ESTCA 2025: Full Schedule

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Continue to share what you’re learning from our sessions.
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Bel Air Direct is a proud to sponsor the 2025 ATA Conventions
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GOOSECHASE - Digital Scavenger Hunt
Please join us on Goosechase our digital scavenger hunt to win prizes! it will open Feb. 12th
Here is how to win and have fun:
1) Download Goosechase App on your apps store or google play
2) Find the mission ESTCA 2025 and Join the experience
3) Use password Estca and you are in
4) Start missions!
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Morning Selections 7:30 - 11:00 (Hall B) :
Slice of Banana or Zucchini bread (vegetarian) $3.25, Fruit to go cups (vegan/gluten free) $3.25 Yogurt Parfait Cup (vegetarian) $ 3.25

Beverages Selection:
Bottled Water $4.00
Soft Drinks $3.50
Canned Juices $3.50
Starbucks Coffee (12oz) $3.00

Concession/Collaboration Lounge - Lunch Specials 11:00 - 15:00 (Hall B) :
Old Fashioned Ham, tuna & egg Salad sandwich $5.00
Bistro Sandwich $7.50
Crudites in a Cup (vegan/gluten free) $3.75
Whole Fruit - $2.25
Gluten Free Granola Gar (gluten free/vegetarian) $4.75
Assorted Cookies (vegetarian) $2.50

Hot Specials Lunch -
Daily -
Chefs Choice Daily Soup with brioche bread $5.00
Pizza (Hawaiian, pepperoni & Cheese $5.00
Thursday - Ukrainian Box with Perogies, kielbasa and lazy cabbage rolls $12.00
Friday - Teriyaki Chicken $12.00

10:30am MST

Making new.LearnAlberta.ca work for you - Alberta Education

Thursday February 13, 2025 10:30am - 11:30am MST

Salon 02

Did you know you can do so much more than just view curriculum on new.LearnAlberta.ca? This session will explore how you can make new.LearnAlberta.ca work for you. You’ll be guided through new.LearnAlberta.ca where you can view new curriculum implementation supports and find available resources for students, parents and for teachers. Please bring a device to explore new.LearnAlberta.ca.

Thursday February 13, 2025 10:30am - 11:30am MST
Salon 02

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10:30am MST

Science on a Budget: Bringing the New K-6 Science Curriculum to life Indoors and Outdoors!

Thursday February 13, 2025 10:30am - 11:30am MST

Salon 11

Join Inside Education for this dynamic interactive workshop for K-6 teachers where we will delve into the environmental science and natural resource components of the new Alberta Science Curriculum. We will share hands-on tools, tricks, and methods to use inexpensive classroom supplies for engaging educational experiences both inside your classroom and in your outdoor classroom space. Not only will we teach you some Monday-morning activities, we will also showcase our new no-cost outdoor-focused toolkit to help scaffold learning through the new Organizing Ideas. Three lucky teachers will walk away with their very own toolkit! Every teacher will leave feeling inspired and prepared with resources and activities to foster inquiry-based learning, critical thinking, and environmental stewardship skills within their classrooms.

Speakers

Inside Education

Inside Education is an Alberta-based, environment and natural resource education charitable society. We have been supporting teachers and inspiring students to think critically about natural resource topics since 1985! With our full suite of no-cost teaching resources, youth summits... Read More →

Thursday February 13, 2025 10:30am - 11:30am MST
Salon 11

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10:30am MST

Using Picture Books to Launch Big Beautiful Math Problems in an Elementary Thinking Classroom

Thursday February 13, 2025 10:30am - 11:30am MST

Salon 04

Connecting numeracy to literature is a powerful strategy to engage students; making these connections in a Thinking Classroom is a game-changer. We have linked our favorite Big Beautiful Math problems to our favorite picture books, and the results have been magical! This session, anchored by Peter Liljedahl's framework, will focus on great stories, problem solving, engagement, connections, and joy. It will be hands-on, collaborative, and fun. I can't wait to share the magic with you!

Speakers

Alicia Burdess

Numeracy Lead Teacher, Grande Prairie and District Catholic Schools

Alicia Burdess has been a teacher, assistant principal, and math coach with Grande Prairie and District Catholic Schools since 2005. Alicia’s passion is teaching through problem solving in a Thinking Classroom; she enjoys working with students and teachers implementing Peter Liljedahl's... Read More →

Thursday February 13, 2025 10:30am - 11:30am MST
Salon 04

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11:45am MST

Agriculture: An Awe-full and Wonder-full Way to Teach and Learn

Thursday February 13, 2025 11:45am - 12:45pm MST

Salon 19/20

This session invites teachers to explore agriculture as a way to engage students’ innate sense of awe and wonder, which are powerful experiences that can enrich curriculum connections, deepen engagement, and harness children’s natural curiosity. Based on research findings from a school using agriculture as a lens to facilitate elementary curriculum, teachers will learn how agriculture-based teaching can tap into children’s natural curiosity, sense of wonder, and desire to discover, while expanding their experiences with nature. Teachers will leave with practical examples for integrating agriculture- and nature-based lessons they can build on to make learning meaningful, awe-full, and wonder-full, not only for students but also for teachers. Tried and true lessons will be showcased to encourage teachers to map agriculture onto Alberta curriculum in discipline-specific or cross-curricular ways. This session is meant to spark ideas for modest or elaborate projects for teachers regardless of school context. Resources including the school's own lessons website will be shared so that teachers will have concrete plans to put into action.

