One of my favorite books is The Giver. Typically studied in grade 6, this wonderful piece of literature provides a perfect example of a meaningless apology; an apology that is recited without touching anybody and is accepted automatically as the recipients chant: “We accept your apology”. My grade 6s found it amusing and entertaining and why shouldn’t they?

As I was getting tangled in my questions and my concerns an opportunity presented itself. I attended a workshop: “Teaching and Supporting Healthy Relationship skills” with Dr. Suzanne Zwarych. One of the activities was Taking Responsibility for Emotions, which included recognizing the need to learn how to apologize and practice giving an apology. I was thrilled and as many teachers do after attending a workshop, I jumped right into my classroom with my newly acquired skills.

I planned my lessons, personalized the examples and the scenarios and gathered help from the admin team. My principal was very supportive and even helped me model scenarios and demonstrate a proper apology with a plan for action. We had follow up discussions, reflections and students had an opportunity to ask questions and provide feedback.

Initially my students’ feedback included comments such as:

It appeared as if these learning activities did not quite meet my initial expectations and goals. Do we really learn more from failure rather than success? 

Time, consistency and patience are my best friends. It’s been about a month after the initial learning activity dedicated on proper apology and countless daily reminders with reassuring results. It’s very interesting to witness the change of class culture and attitude. I am particularly proud of one special grade six student who joined our class at the beginning of this school year and had a number of personal, family, and school issues. We all have had that one student at some point in our teaching career and it’s a true learning experience for everyone. He is now able to sincerely apologize, state his plan for action and also receive apologies from other students. I cannot possible take all the credit for that success but when you teach from the heart, making a difference is inevitable. 

Lina Dilov is a teacher with Calgary Board of Education. She received her MA from the University of Calgary, focused on Teaching and Learning Second Languages. In her classroom and system level experience she was involved with a number of projects and initiatives, e.g. AISI, TTFM, Galileo, UofC, E-Teacher (US Department), etc.

I've had many great PD opportunities this year to enhance my understanding of physical literacy and how to incorporate that into my teaching practice with my students. Through one of the sessions I attended I was able to meet and arrange for my grade 3/4 students to attend the aquatic literacy program at Talisman Centre. 

This program consisted of four different aquatic activities for the students to be exposed to different ways to enjoy water sports and leisure. The students loved every moment of the program and were able to experience playing water polo and learn the basics of diving, water safety and new games to play with friends in the pool. They also happened to be at Talisman Centre at the same time as the Mens National Water Polo team was practicing as well as observing Dive Calgary team members practicing off of the 10 metre tower. I was thoroughly impressed myself, as were the students. 

It is my hope that the students now have an idea of the many ways that we can use water as a fun and athletic way to move our bodies.


Meredith is currently the K-6 PE teacher and health champion at Patrick Airlie School.

In October, we chose a group of students to attend the Healthy Active School Symposium (HASS) conference.  Our team was chosen from a written assignment where students were asked three questions - How are you active in your daily life? What would you do to make our school healthier? and Why is living a healthy active life important to you?

The division two students who were chosen have a passion for healthy living. The other students at Jennie Elliott school look up to these individuals as health champions. The conference got the momentum rolling for the year, leaving the students feeling motivated to create a SWAT team and positively influence the health of our school.

Our SWAT team was assembled with the goal of making our school the healthiest it can be. Throughout the school year, we organize events to promote healthy eating, mental health and exercise.  The SWAT team consists of 5 students, our school nurse and our school health champion, Mr. Parsons.

Our first event was a smoothie week. Throughout the week each grade came to our presentation where we explained the benefits of the four ingredients in our smoothie: strawberries, bananas, spinach and water.  The student members of the SWAT team researched each ingredient and explained the benefits in the presentation.  The students also took turns assembling the smoothie for the demonstration. Each student received a sample of the smoothie and their own smoothie booklet, which had eight healthy smoothie options they could make at home. 

As a result of attending the Healthy Active School Symposia our school community has seen a growing interest in Comprehensive School Heath. Students are already planning on attending next year and hope to share their success with other students across Calgary and surrounding area.

The Healthy Active School Symposia are hosted by Ever Active Schools throughout Alberta and are designed to provide Alberta school communities with the knowledge, skills and resources to enhance student wellness. 

Registration is open for HASS 2015 and can be found here.

Jeff Parsons is a Physical Education Specialist at Jennie Elliott Elementary School in the community of Lakeview. He loves spending time with his young daughter and wife outdoors and experiencing all of the great things Calgary has to offer. Prior to his teaching career, Mr. Parsons had done a lot of traveling throughout the world; he incorporates the knowledge and experience gained into his teaching style. 

Andrea works as a Public Health Nurse out of Shaganappi Community Health Center.  She is a new Registered Nurse and is keen to share her love of health and wellness with her 7 schools.  On the side, Andrea enjoys being a Girl Guide leader, teaching yoga, running marathons and spending her time outdoors in the mountains.

