Episode 51: Talking Physical Literacy, Getting Outdoors, and Staying Healthy With Tine Parker

Martin and Roy kick things off on one of those cold, rainy, grey days when five degrees or lower means snow is piling up on the North Shore mountains. With the weather closing in and the Christmas holidays behind them, the conversation turns to honest reflections on indulgent eating, missed workouts, and good intentions to get back outside and move more. Things get a little personal when Martin admits that hauling the recording gear up the library stairs felt harder than it should have. That realization leads to a timely field trip to meet Tine Parker, an Olympic sailor, coach, educational leader, and North Vancouver vice-principal whose work with Healthy Futures focuses on physical literacy, healthy eating, and getting kids outdoors. And just maybe, Tina has a few words of advice for our podcasters too.
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Keywords

Olympic sailor, physical literacy, outdoor learning, Healthy Futures, experiential learning, community support, wellness, education, North Vancouver, Tine Parker

Takeaways

• Tine Parker emphasizes the importance of physical literacy for lifelong health.
• Outdoor learning enhances student engagement and understanding.
• The Healthy Futures program supports wellness and healthy eating in schools.
• Experiential learning fosters deeper connections with the material.
• Community support is vital for successful educational programs.
• Tine's Olympic experience shaped her approach to education and coaching.
• Physical activity is crucial for mental and physical well-being.
• Teachers can integrate outdoor learning into various subjects.
• Healthy eating programs in schools promote equal access to nutrition.
• Tine's leadership inspires educators to prioritize student wellness.

Sound bites

"Physical literacy is key to lifelong health." "Outdoor learning transforms student engagement." "Healthy Futures supports wellness in schools." "Experiential learning deepens understanding." "Community support is essential for success." "Olympic experiences shape educational approaches." "Physical activity boosts mental well-being." "Integrate outdoor learning into all subjects." "Equal access to nutrition is vital." "Inspire wellness through leadership."

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Chapters

• 1:10 STS With The Stunt Brothers
• 6:07 ABC 123 With Tine Parker
• 11:27 Coach Tine and Her Olympic Background
• 17:13 Speeds Bumps Are Part Of The Journey and Make You Stronger
• 24:59 Outdoor Education
• 47:39 Physical Literacy!
• 1:08:52 Helping To Ensure Food Security
• 1:19:24 Wrap Up With Roy and Martin

Transcript

speaker-0 (00:00)
you ⁓

speaker-1 (00:05)
The students are gone, but you are still here. And we know how you feel. Because you are done. But you have so much work to do to get ready for tomorrow. Good afternoon podcast listeners everywhere. Welcome to After the Bell, a Stunt Brothers production. A podcast that gets inside the life of a teacher and provides a wellness guide for being prepared to take on this most challenging of professions. I'm Martin Stuible And I'm Roy Hunt. And we share your pain.

having taught a combined 70 years. The guarantee of this podcast is to make you laugh, make you think, and give you at least one little nugget that you can use in the classroom. So get out your marking, organize your supplies, or just pour yourself a coffee. I want something stronger. And listen, engage, and interact with After the Bell, a podcast for you.

the hardworking, dedicated teacher who wants free lesson plans, free advice, and a free meal. Okay, Roy, but I'm not paying for anything more than McDonald's.

Hey, Mr. Hunt. Hi, Mr. Stuible How you doing? I'm doing well, thank you. We're here. This is episode 51. Wow. They just keep flying on by. I know. I know. Reaching out to the world and whether you want them or not, they keep coming every Monday. Well, you not to listen, but that wouldn't be good because it's a podcast. Exactly. No, so exciting. And the weather has been, well, it's been rainy and kind of hard to get out.

Yes. Where we are, below the mountains, it is hard to get out because the snow line is quite low though. It's cold by our standards and on the West coast. And then it's rainy and it's gray, but you know, there's sort of a benchmark temperature. So if it's five degrees or lower here below the mountains, to look pretty good.

looking amazing. They're communicating a lot of snow. so much snow. I know there was one class that actually watches, you can actually on Seymour, they have a camera that shows the depth of the snow. Okay. They measure it. they have it on in their classroom because it was snowing so much. And within a day they could see the meters of snow that were coming down. Well, I went- impressive. Well, the centimeters anyway. Well, I went cross-country skiing. Oh, good. Cypress ball. Yeah. They have a-

great groomed love Cypress, cross-country ski year. Cross-country course and the snow was amazing. I really enjoyed it went with ⁓ my daughter and some friends. I went and I felt good and you know, all that workout, the fresh air and everything and then suddenly I thought, ⁓ I think I want to do this more often. Yeah. Right? So more physical activity and I thought about eating.

healthier because it's there's been a lot of cookies and chocolate. Post Christmas guilt. Like I just noticed today when we walked up the stairs to the, the box is here and I carry my big box with all my equipment in, right? Normally I bound up there, even though it's quite heavy, you would agree that box. I was having to catch my breath. Yeah. noticed that maybe you haven't done enough exercise lately. Usually I tend to stay quite active, but I could feel it. And I also.

feel that chocolate that would be on the table at Christmas time. And I, try to walk by it and ignore it, but my hand goes to it, you know, but now I've, put it in the back of the cupboard and it's January and it's time to get healthy and fit and get back in there. So get outdoors. Yes. Yes. Get fresh air. Yes. Get healthy food. Yeah. And, ⁓ what else could we do? Well, to stay, you know, clear of mind and stay fit and stay, you know, focused in a way that makes you.

realize that you got another, you know, half year of teaching to do and we know how hard it's going to be, right? So you've got to find ways to get your mind at ease and get your body healthy. Well, I think we have someone that we could interview on this. We do. We have a field trip. We have another field trip today. It's been two field trips in a row. Actually three. It's been really quite an explosive start to 2026. yeah, we have someone who embodies all these things, I think.

