ECSD Elementary Summer Summit: Full Schedule

ECSD Elementary Summer Summit 2026: September Starts Here
Join us on August 28 for a day of learning, collaboration, and inspiration designed to help you start the school year strong! Choose from over 25 sessions featuring classroom-ready resources, practical strategies, and ready-to-use lessons across literacy, mathematics, science, social studies, assessment, inclusion, faith permeation, and wellness. Whether you’re exploring the new Grades 4–6 Social Studies curriculum, discovering Dynamic Math, or looking for fresh ideas to support every learner, you’ll leave confident, energized, and September ready!

9:45am MDT

Unpacking Assessment Toolkits and the NEW Levels of Proficiency and Achievement

LIMITED

Friday August 28, 2026 9:45am - 10:45am MDT

Limited Capacity seats available

Session Materials

This session introduces the Division’s assessment toolkits and explores how they support effective planning, instruction, and reporting. Teachers will examine how learning intentions, success criteria, question progressions, and proficiency scales can be used to gather meaningful evidence of learning and strengthen instructional decision-making. Participants will also consider how these tools align with the new Levels of Proficiency and Achievement and support consistent professional judgment across classrooms. With a focus on knowing the learner and being purposeful in planning, this session highlights how clear assessment practices can create the conditions for both rigour and engagement, while supporting student ownership of learning. Teachers will leave with a clearer understanding of how assessment tools can help set the year up strong and support optimal learning from the start.

Speakers

Leanne Hemphill

Curriculum and Assessment, Edmonton Catholic School Division

As an Assessment Consultant with Edmonton Catholic School Division, I support schools in developing responsive, curriculum-aligned assessment and reporting practices that leverage technology to enhance learning. I collaborate with educators and administrators to build capacity in... Read More →

Alyson Gabucci

Curriculum and Assessment Consultant, Edmonton Catholic School Division

As an Assessment Consultant with Edmonton Catholic School Division, I support schools in developing responsive, curriculum-aligned assessment and reporting practices through the lens of instructional coaching. I collaborate with educators and administrators to build capacity in assessment... Read More →

Friday August 28, 2026 9:45am - 10:45am MDT
3B

K-6

11:00am MDT

SpacesEDU Success: Making Learning Visible Through Student Portfolios

LIMITED

Friday August 28, 2026 11:00am - 12:00pm MDT

Limited Capacity seats available

Session Materials

Join us for an engaging professional development session exploring how SpacesEDU can make learning visible and meaningful while enhancing our assessment practices. Participants will examine how digital portfolios support purposeful planning, highlight student growth, and help teachers better understand their learners. This session will explore practical ways SpacesEDU can foster student ownership of learning, promote reflection, and support both rigour and engagement in the classroom. We will also look at how portfolios provide families with a clear window into classroom learning, strengthening connections between home and school. Perfect for educators looking to set the year up strong by offering time and resources to create our first posts in our SpacesEDU portfolios.

Speakers

Nicole Cunningham

Emtech, Edmonton Catholic School Division

Nicole Cunningham is an Educational Technology Consultant with Edmonton Catholic Schools for the past 3 years, supporting teachers from Kindergarten to Grade 12. She designs and delivers professional learning and at the elbow planning and in-class support that helps educators purposefully... Read More →

Joel Kristiansen

Emerging Technology Consultant, Edmonton Catholic School Division

Joel Kristiansen has been part of the EmTech team for the past 3 years. Joel finds inspiration in working with teachers to incorporate technology in feasible ways to make learning more accessible, exciting, and long lasting. Before that, Joel spent over a decade in K-9 schools where... Read More →

Leanne Hemphill

Curriculum and Assessment, Edmonton Catholic School Division

Alyson Gabucci

Curriculum and Assessment Consultant, Edmonton Catholic School Division

Friday August 28, 2026 11:00am - 12:00pm MDT
3B

K-6

12:45pm MDT

AI + You: The Ultimate Teaching Design Duo

LIMITED

Friday August 28, 2026 12:45pm - 1:45pm MDT

Limited Capacity seats available

Session Materials

How can we design learning experiences that are rooted in joy, grounded in faith, and intentionally responsive to the diverse needs of all learners? This session invites educators to explore how artificial intelligence can support the design of inclusive, equitable, and rigorous Tier 1 instruction aligned with the conditions of Optimal Learning: Catholic faith and permeation, joy and rigour, and ownership of learning.
Inspired by Catlin Tucker’s Elevating Educational Design with AI: Making Learning Accessible, Inclusive, and Equitable, participants will engage with AI as a thought partner in the instructional design process. The focus is on strengthening clarity of learning goals, alignment of assessment and instruction, and the intentional design of learning experiences grounded in Universal Design for Learning (UDL).
Educators will explore how AI can support the creation of high-quality, student-facing resources, such as scaffolds, models, multiple entry points, and differentiated pathways, that reduce barriers and increase access for all learners. Emphasis will be placed on designing for variability from the outset, rather than retrofitting supports after instruction.
Participants will apply these ideas to redesign a lesson or learning sequence for September through November, leaving with practical strategies and adaptable tools to support purposeful, inclusive, and joy-filled learning experiences for every student.

Speakers

Nicole Cunningham

Emtech, Edmonton Catholic School Division

Leanne Hemphill

Curriculum and Assessment, Edmonton Catholic School Division

Friday August 28, 2026 12:45pm - 1:45pm MDT
3B

K-6

2:00pm MDT

Starting Strong in Science: Planning and Assessment That Last All Year

LIMITED

Friday August 28, 2026 2:00pm - 3:30pm MDT

Limited Capacity seats available

Session Materials

This session helps teachers build consistent science routines that support learning all year. You’ll explore practical ways to plan lessons and use ongoing assessment to understand student progress. The focus is on strengthening assessment practices so they inform instruction without adding extra work.

Speakers

Leanne Hemphill

Curriculum and Assessment, Edmonton Catholic School Division

Katerina Campbell

Elementary Science Consultant, Edmonton Catholic School Division

Katerina is an elementary Science consultant at Edmonton Catholic Schools. She loves all things Science, exploring natural phenomena and will never stop asking “why?” Katerina is a self proclaimed maker and cardboard collector. She is a proud promoter of inquiry based learning... Read More →

Natalie Zuberbuhler

Elementary Science Consultant, Edmonton Catholic School Division

Natalie Zuberbuhler: Elementary Science Curriculum and Assessment Consultant with Edmonton Catholic Schools lives for Science and supporting her teacher colleagues. Natalie always has great recommendations on books, tips for catching fish, and how to incorporate computer science to... Read More →