At the end of each day my class of grade 5/6 boys settle themselves onto the carpet at the back of the room, jockeying for position as they arrange themselves into a circle across the floor. Some sit upright, some rest their backs on shelves. One always gets the coveted position nestled against the overstuffed floor pillow and, depending on the day, one is usually tucked away in a corner, knees up and head down.  With a class of only five students this is how it has played out throughout the year; the roles and positions change, but our Circle beginning typically looks like this.

What I love about this time in the school year is that the purpose of Circle, the very reason why we gather together just one last time before heading home, shows me exactly how far my boys have come in a very short time. In September, Circle was simply to aide in body regulation and to support students in making successful transitions onto their busses. By December it was about team building and creating a positive class culture; we began not only sharing the highs and lows of our day, but opened ourselves up to facilitated discussion between peers who were having disagreements. “I felt angry when _______” became a common phrase.

And now? Now that our time together is nearly done, with most of the boys moving on to other schools after June, Circle is our chance to enjoy one another’s presence. The students listen to each other’s stories and give advice or words of encouragement. They laugh and joke about their day, poke gentle fun at myself and the classroom staff, share smiles all around. At this time in the year Circle is no longer something we just “do”. It is who we were then, and who we are now. And that growth is inspiring.   


Andra Coulter (@teachercoulter) has taught at Children’s Village School since 2007, and shares her classroom space with two fulltime Behaviour Support Counsellors. She believes strongly in the power of laughter, relationships, and coffee (not necessarily in that order).

The Olympics have the power to inspire, promote, and encourage students to chase their dreams. But what does it take? How do the sports professionals we see make it to where they are today? What choices have they made? And how do all of their life skills parallel what we are teaching in the classroom?

Persistence, Motivation, Inspiration: 
Do you have what it takes to be an Everyday Olympian? Daily students are introduced to new concepts and skills (ie: working with social media, healthy living, goal setting, financial management, language, etc.). These skills are the strengths of the “Everyday Olympian”. By linking the skills taught in the classroom to professional heroes and leaders, the Grade 5/6 English students were inspired to aim high, to set goals and exceed them all throughout the year. As a culminating activity we explored, “What it takes to be an Everyday Olympian” at University School as part of Campus Calgary Open Minds. This weeklong field trip permitted students to touch history, see the past and dream of the future, to taste healthy choices, to converse with experts and to smell victory.  

As teachers we seek to awaken young minds, encourage students to set goals and achieve them in real, contextual, authentic and meaningful ways. The acquisition of knowledge happens everywhere. This year with a colleague, I had the opportunity to watch young minds ignite with a fuel for learning. This cross-curricular approach to learning has been worth its weight in gold.

 
Kat Tutkaluk (@Ktutkaluk) teaches Phys. Ed. She is easily excited about learning and loves being part of a team. Grade 5/6 colleague: Amanda Perry

Centennial High School’s Student Council is comprised of athletes, science whizzes, math geniuses, literally novelists and history buffs. We are diverse group of students dedicated to bettering the school to benefit students. Our two major initiatives this year were the #studentsmatter initiative and our mental health week. The #studentsmatter initiative sought students, parents and teachers to promote understanding and awareness about the effects of budget cuts on students through tweeting during the Alberta election. 

Our mental health week was planned during the same week as the national mental health week. It aimed to spread mental health awareness and to reduce stigma around mental health. 

Both of these initiatives were huge successes and Centennial students, parents and staff alike hope to continue and build on these strong initiatives next year. We also wish to implement many student services and environmentally friendly practices in our school. Centennial High School’s Student Council serving to be the new face for students and we hope to continue this tradition.


Syameena Pillai (@yotesvoice) is an avid yearbook designer, journalist for the school news and dedicated student council representative.

This year I had the opportunity to work with CBE Comprehensive School Health and Canadian Red Cross to bring together a number of colleagues to support the building of our Leadership program here Lord Beaverbrook High School.  

Beyond the Hurt (BTH) Youth Facilitator Training is helpingus create a safe, bullying-free, and healthy environment for our students. Our BTH teacher training took place over the course of two days and built capacity in our Leadership teachers to educateand train students in becoming peer instructors themselves. Since then, our grade 10 level Leadership students are working with ourteacherswith content ranging from the power of a label to how to take proactive action and promote healthy relationships. 

Our goal by June 2016, is for our grade 11 and 12 Leadership students to be working with the community to educate younger students at feeder schools andimplement the grade appropriate lessons themselves! By doing this, not only are we planting a seed for understanding and promoting healthy relationship in our own school, but also allows our students to be positive role models for youth in the community as well. Our long term goal (2017) is to have our grade 12 Leadership students educate our CALM classes and help organize a number of healthy relationship initiatives in the school. 