You know, some people it's, you know, do as I say, not as I do. Our guest, think it's do as I do, right? And try to keep up to me. And that is a challenge. Talk about, you know, someone who's just, her whole life has been active. So our guest is Tina Parker. An Olympic sailor, I believe. Yeah. In 1996, competed in the,

Atlanta Olympic Games for Canada. She's been a coach. She's healthy and active and has been amazing as an educational leader. Been involved with a few things, right? Right. And in a district, she's in charge of a food program. What was the name of that? Healthy. Well, the program, she's vice principal for Healthy Futures, which is kind of the umbrella that looks at physical literacy, healthy eating.

⁓ outdoor play, right? But I think there's a provincial program that funds her and that's a food futures or somewhat futures in terms of dealing with that aspect of it. So I think she is a great person to go talk to, to hear from, to meet in person and to feel a little bit of that energy that maybe will help me get up those stairs. won't be huffing and puffing. Well, I hope we get to sit and interview her and don't have to like move when she moves. There might be difficult.

There might be a stair master there because we're going to meet her at a school and it might be just, no, we're not sitting for this. Keep up to me boys. Let's go.

So welcome. is our ⁓ privilege to be here with Tina Parker and I'm going to give you a little more detail about who Tina Parker is and some of her background, but we're going to start with our icebreaker. It's called ABC 123. Okay. ⁓ And so you just say whatever pops into your head. Okay. There's no right or wrong. Okay. Here we go. All right. ABC. I'm doing the ABC.

speaker-0 (06:22)
Great.

Here we ⁓

speaker-1 (06:35)
Canada or Norway?

speaker-0 (06:38)
Canada.

speaker-1 (06:39)
C.

Passenger or driver? C. Sailing or hiking?

speaker-0 (06:43)
Driver.

Personally, hiking is part of a community of sailing.

speaker-1 (06:58)
Okay, okay, good. Okay, one, two, three. When you were a child, did you have a favorite teacher? Someone who stands out? Or maybe you didn't, and that's okay too. Okay, yeah, and can you tell us?

speaker-0 (07:10)
I did in high school.

Yes. This teacher? It was a PE teacher actually. And he was ⁓ supporting every learner in a way that it was, you were allowed to be competitive. Okay. And he ⁓

speaker-2 (07:20)
always

speaker-0 (07:34)
supported people that wanted to go further. So he split up the gym class into different pods. You can play competitive handball or recreational handball or for fun. so allowing us to choose. So one day, know, you might or in gymnastics, I'm hopeless at gymnastics. So I would do like the intro to gymnastics while other people would be more advanced. Develop at our own level in within the same classroom.

speaker-2 (07:47)
Peace.

absolute

so that we could all.

speaker-0 (08:01)
or inside the same gym and I thought wow what a really creative way to do it and he was also my first boyfriend. ⁓

speaker-2 (08:07)
to my mom's.

speaker-1 (08:10)
That was interesting.

speaker-2 (08:12)
That was long time.

speaker-1 (08:13)
This was in Norway? Yeah, wow. But I like the way you to choose because depending on the sport you may be at a different entry point.

speaker-0 (08:21)
Absolutely,

because we're all, you know, meet the students where they're at is what he did so well in every single class.

speaker-1 (08:29)
But he understood that intuitively. Is there a book that you've read in the last 10 years on any topic that really spoke to you?

speaker-0 (08:37)
Yeah, called The Outsider. It's about ⁓ actually a Norwegian man who moved to Canada and he lived off the grid. He still lives off the grid. He's in his late 80s now. And how he used ⁓ fundamental human skills and exercise to not age, but worked with nature in nature and he lived in a school bus.

right in the middle of the bush in Vernon and then just how he... He still lives like 30, 40 years. ⁓ And ⁓ like the trauma he faced, he was born during the war and he was adopted out. So he thought he had a German parent or father, but turned out he didn't.

speaker-1 (09:13)
long did he live ⁓

speaker-0 (09:34)
you know he was brought up thinking that he was kind of an unwanted child but then you know it was the trial and the trauma and outsider in Canada and the trauma that he'd faced and throughout his upbringings because he thought it was a you know a German war child right but he was had he had he got the truth about his

speaker-1 (09:43)
Yeah, yeah.

speaker-2 (09:55)
So

speaker-0 (10:00)
original DNA, his life probably would have been very different.

