As part of my ongoing commitment to continue learning, over the summer of 2015, I completed the Ontario Principals' Qualification Program Part 1. Doing this will allow me to pursue the administration side of education in the future if I choose to do so. As part of the program, I am required to complete a practicum section focusing on an area of education that is of interest to me that could be viewed from a leadership standpoint. Having a background in Physical and Health Education, I was disappointed to read the results from the 2015 ParticipACTION report card and wanted to do my part to try and change this.
Keeping that in mind, I decided to make the focus of my practicum on how I can help our youngest students understand and appreciate the value of being active, healthy and connected. Over the course of the school year, I will be sharing a variety of activities, tips and information with our students that they can try and provide feedback from with their families.
Using the initiative as a starting point, I then teamed up with our Grade 3 Educator, Andrea O'Leary, who was happy to share her class's knowledge of Feed All Four from a Primary lense. As a team, the Grade 3's worked with Dave, Kim and Andrea to come up with some creative activities that they could share with our Kindergarten class.
Thus far, we have met for four separate rounds of Feed All Four Buddies and the outcomes have been amazing. Students from both grades have been fully engaged in activities that stimulated their mind, spirit, emotions and body, all the while gaining a stronger understanding of what it means to Feed All Four. After each of our four 20 minute visits, both classes also independently held Knowledge Building and Community Rectangles/Circles to have students share their thoughts on being Feed All Four Buddies. From the Kindergarten perspective, many great thoughts were shared and everyone seemed excited to meet again soon. The Grade 3 class was just as excited, but were also proud of how they could be viewed as role models by their younger peers.
All in all, a great start towards making even the slightest difference in how future generations view being healthy, active and connected individuals. Please feel free to follow our class Twitter feed or search #TLDSBK3FA4 to see how the practicum is doing as well as how we hope it will spread across the Board to even more Primary classes.