As a teacher, my task design improved greatly for my classes as the implementation overlaps nicely with the Leadership curriculum with the 10’s Speaking and Presenting module, the 20’s Interpersonal Relationships module, and the 30’s Peer Mentoring and Extending the Mentoring Relationship modules. A huge win-win for education and wellness at Lord Beaverbrook High School! Go LORDS!
 

Lisa Taylor is in her second year as Physical Education learning leader and one of two Leadership teachers at Lord Beaverbrook High School. She coaches senior girls basketball and is an advocate for daily physical activity and wellness.

Every day I am grateful for the program I have, the kitchen facility and the wonderful students that want to be here to learn. To make this area, this school and this program the hub of our community is where we build our strength. 

My future plan is to make our program an asset to the community through  food, feeding those less fortunate in the schools, helping smaller schools purchase our food, catering to schools and small businesses in this area. 

We all can work closer together, to be role models for the benefit of students and communities.

This post is an update from an article that written on Brown Bagging for Calgary's Kids. Please click on the link to see the original story.


Monica is a chef and a teacher. She loves to entertain making sure that the atmosphere and food are just perfect. She also loves to read inspirational books.

In October, students and staff participated in the Dare to Care program with Dwayne Peace. Sitting in a circle, with 35 students and two adults, and sharing our stories was a heart opening experience to understand where we had all come from and where we were all going. Each person in the circle had to answer:

After sharing my story, I had the opportunity to listen to each of the student’s stories and what I took away from their participation was each student has a story and as a learner, how he/she views their reality is based on their worldview.

As the months have passed, we have completed many tasks to follow up with our Dare to Care involvement. My latest task with the Grade 9 students was to create and maintain a “Jar of Happiness” for twenty-one days based on a pre-assessment happiness survey we completed in class. The students were intrigued by the concept of keeping a jar and yet hesitant about what they could write each day to recognize what made them happy. Some students took their jars home, some kept them in their lockers, and some kept them on my desk. As a teacher, I participated in the activity with them; they could see my jar and would ask how was I recording my daily “happiness” moments.

During the task, the students did journal entries to check in with answering

and it was interesting to read that some of them were starting to recognize it was the “little things” in their day that brought a smile to their face. Some examples of happy moments students were grateful for were being with family and friends; helping students in the classroom; appreciating their own health; and recognizing their individual accomplishments. I shared with them this Kurt Vonnegut’s quote: 

This task aligned with students having a voice and choice in how they kept their jars and how they were going to present their learnings to me from visuals, written responses, or engaging in a one-on-one conversation about their twenty-one days. Coincidently, Day 17 (student’s first day of spring break), was International Day of Happiness, and I was able to send them an email to share information about this day and links that they could follow up on with how the global community was celebrating. To wrap up this task, the students had the opportunity to create their own children’s book based on what brought them happiness and share it with our Community Centre Kindergarten class.

My take away from this Jar of Happiness task was the significance of keeping the momentum and follow through of a powerful sharing experience and continuing to get students to be reflectors of their learning and feelings in their daily life moments. 

Jasprite Atwal (@jasprite) teaches Grade 9, is passionate about engaging students in self-reflection and promoting a ‘Me to We’ attitude in the learning community.

The following describes two classroom initiatives at Colonel Sanders School. They have had a great impact on student learning in the area of health and wellness in partnership with the comprehensive school health program and specifically focus on nutrition. 

This year, the Grade 1’s have had the pleasure of building an in class garden in collaboration with the Little Green Thumbs Project. It has been a learning experience for both student and teacher leading to many intellectually engaging activities. Little Green Thumbs was initiated in response to children having a lack of awareness about food sources and the vital role nature plays in nutrition. Both my partner teacher and I have used our garden as a way for learners to recognize the impact our environment has in our well-being. It has been a springboard for discussions around Canada’s Nutrition Guide and healthy eating. We have, essentially, begun the work from the ‘roots up,’ starting from seed to fruit. Every student has planted a seed, observed the changes, and will celebrate with our end of the year picnic. In this celebration, students, parents, and teachers will harvest what has been growing in our classroom over the year and appreciate what nature offers us!  


Written by Mandi Jones – Grade 1 Teacher, Colonel Sanders School

Grade 4 students working with the Student Wellness Action Team (SWAT) at Colonel Sanders initiated a healthy bake sale for our school.  It was led by one student’s passion who believed that students in our school would benefit from learning about alternative snacks, other than the processed foods that were bought from stores.  The students who volunteered to bake snacks submitted their recipes for a health check. After approval, classmates volunteered with their parents to bake the healthy recipes. Recipes with listed ingredients were placed beside each baked item listing the healthy benefits. The bake sale took place during our Spring Dance in April, replacing what was previously a candy station.  Eight students took shifts and sold the baked items.  The money raised was donated to Alberta’s Children’s Hospital’s “Children’s Wish Foundation.”


Written by Wendy Chan – Grade 4 Teacher, Colonel Sanders School