speaker-1 (10:04)
So the outsider, I'm going to look at

And number three, if you had only one piece of music that you could listen to, you don't have to play it over and over again, but there's only one that you have to listen to, is there a piece that you would choose that speaks to you more than another piece of music? You you're on a deserted island and you go, okay, time to play my one piece of music. Is there that one piece?

speaker-0 (10:26)
I think it would be a national anthem. Either Canada, Norway or something like that.

speaker-1 (10:30)
⁓ okay.

why.

speaker-2 (10:35)
because it proves

speaker-0 (10:38)
a lot about the nation and the pride we have in being from a place. It be the Squamish anthem too, ⁓ but it connects us with where we are and also the traditional remembering the past to bring it forward so that we can protect what we have but also move forward with courage and make things better.

speaker-2 (11:01)
So go f-

speaker-1 (11:04)
Yeah, okay. I think we often like, for a lot of people, like the National Anthem is only at hockey games. Yeah. It's a shame. Yeah. Because people need to see it other than students get to see it in assemblies. you get a set different feel to it and you do have a pride with your sense of place and where you're

speaker-2 (11:19)
Yeah,

a lot of the lyrics.

speaker-0 (11:21)
know, the lyrics

are really showing who we are and also where we live. And I don't think we appreciate where we live to the degree that we should or need to do.

speaker-2 (11:26)
So.

speaker-1 (11:34)
Well, thank you. And I'd like to welcome Tina Parker to our podcast. It's just wonderful to have you on. You've had many roles. I know you go back. You were an Olympic athlete and a sailing coach. You've TLC'd in North Vancouver for a long time, right? And then became a grade five, six kind of teacher at various schools and then got into administration. I think you were the vice principal at Cleveland and then got into district based administration. know, like to me an eclectic group of

of programs you ran and got involved in. physical literacy, ⁓ Outdoor Ed, and now it's the Healthy Futures. So, wow. So it's great to have someone on with this breadth of knowledge about so many things that in many ways probably have some unifying feature, I think. So can we go back to your Olympic athlete times and your coaching times and maybe the journey that kind of shaped Tina Parker and going from that, and I know you were in the Olympics in 1996.

So all that to today. Is there some things you could share with us?

speaker-2 (12:38)
So

speaker-0 (12:39)
I grew up in Norway and we have a cabin on an island and we spent eight weeks there in the summertime without many friends on the island. So my parents got me a little sailboat so I could sail to visit friends and make more friends. then I had to bring my brother with me because he's two years younger, but we fought the whole time in the boat. So then the following year, my parents got him a little boat and then we started racing. But I was always into

coaching or helping others. So when I was 12, I was sailing myself, but I was starting to teach the neighbors kids because they were six years old and five and stuff.

speaker-2 (13:21)
So I have

speaker-0 (13:22)
run this little, like there's about 40, 50 kids on the island all the time. so they were on an island. I mean, they need to learn the safety about water. so I run this course that I've been running them ever since and have had multiple now the second generation. So kids that I coach and I started competing when I was in Norway and I like to compete till you're 13 in any sport, which I think is a very healthy way because it.

become so much more focused on physical literacy in every, like I did every sport under the sun. ⁓ But sailing and cross-country skiing were kind of the two good seasonal ones. then I came to go to high school in Canada as an exchange student. ⁓ Had a great time and then ⁓ stayed and went to university.

continue with the sailing and then continue with the coaching and coaching was kind of my real passion. I love to teach, I love to share, but I love to learn more. I just, every day I, like what did I learn from this and how did the students learn and how did the kids learn that I coach? And especially the kids that aren't in the mold of the perfect students that sits down to listen to you.

but the ones that are more outgoing and often our team sports are hard are the ones that I really love working with because I'm the same way. Teams for me makes it hard. I like it when I can do it my own way and figure out or learn parallel with others but not depend on others.

speaker-2 (15:13)
So I.

speaker-0 (15:15)
had some great connections over the years. And then in 96, went to qualify for Olympics, went to the Olympics, which was probably the most lonely experience because Olympics was so different than what I was used to because there was only one from each nation. But, you know, we used to be many, many sailors. We used to be 120, but at the Olympics we only had 28. And it was...

so much security. My brother was there too, which was really good because he sailed for Norway, I sailed for Canada. And so at least I had some family there, but I never been to a place where you had to like check in, check out. Yeah, we were not there because we were in Savannah because I was in Atlanta, but we were close. But you know, the experience of the opening ceremonies and seeing all that hard work that people have put in and just the celebration of athleticism, but also, you know,

speaker-1 (15:56)
to hear that a bomb went

speaker-2 (16:02)
Yeah

speaker-0 (16:13)
I was at the closing ceremony, I was talking to a guy from the seashells. like what sport he was doing, he was doing the marathon. And he lived on an island that was a mile long. And because marathon is one of those sports, sports where everybody, every country can have participants and he wanted to go to the Olympics. So he had to figure out something that he could do that he could qualify for. And so this one mile long island, only his family lived on this island.

speaker-2 (16:14)
you

speaker-0 (16:43)
So he would run lap after lap after lap.

speaker-2 (16:45)
to laugh, to see the same and over and over

speaker-0 (16:48)
That was his training. And he had really never left the island. He got beaten by an hour or two three, whatever. he said that when he was running that the cheering on was just so unbelievable. He got more celebration. And I think that was... It wasn't the Olympics that was the big deal. It was the journey. All the friends I made and all the relationships that I developed.

