BC Primary Teachers' Fall Conference

Join us and our Keynote Presenter Lauren MacLean for our annual gathering of Primary teachers from across British Columbia! Amazing workshops put on by Lisa Baylis, Carole Fullterton and more!

Info: Join us for an update on our year as the BC Primary Teachers' Association. Learn what we have been up to, how we work as a body within the BCTF, and how we advocate for the learners in our Primary classrooms. The AGM is followed by the Social. All are invited!

Info: In this engaging keynote, educator and author Lauren MacLean uses the metaphor of the forest to explore how outdoor learning supports inclusive literacy development, emotional well-being, and environmental stewardship. Just as the layers of a forest work together to support growth,
outdoor education creates interconnected learning experiences that foster belonging, creativity, and curiosity. Lauren will share real classroom stories and practical strategies to help educators build nature-based literacy routines that support all learners—especially those who thrive in hands-on, sensory-rich environments.
Through storytelling, poetry, vocabulary exploration, and connections to science and place, this
keynote highlights how outdoor learning not only strengthens literacy skills but also deepens
students’ relationships with the land and one another. Educators will leave with fresh ideas,
practical tools, and renewed inspiration to create meaningful outdoor learning experiences.

Info: Join us for an interactive breakout session that builds on the keynote and dives deeper into how
outdoor learning can enrich literacy development, support inclusion, and foster a strong sense of environmental responsibility. Together, we’ll explore practical ways to bring literacy outdoors
through storytelling, nature-based poetry, vocabulary-building games, and interdisciplinary
connections with science and social-emotional learning.
Participants will have the opportunity to reflect on their own practice, try out literacy activities
rooted in outdoor experiences, and collaborate with others to adapt ideas to their teaching
contexts. Whether you’re just beginning or looking to expand your outdoor learning toolkit, this
session will offer inspiration, strategies, and space to grow your confidence in using the outdoors as a rich and inclusive learning environment.

Info: In this session for early primary teachers, we will explore math and literature connections guaranteed to inspire and engage your youngest learners in meaningful, embedded math learning. Rich open-ended tasks, extensions for multi-age classrooms and games for practice will be shared. Come prepared to play! Teacher resource materials will be available for purchase on site.

Info: In this workshop, we will begin to explore the affordances of learning through loose parts, and
they can be implemented in context of the Story Workshop learning framework. After situating
Story Workshop within a Reggio-Inspired context, and briefly outlining its development at the
Opal School, participants will be invited to engage with one another, loose parts, and
observational drawing to suss out the implications of connecting literacy and the arts.

Info: Come prepared to play games and learn strategies that help teach the following concepts: understanding and composing/decomposing 10's 100's, comparing numbers, using number lines for patterns, counting forward and back from given numbers 1 - 100, mental estimation for + and - using number lines. Games integrate the use of cards, number lines, dice and place value dice, math shakers, even red solo cups! Games and strategies help students thoroughly understand PV concepts before moving to paper and pencil practice. Activities are easy to differentiate and adapt to whole class or small group instruction. Gameboards, concept skill checklists for assessment will be included in handout. COME PREPARED TO PLAY in this fast paced, hands-on workshop.

Info: A musical workshop with Charlotte Diamond: the power of puppets, props and play! A Puppet’s True Value: Providing Space to Be and Discover. The real added value of a puppet is the space it provides for children to explore and practice being themselves. With the puppet, children should feel free to experiment, without any pressure to be “correct” or to fit a prescribed outcome. It’s about opening up possibilities.. Children love hugging their stuffies, dressing up, singing and moving in rhythm, imagining that they are an animal, a tree, a dinosaur, a salmon leaping in a river, or a Pizza! Have fun and celebrate Family, Nature, Animals and our Environment!

Info: Are you feeling bored with weekly journal writing? Are your students writing about the same things each time? In this session, I will share stories of writing lessons from primary classrooms around the Richmond School District. All of the examples will highlight low prep but high yield lesson ideas that will get your students thinking, talking and excited about writing!

