in the fair since its launch in 2006. It has expanded this year to include public schools in Nova Scotia that serve Mi’kmaw communities in the Strait, Chignecto Central, and Cape Breton Victoria Regional School Boards.
Show Me Your Math is unique in that the students’ projects are showcased and celebrated in a non-competitive atmosphere.

“In this type of environment, students are comfortable and excited to share what they have learned,” says Lunney Borden. “In fact, this year almost every student in an MK school has created a project.”

Funding has also been received to introduce a two-day summer institute to develop new curricular materials drawing from the projects. The goal is to eventually transform these ideas into culturally rooted materials for teachers in Nova Scotia and beyond.

“It’s important that students and educators benefit from the wealth of resources emerging from the fair,” emphasizes Lunney Borden. “Securing permanent sponsorship will help us achieve this goal.”

This year’s event is supported by Mi’kmaw Kina’matnewey, the Nova Scotia Department of Education (Mi’kmaw Services Division), Mi’kmaq-Nova Scotia-Canada Tripartite Forum, Aboriginal Health Initiative Program, and St. Francis Xavier University.

Mi’kmaw Kina’matnewey invites you to join us online as Cape Breton University’s Unama’ki College honours the former Kji-keptin of the Sante Mawio’mi of Mi’kma’ki

Kji-keptin Alexander Denny
July 26, 1940 - December 25, 2004

The Unama’ki College Mi’kmaq Language Lab is to be named

Kji-keptin Alexander Denny
L’nui’sultimkeweyo’kuom

Tuesday, May 1, 2012
11:00 a.m.

View the live webcast at www.kinu.ca

INDIAN BROOK (NS) – April 26, 2012 – Elementary students at L’nu Sipuk Kina’muokuom (LSK) School in Indian Brook captured first place in their division in the Adopt-a-Library 2012 WOW! Reading Challenge.

The Adopt-a-Library Program, founded by Royal Canadian Mounted Police Constable John Kennedy, was established to prevent criminal behavior among youth through the promotion of literacy via libraries and schools. The Program’s WOW! Reading Challenge is an annual contest that encourages literacy development and healthy competition.

Reading an average of 155 books each, elementary students at LSK placed first in the First Nation Division. This performance also subsequently awarded LSK students their division’s provincial, national, and world literacy champion titles. Junior high students at LSK placed third in the First Nation Division.

“They already read a lot at the library or in the classroom, but this will make them want to read even more,” says Sharon Culbertson of LSK. “These children strive to be recognized every day, and now they have been recognized at provincial, national, and world levels. There certainly is a lot of pride here today.”

This is the second year that Mi’kmaw Kina’matnewey (MK) schools have participated in the reading challenge. MK develops alternatives and promotes Mi’kmaq education, interests and rights and has jurisdiction in Mi’kmaq educational matters in its 11 member communities in Nova Scotia. LSK is one school under the jurisdiction of MK.

Through the Adopt-a-Library program, MK aims to increase book collections, develop safe communities, and build programming surrounded by respect, sense of community, self-esteem and pride. Over the past year, MK’s literacy development efforts have put over $80,000 worth of books into its schools.

“Since the Adopt-a-Library Program has come to MK communities we have seen not only an increase in our students’ academic reading levels, but more importantly, an increase in their love of reading,” says Janice Ciavaglia, Literacy Consultant at Mi’kmaw Kina’matnewey. “Our students are now realizing that reading is not just something that happens at schools; it can also happen at home.”

Representatives from the RCMP, MK, the Adopt a Library Literacy Program, and LSK staff were on hand to present awards to students and teachers. For more information about the Adopt-a-Library program, visit www.fightingcrime.ca.

Indian Brook, Nova Scotia - Students at L’nu Sipuk Kina’muokuom (LSK) School in Indian Brook captured first place in their division in the Adopt-a-Library 2012 WOW! Reading Challenge.

The goal of the WOW! Reading Challenge is to foster a closer relationship between schools, the public library and the police for the benefit of children and to encourage literacy development and a spirit of healthy competition. The WOW! Challenge is open to all schools from Primary to Grade 6.

This is the first time students at LSK won their division. On Thursday morning, they will be receiving a trophy in recognition of their achievement. The event will take place at LSK school.

Location and time:

L’nu Sipuk Kina’muokuom (LSK) School
579 Church Street
Indian Brook, NS
Thursday, April 26th, 2012
9:30 a.m.