speaker-1 (17:06)
What do got out of that, right?

speaker-0 (17:17)
All the places I've seen, also like the ups and downs, like any sport, any activity, anything you do, playing the piano, whatever, there's always speed bumps, I call it. And so you can choose to go over the speed bump and learn something from the other side, or you can just like give up and say that speed bump is too big. And of course there's a lot of speed bumps on the way. And I think that is part of what, you know, I want to also.

speaker-1 (17:43)
I mean, no one's going to be there. They haven't gone over some speed bumps. Exactly. they hit one and then said,

speaker-2 (17:48)
Because

you're going to win at all. yeah.

speaker-0 (17:50)
And that's very similar to teaching and learning, as we learn every day. We have speed bumps all the time. And when we're out in the forest and working with the kids, you fell down and you hurt yourself? is that a major issue or is it a small issue? And then it's a speed bump. And maybe next time we step a little bit further or whatever.

speaker-1 (18:01)
We tell kids all the time.

speaker-2 (18:15)
We learn from that.

speaker-1 (18:16)
speed bumps you hit the more resilient you become. I've fallen down like that before I'm good. It's a learning curve.

speaker-0 (18:23)
Yeah, now

after Christmas, I'm doing two sessions at a school about how do Six sevens, you know, how do you fall? So that, you know, I did a two week seminar at one school about jumping and part of it, didn't want to jump far or high.

speaker-2 (18:44)
that the students.

speaker-0 (18:48)
because they're afraid of falling. So then I did this session, a whole session on just falling. They were jumping off everything because they were so comfortable.

speaker-2 (18:53)
after that.

speaker-1 (18:57)
They've studies, like the biggest downfall of some of these safe playgrounds we have is that kids don't learn how to fall. Like the old fashioned playground, you might fall and hurt yourself and you learn from that. It's called a risky play. And you actually get less hurt.

speaker-0 (19:11)
Yeah, risky play is so important and part of this is education of the parents because risky play, you know, is still safe as long as you communicate with the student, you know, have you done this before? You know, do you have a way out? What are you thinking about, you know, if you're jumping off something high, you know, how are going to fall? Where are you going to fall? Those kinds of things. So teaching the students how to think before they do something.

improves that ability to make good decisions in life in general when it comes to ⁓ having been those inquiry-based questions.

speaker-1 (19:51)
There's something you said earlier that really tweaked my interest. was just about you saying that in Norway there's no competitive sports until 13. And yet Norway can compete just fine, right? It shows you. Sometimes you hear, oh, we've got to our kids in. There's no competition in elementary sometimes. People complain about that.

I like the way you said that it actually leads to kids trying different things. I worry about kids getting pigeonholed into a sport really young, like five, and they're in hockey and that's it. That's all they do when maybe there's something else they might end up doing and that could build their life and they don't touch it because they're too much into that.

speaker-0 (20:28)
Yeah, and also if you just play hockey, you become physically illiterate in many other things. Like can you hit a baseball? Can you throw an ultimate frisbee? Can you play soccer? Can you do all the other activities you want to do with your peers later on in life? ⁓ And you know, I've been to multiple international events all over the world and we were with a team from Singapore one year and the Singaporean

speaker-2 (20:41)
you

speaker-0 (20:57)
Sailor, she won the World Championships in 1500. She was fantastic. And so we challenged Team Singapore to soccer. And she's like, I don't play soccer. We're like, well, we're just going to play a friendly game. And she said, I've never played soccer.

speaker-2 (21:13)
ever. It's just 15.

speaker-0 (21:16)
And then we said, is her aspirations now after she won the world championships? She said that was her last day sailing in her life. She was going to do something else because that's all she had done. But she'd missed out on so much in life, felt. Like Norway has.

speaker-2 (21:32)
So in.

speaker-0 (21:35)
an enormous amount of potential in many, many sports from track and field to golf to soccer. They have Holland, have a very, very strong national team in soccer. They have cross country skiing, like every winter sport under the sun. have swimmers, they have it all. And chess, they have like the best chess player in the world. He's also one of the best soccer players. And I think it is really important if you just have one sport or one activity in anything and that is not going well one day.

then your whole life isn't really going well. But if you have multiple things and there's a speed bump in one thing, you can just take a day off and do something else that makes you happy. then all these activities. And at the top level, like the soccer players or the downhill skiers, are incredibly focused on yoga and gymnastics and ballet because they realized in the 90s that

speaker-2 (22:24)
There.

speaker-0 (22:32)
they were so stiff they couldn't get down the hill. So when they introduced that ballet and the movement skills and the flexibility, their skiing became so much

speaker-2 (22:36)
to do.

better.

speaker-1 (22:42)
I like that approach to the holistic child. Yeah. I think we can actually approach other things that way too. And correct me if I'm wrong, but I think in Norway might be another Nordic country or even like reading. They actually don't really officially teach it until they're seven years old or eight years old. And yet their reading levels are phenomenal and they're exposed to literature and they're exposed, but they don't worry about, you know, every little nitty gritty. They just expose them to books and love of books and parents are doing their part. And it shows you sometimes, you know, we got to get this kid to read when he was