Info: Join Liz Crocker, Learning Program Developer at the Royal BC Museum, for a 90-
minute introduction to learning programs and resources at your provincial museum!
Wherever you live in the province, we offer a range of curriculum-linked onsite and online programs and resources for BC K-12 classrooms, that are either free or low-cost such as:
• The Learning Portal
• Learning Labs & Self-Guided Class Tours
• Live Online (webinars)
• Digital Field Trips
• Outreach Kits & Provocation Packs
We’ll experience a Digital Field Trip live from the museum in Victoria! Liz will also highlight lesson plans, activities and resources for primary grades including those in French. You’ll leave with inspiration, resources and ideas for how to connect your learners to the nature and cultures of BC.

Info: Join us for an interactive breakout session that builds on the keynote and dives deeper into how
outdoor learning can enrich literacy development, support inclusion, and foster a strong sense of environmental responsibility. Together, we’ll explore practical ways to bring literacy outdoors
through storytelling, nature-based poetry, vocabulary-building games, and interdisciplinary
connections with science and social-emotional learning.
Participants will have the opportunity to reflect on their own practice, try out literacy activities
rooted in outdoor experiences, and collaborate with others to adapt ideas to their teaching
contexts. Whether you’re just beginning or looking to expand your outdoor learning toolkit, this
session will offer inspiration, strategies, and space to grow your confidence in using the outdoors as a rich and inclusive learning environment.

Info: This workshop introduces the foundations of self-compassion and delivers practices
that can be used in and out of the classroom. Participants will be led through exercises
to understand the fundamentals of self-compassion, recognize their inner critic, and
access self-compassion in moments of burnout and fatigue (especially in relation to
burnout experienced currently in schools).
This session will be interactive. Participants will be encouraged to try the practices and
share their experiences in small groups. It is open to everyone.
Objectives:
To understand the three components of self-compassion
To practice informal self-compassion practices
To practice prioritizing self-care through the Quick Six

Info: The operations are a critically important aspect of primary math learning. Place value understandings and flexible strategies are key. In this session for grades 1 to 3 we will learn and practice whole number strategies for addition and subtraction that promote deep conceptual understanding and allow all students to be successful. Teacher resource materials will be available for purchase on site.

Info: Further explorations of AM session.It is highly recommended that participants have taken Finding Their Story: Learning
alongside young children and loose parts, enaged with the book Story Workshop: New
Possibilities for Young Writers by Susan Harris MacKay, or be familiar with the five-fold
structure of Story Workshop learning framework. In this session, we will look closer at different
aspects of Story Workshop, and discuss ways in explore them alongside our learners.

Info: Do you have baskets of dice that are rarely being taken off the shelf, you have inherited, or don't know how to use? Come prepared to rock and roll with games that incorporate the use of our students' favorite types of dice that allow you to build meaningful practice, that are easy to differentiate to meet the needs of all students and are perfect for whole class or small group instruction. SO WELCOME TO THE DICE BUFFET where you will get to sample and learn games that incorporate a wide range of dice to teach: NUMBER SENSE AND COUNTING, OPERATIONAL FLUENCY, GRAPHING, PROBLEM SOLVING AND MORE. You will receive gameboards for immediate use.

Info: A musical workshop with Charlotte Diamond: the power of puppets, props and play! A Puppet’s True Value: Providing Space to Be and Discover. The real added value of a puppet is the space it provides for children to explore and practice being themselves. With the puppet, children should feel free to experiment, without any pressure to be “correct” or to fit a prescribed outcome. It’s about opening up possibilities.. Children love hugging their stuffies, dressing up, singing and moving in rhythm, imagining that they are an animal, a tree, a dinosaur, a salmon leaping in a river, or a Pizza! Have fun and celebrate Family, Nature, Animals and our Environment!

Info: Dive into the newly released Ministry of Education document, Learning in the Primary Years (the updated Primary Program) presented by the writers, whom are also BC Primary Teachers' Executive members. You will be leaving this session with your own hardcopy of the document.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Hilton Vancouver Metrotown, 6083 McKay Avenue, Burnaby, Canada