Speakers

Bonnie Stelmach

Professor, University of Alberta

I am a Professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of Alberta. My particular research interest is in rural school innovation. I’m currently researching in a K-9 school in Alberta, Canada that has a program focused on agricultural literacy, experiential learning, and... Read More →

Thursday February 13, 2025 11:45am - 12:45pm MST
Salon 19/20

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1:00pm MST

Finding Home on the Range: Exploring Alberta's Wildlife and Conservation Agriculture

Thursday February 13, 2025 1:00pm - 2:00pm MST

Salon 19/20

Join Inside Education for an introduction to agriculture in Alberta's Grasslands region, exploring ecosystem health, impacts on wildlife and agriculture practices addressing climate change. This session covers biodiversity, climate change, and conservation agriculture, aligning with grade 5-6 Earth Systems, grade 6 Living Systems, grade 7 Interactions and Ecosystems, and grade 9 Biological Diversity. In addition, we’ll highlight our full suite of additional support through classroom programming, field trips, youth summits, learning resources and teacher PD.

We will showcase 3 interactive low-equipment Monday-morning ready classroom activities, adaptable by grade:
-An active reflection game that explores students' connections to agriculture and the food system.
-An immersive group game on habitat in the grasslands
-A high-energy game show about native grasslands species, innovation in the region, and more!

Speakers

Inside Education

Thursday February 13, 2025 1:00pm - 2:00pm MST
Salon 19/20

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1:00pm MST

I've Done All these Assignments - Now What?

Thursday February 13, 2025 1:00pm - 2:00pm MST

Salon 03

Feeling overwhelmed by the volume of mandated assessments? Do they seem to consume valuable instructional time without adding real value? While these assessments are often out of our control, we can control how we use the data to drive targeted, impactful instruction.

Join me for an in-depth session using Alberta Education’s K-4 literacy and numeracy assessments to create student learner profiles. Together, we’ll explore strategies to transform raw data into meaningful, personalized instruction.

*Note - we will use the Alberta Education assessments as examples, but the process could be used K-12 with any pre-assessment.

Speakers

Tracy Lundell

K-6 Curriculum Coordinator, Aspen View Public Schools

With over a decade of experience teaching primarily in grades K-3, Tracy has spent the past three years supporting educators implementing new curriculum and delivering literacy and numeracy interventions. This work has consistently underscored the importance of truly understanding... Read More →

Thursday February 13, 2025 1:00pm - 2:00pm MST
Salon 03

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10:30am MST

Fun, Fast, Fresh, Free! New Resources for Teaching K-6 Physical Education and Wellness

Friday February 14, 2025 10:30am - 11:30am MST

Salon 05

Come explore Ever Active Schools NEW suite of digital resources, now available for free through new.LearnAlberta.ca. These Physical Education and Wellness resources are locally developed for K-6 Learners in both English and French and aligned to the new K-6 Physical Education and Wellness Programs of Study. Participants will preview the suite of resources, sample activities and have the opportunity to give feedback.

Speakers

Ever Active Schools

Health & Wellness Consultant, Everactive Schools

Ever Active Schools is a registered national charity designed to create and support healthy school communities. We engage and support schools through a Comprehensive School Health framework, which addresses health and education goals to improve the social outcomes of children and... Read More →

Friday February 14, 2025 10:30am - 11:30am MST
Salon 05

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11:45am MST

Case Studies and More! Unpacking Concpets in the New Science Curriculum

Friday February 14, 2025 11:45am - 12:45pm MST

Salon 04

How do we engage students in learning all the new concepts in their science curriculum? Learning e terms and their definitions is always a starting point but it's just surface level learning. This session will look at ways that we can ask our students to become independent thinkers and start to draw connections between what they know and where we need them to go. Participants will take part in several interactive activities that they can adapt to their own student levels and use within the classroom. Yup, another roll up your sleeve event!

Instructional strategies are always areas that we as teachers continue to grow in. As we are challenging our students to learn content knowledge, we also want them to become independent thinkers and make connections between the concepts they have learned. providing different learning activities that allow students to practice these skills is the goal of this session!

Speakers

Chris Zarski

Chris is an Educational Consultant supporting Alberta teachers as a Designer of Professional Learning with the Central Alberta Regional Learning Consortium. She has served as a Teacher, Administrator, Curriculum Director of Curriculum, Examiner with Alberta Education, and Author... Read More →

Friday February 14, 2025 11:45am - 12:45pm MST
Salon 04

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12:00pm MST

OFFSITE: Edmonton Valley Zoo - Fur, Feathers, and Scales - (Ticket Purchase Required)

Friday February 14, 2025 12:00pm - 1:30pm MST

Off site

You must purchase a ticket for this session - Tickets will be available January 20th - Cost is $10.00. No transportation will be provided.

Get closer to the animals at the Edmonton Valley Zoo to see what they have covering their bodies. What can mammals use their fur for? What are birds’ feathers made out of? Do animals covered in scales feel slimy? Students will get a chance to see and feel the difference between fur, feathers, and scales when we tour the zoo, check out some animal artifacts, and even get to meet a live animal.

Friday February 14, 2025 12:00pm - 1:30pm MST
Off site

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1:00pm MST

OFFSITE: Stanley Milner Library - K - Grade 6 STEAM/ Makerspaces - (Ticket Purchase Required)

Friday February 14, 2025 1:00pm - 2:00pm MST

Off site

A session for K-6 teachers that is focussed on STEAM and making and creating at the Stanley Milner library. The services in the Children’s Library are aimed at youth up to age 12, or Grade 6.

Friday February 14, 2025 1:00pm - 2:00pm MST
Off site

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