But then they're so focused on that that they really get a joy of learning and does it then translate to something else.

speaker-0 (23:18)
That reading that is authentic reading or is it reading just memorizing words? And we actually on Friday and on our Pro-D day it was about literacy and the speaker that was there from Delta he really focused on spending time with words and I was at school here yesterday and a student came to me and said can you help me with some work and he hated it and he didn't know what that word meant but that was one of the questions

speaker-2 (23:42)
There was the word sophisticated.

speaker-0 (23:48)
And so the speaker on Friday said that there was a math question in Delta, because they do a kind of district-wide math question or test. And there was a word, cease. And we don't know what the word cease meant. It's just I think grade 10. Yeah, OK. And we skipped the question.

speaker-2 (24:02)
Most of the students didn't. ⁓

all the kids because

of that because the words so the just the

speaker-0 (24:14)
playing

with the words and learn new vocabularies and you know that's relevant to what you're reading and doing novel studies and cross-curricular. mean, you know, learning new words and she was giving us words that you know none of us had heard before but super super interesting that the the literacy piece can be taught in so many ways. It can be taught outside. can be taught

speaker-2 (24:17)
Morning.

Words are so fun.

us.

speaker-0 (24:41)
⁓ Inside it can be taught in every subject area. There is literacy and of course numeracy.

speaker-1 (24:48)
So let's break it down then we'll look at it. We'll look at the outdoor and then we can talk about physical literacy Yeah, and then maybe you could tell us a bit about the healthy futures Okay, so I know in at Highlands you would take your class out for the entire day every Wednesday I tried it I would go out for two hours on one day, but I've never got the whole day So what was that experience like when we start with that because I think when I first saw the video I watched the video a few years ago of you with your class

and that kind of inspired me when I was at Mount Royal where I did all my math outside on Wednesdays for an hour. But kind of watching that got me going so tell me about that.

speaker-0 (25:27)
So that was

in the COVID year and I had been part of the push from North Van School District supporting us in outdoor learning. That was like five, six years of that. started the first year once a month and took two or three classes out and we did, know, learning through the seasons, seeing seasonal change, erosion, know, topics that we were doing in class, we would take outside and focus on that. And that was a one day kind of thing. And then I got to Highlands, it was during COVID. And so we were in our pod.

speaker-2 (25:36)
is

speaker-0 (25:57)
I'm like, you know what, I'm going to take this a step further. And outdoor learning was kind of very popular in 2020 and 2021. And I said, okay, let's, let's see how it goes. And the first day we walked about six kilometers. It was a slug. The kids were tired and it was, it was a long walk. At the end of the year, we had done about 35 full days from quarter to nine to three. We were up to 18 to 22 kilometers.

And so one topic, we were doing the rock cycle. So we started at Cleveland Dam and we walked to the beach at Amerside and we watched the rocks go from large or really large rock to sand. We were doing grade five, so it was a grade five class. We were doing the skeleton. We were out in the forest. The students made the skeleton with stone and rocks and the details they put in and the knowledge.

speaker-2 (26:30)
the

day.

speaker-0 (26:56)
We'd

already done it in the classroom on paper and that kind of stuff and looked at it, but now they could show their learning by moving and they could like look at themselves. You know, how many, you know, joints do I have in my finger, that kind of stuff. We did, we walked over to West Van and we tested the salmon berries, the three different colors, orange, yellow, and dark purple, and tasted the difference.

and preference and then we kind of connected that to peppers like there's different colors of peppers. Why the different tastes? you know, so an owl saw that owl for 20 minutes just watching it. ⁓ The learning, the students did the hands-on experiential learning became deeply ⁓ important in their learning outcomes.

speaker-2 (27:41)
that student.

It came so deep.

speaker-0 (27:53)
in that they were able to express orally. ⁓ you know, we had an oral story every single time. So we're walking along the path and there's one year, one big rock. The students had to make a story about this one rock. And there were a whole variety of oral storytelling. So indigenizing the curriculum in such a positive way. I remember one said, you know,

speaker-2 (28:06)
So the

the students. There was an

speaker-0 (28:22)
asteroid coming down from above and it was a group of indigenous people that were walking on the path and the trees big big rock coming down and the trees branches grabbed the rock and put it beside the path to protect the people that's why the rock ended up there it was like unreal also did art and created and they learned to build and

speaker-2 (28:31)
saw this

The students.

speaker-0 (28:51)
And that knowledge, they're now in grade 10, that group, they come and knock on my door and they say that was such an important part of their schooling that their outside and their outdoor time is still part of what they do. It really became part of who they are. But also they gelled us. ⁓

speaker-2 (29:16)
group.

speaker-0 (29:18)
because there were different kids walking at different speeds and always different, which allowed them to get to know each other in a totally different level. And there were of course no electronics, no nothing. We just had what we had. I remember... Well yeah, chose the day of the week that was kind of the sunnier. But I remember we went down to... And we were doing simple machines.

speaker-1 (29:34)
rain or shine.

speaker-2 (29:42)
aside.

and the students.

speaker-0 (29:48)
made a seesaw and then they would measure how many kids they could have on one versus the other side and then how long the seesaw should be.

speaker-2 (29:57)
All those kinds of... was totally...

speaker-0 (29:59)
authentic learning like it was never talked about it. Novel studies, it was built around novels and we did a novel called Racing Home and it was about a pioneer family coming to Canada to Saskatchewan and about a 10 year old boy, it's exactly the same age as the student and he had to of course create his own toys. ⁓ We created toys out of nature.

speaker-2 (30:02)
We also, we did a lot of

So.

speaker-0 (30:28)
and we'd chestnuts with sticks and we created a whole farm and we did all kinds of things in nature. You know, now the students saw the opportunities to embrace nature and bring that with them in their further life in general.

speaker-2 (30:34)
So.

speaker-1 (30:48)
So if a teacher wanted to do some outdoor practices, how would you suggest they start?

speaker-0 (30:58)
I would suggest they start by taking the students out into the school playgrounds, not on the playground, but in the school grounds, because you don't need a lot of area to start looking at, really looking at how does the plant feed itself? How does it start to grow? Are the roots the same as the branches? If you take a tree upside down, does it look the same?

Is it, you know, will it grow? You know, the changes of nature, changes of seasons. What does the seed look like inside? You know, just taking the, you know, Gary Carter is an example of a very strong outside, outside kind of teacher. And he took the kids on the bus to the end station. walked back frequently. Just where do we live? And I think that's so important that

speaker-2 (31:51)
You

speaker-0 (31:57)
kids know where they live. You know, just start walking and you don't have to go far. was at Upper Lynn last week and we didn't even make it out of the school grounds. And we had had so much fun, we had so much learning. We talked about different shades of green and fungi and how it grows and why it grows and how they grow together and all those kinds of things. And it was a two hour session. We hadn't even left the school grounds.

speaker-1 (32:24)
I mean we're so blessed in North Van. mean the Mont Royal grounds here are phenomenal. Upper Lynn, so many schools have them. They're on a forest for most of them, right? So you actually could spend your life outside and not have to go to a park or somewhere.

speaker-0 (32:37)
But even Queen Mary, I mean there's trees there. We just walked over to Mahon Park. We've been doing this now for three weeks. And growth I've seen among the students, we ⁓ saw some maple trees. ⁓ And the different colors are red. This was in about October.

speaker-2 (33:04)
and why the...

speaker-0 (33:05)
bigger leaves for darker red than the smaller leaves for lighter red. And coming up with a hypothesis and just discussing that was just...

speaker-2 (33:14)
phenomenal learning.

speaker-1 (33:17)
I mean, you could open up a textbook and it would not be that real, right? That's right. Textbooks have their place, for sure, but it means something to them. Yeah. They will not forget that.

speaker-0 (33:26)
And the students that, you know, sitting is challenging, they just thrive. And it's good for And some of them, know, just touching a tree of the bark. Like, why does bark crack diagonally versus vertically? What's the difference? Why is it like that? Why is some bark thin and some thick? What are the benefits? What are the disadvantages?

speaker-2 (33:34)
for them all.

speaker-1 (33:53)
Are there things you feel you need to establish with the class the first time you go out? For some teachers it's daunting. Even though I've found over time, behavioral problems that maybe exist in the classroom don't happen outside. But are the things you go, okay, the first time, because for a lot of kids it's just like, ah, we're out. And it's to them just chaos time, right? How do you make it as a learning environment that's successful?

speaker-0 (34:18)
I think it's super important to differentiate between recess time and learning time. So, you know, we're going outside. It's not recess time. It is learning time. And this is my classroom outside. And the same rules exist, you know, when I say listen, we listen. When I say stop, we stop. But it's also allowing the students to be part of the learning, you know, asking inquiry-based questions.

which is IB is really, really good at, of course, and open-ended because the kids are so much more creative than on a piece of paper. And the number of answers that we get outside are... There's so many wonderful answers because the kids get more and more ideas as they see. So I think, you know, safety is number one, of course, so there has to be safety. I always, before we start, everybody has a...

speaker-2 (35:01)
so

speaker-0 (35:16)
startup buddy, I call them. And he's not a friend, it's one person in the class, so that, you know, if my best friend and I go missing together, then our startup buddy is someone else. Because one of us is more likely to be there. Animal awareness too, of course, is important. We are pretty loud. There's no question about that.

speaker-1 (35:41)
That's the bit.

speaker-2 (35:42)
The truth.

speaker-0 (35:45)
Upper Lynn the other day, we went up towards the forest there and ⁓ there were, there was not even a squirrel around. I think they were, they could hear us come. So, ⁓ but really watching also as a team, being creative with materials. And I think that's so important because

speaker-2 (36:04)
Teacher. Students.

speaker-0 (36:14)
If they find a stick and they start developing, often do like a shelter for an animal, creative shelter for animals, what would it look like? Where would you put it? Is there an in case another animal comes in? All those kinds of things, know, I can ask them. Yeah. And being able to create something with their hands. Yes. The learning is.

speaker-2 (36:22)
period.

to chase them.

awareness.

stronger.

speaker-1 (36:38)
Well, and I think one of the important things I know when you take student some students out for the first time, not they many don't want to touch anything. They get their hands dirty and they wipe them, you know, wipe them on their pants. And to make that breakthrough to when you see an insect instead of going, ooh, or cringing that you you know, you start asking question, where do you think it's going to go? And why is it moving that way? And my hands are dirty, but I don't care. And all

those, you know, feeling the soil and that kinesthetic sort of movement, hands-on approaches for so many students that connects with them more than being taught in a classroom.

speaker-0 (37:22)
Yeah,

there's in McKay Creek, there's an area where there's incredible clay, like such soft clay. We went there and we felt this clay and we developed, you know, little structures of the clay and, you know, kids came back fully clayed. But it's also like for our new Canadians, learn outside, being able to touch the leaf and say this is a leaf.

speaker-2 (37:44)
the ability to learn.

speaker-0 (37:50)
and learning the language that way is a very, very proven, very ⁓ strong evidence that it's a great way to learn by doing and moving and seeing and touching and using all your senses.

speaker-1 (38:05)
Don't you think it puts the scientists back in the child? Because I think we're born scientists, actually. You look at any three, four-year-old, they're just exploring. They're doing experiments in their way. And then suddenly we put them in the classroom sometimes and say, here's your science lesson. Answer these worksheet questions and get, you know, don't bother me. And what happens? They learn to hate science. But kids are natural scientists. And you put them outside, and you see that.

speaker-0 (38:30)
But also see the new student teachers coming in too ⁓ with great ideas and through all the professional developments that is available, our teachers are incredible and our students are so lucky. mean, the care and the creativity I see, it's mind-blowing. North Venice is amazing, aren't

speaker-2 (38:46)
So

speaker-1 (38:56)
That's a big part of this podcast is to celebrate that. It's amazing what's going on. We want people to know about it, right? So how can teachers tap into the local resources like parks and ⁓ gardens and things? How would they be able to find those things?

speaker-2 (39:15)
So there there.

speaker-0 (39:16)
great resources there's something called a hundred meter forest and there's a Dr. Sini at UBC she's kind of guru outdoor learning and we also do a lot of professional development where I go around and work with teachers as peer teaching we teach together and and we learn from one another with the class and that's a good way and Surrey parks has probably the best free online and it

speaker-2 (39:26)
to do.

teaching.

teaching resources.

incredible lesson plans for going outside. Resources available, you can just print off, it's free. So there's very local ones, but just I think the most important thing as a teacher myself, I would always walk the path. So I would start in Highlands and go for a while and just find new routes.

speaker-0 (39:49)
with ⁓

prior.

You

know, I remember we

speaker-2 (40:12)
walked

on the road and then we got this bush that had little purple berries.

speaker-0 (40:17)
And it looked exactly

like a cell, like with a membrane and everything. So when we got to that, said, we were learning cells, was grade five. And then everybody took this tiny little berry and we just squeezed it and then said, the parts of the cell, label them like in your fingers. I got it.

speaker-2 (40:23)
then

about self because it was science.

I said, now tell me all the photos.

And the students just... It was so incredible to watch.

So... ... about it yourself, then... ⁓

speaker-0 (40:46)
As a teacher, you're

That is yeah, you know most of it's contagious right how exactly how does this work and I don't know the answer I said if no answers asking but you know if you received and you did in the ground You want to grow out? or down

speaker-2 (40:57)
⁓ And that's okay and I tell them Google yeah, there's no point in that

land your roots.

because if you grow out, you grow faster.

speaker-0 (41:17)
go further up which means you get the Sun. If you go down you cannot make it. But if you go out you're gonna be toppling over. What would you do? So we have this is kind

speaker-2 (41:21)
Go slower you might

So

and

then the students had to come up with their own hypothesis. I don't know the answer.

speaker-0 (41:33)
Hmm

speaker-1 (41:34)
They

see that curiosity in you, right? That's why I love this job because if you treat it right, it never gets boring. You're just curious with them discovering. every day. Right, yeah. And they see that. Yeah. Right, yeah.

speaker-0 (41:49)
And you know the...

speaker-2 (41:50)
The students that have

most

speaker-0 (41:54)
outside the

speaker-2 (41:56)
are the ones that are going to leave far.

Like Bill Gates did not

speaker-0 (42:00)
follow

every single in the box thinking. And that's what I do. Working with

speaker-1 (42:10)
Someone has a different way. I hadn't thought of that

speaker-0 (42:13)
Right.

speaker-2 (42:16)
As a teacher, often have like, is my lesson plan. I hope the lesson plan doesn't go to the very end because there's always, have a hundred good reasons. We were doing multiplication of double digits in my grade five class and I challenged one of the students to come up with different ways to do double digit multiplication. And we came up with 11 different ways because we did some research for different countries and how they did it. And so on

speaker-0 (42:36)
been a

and

we had a multiplication and instead of doing it one way they had to do five, show me five different ways. And students that, you know, found math difficult came up with the answer in five different ways. And another student could be doing the other five, but as long as they came up with the answer, it's just our brain differently wired and,

speaker-2 (42:46)
test.

speaker-1 (43:04)
Yeah.

speaker-2 (43:05)
Exactly!

speaker-1 (43:11)
And that's to be celebrated, right? gosh, it was so cool.

speaker-0 (43:17)
other end the

speaker-1 (43:18)
But often kids don't get that chance to celebrate it, I think, right? Not in North Bend, of course, but in many places, sometimes in the classroom, it doesn't happen. For sure, but then they lose that confidence about learning and they're pigeonholed into a certain spot and then we all lose because of that.

speaker-0 (43:26)
That's right. And it could be a cultural thing.

speaker-2 (43:36)
Yeah, think outdoor learning does a lot. It builds self-confidence and.

speaker-0 (43:36)
That's a to help all learners in that aspect. It's self-esteem

and stewardship and

speaker-1 (43:48)
know, and mental health too. The Japanese talk about forest bathing, right? There's something about it. really is.

speaker-0 (43:56)
It's chemically changes your body when you're outside in the forest and moving.

speaker-1 (44:01)
I've always called it my church to go out hiking and stuff and be in the Cathedral of Trees. I could be worked up about something else once I spend an hour on that trail. It's gone. And I think that that's why it's so important where you see students who are actually afraid of

the outdoors are afraid of many things and just trying to break through that to show them that there's nothing to be afraid of if you're paying attention to what's going on. ⁓ it's hard because ⁓ there are a lot of students who don't go outside enough or don't go outside at all.

speaker-2 (44:41)
Yeah, ⁓

speaker-0 (44:48)
walking

onto a path, so stairs down from the sidewalk, and a student said,

speaker-2 (44:52)
from the...

Nope. I said, what's the problem?

speaker-0 (44:58)
I've never been off a paved road in my life. ⁓

speaker-2 (45:02)
the

student's hand. And then after about 20 minutes...

speaker-0 (45:08)
the student let go of the hand and at the end, a lot down the hill, totally into it, no problem. But not been exposed to it before.

speaker-2 (45:11)
We were doing roll on roast and this was.

had not supposed to it.

And just needed that little bit of support and then.

speaker-1 (45:27)
He

was almost like, go in the middle of traffic there and play. he was like, It was so different for him.

speaker-2 (45:33)
Yeah,

so but also, you know, this is part of parents to yeah, because it's not it's not

speaker-0 (45:35)
Also, educational.

overall.

⁓ But you know when we see the incredible research and the evidence, outdoor learning and being outside is like you walk it off. It's so good for your mind, your body, for everything. And it's so important. And for you know, the connection.

speaker-2 (45:49)
instead.

important for the family.

questions.

speaker-0 (46:05)
just talking, walking side by side with someone and talking is way less intimidating than face to face. So I talked to the students about that and you know, we're to go for a walk. But you don't have to look them in the And that is really comfortable. It's very powerful. And then you're more open and more you don't

speaker-2 (46:15)
to go for a walk and talk. Yeah.

Open. ⁓

speaker-1 (46:27)
You don't feel it. Yeah. You're so worried about that reaction. I think sometimes. Yeah. It's very good therapy. Yeah. And I think we need it more than ever because we're not going outside, right? We're online. We're not exposed to that. Like I think of my own child, I would be outside all day long until you had to come home for dinner.

speaker-2 (46:46)
Right?

speaker-1 (46:47)
And no cell phones, no one worried about it. And people have this worry that somehow it's dangerous, but the most dangerous thing we all do, I always say, is get into a car and go for a drive. Statistically, there's not people out there getting attacked by bears. It happens, of course, but it's so rare compared to being part of the modern world.

speaker-0 (47:08)
And health.

speaker-2 (47:11)
It's the biggest obstacle to our

speaker-0 (47:13)
our

healthy life is you know the end diabetes and all come with it and it's from being inactive it is yes well and they get heart attacks super healthy but we can much better by being physically active

speaker-2 (47:16)
Obesity all the things that

you know some people do produce cholesterol.

support ourselves so much. ⁓

speaker-1 (47:33)
So

that's a good place to kind of go, right? Good segue. Let's get to physical literacy. when we hear those words, what does it mean to you, physical literacy? What do you think of it as?

speaker-2 (47:35)
It's same thing.

Fiscal literacy.

speaker-0 (47:44)
It

means being able to make and to do things you want to do throughout your entire life. it doesn't mean that you, you know, stop doing something because you get older. You might just do it differently. Like if you play hockey when you're young, it means that you still can play hockey for fun or go skating down for free at the hospital.

speaker-2 (47:48)
BIV

Lonsdale

speaker-0 (48:09)
⁓ in the wintertime. It could be passing a frisbee at the beach or ⁓ going for a hike or swimming, being physically active and doing things. Because doing things is a really fun way to engage with friends. ⁓ I have a walking group on Monday nights. We meet, there's ten teachers of us.

speaker-2 (48:26)
do it

So.

speaker-0 (48:37)
in the group and we go for a hike for an hour and a half and just to walk and talk. And yes, we walk, you know, a little bit faster than we would alone, but it's so engaging. But when we get old, knowing how to sit down so we don't fall and hurt ourselves, knowing how to fall, knowing how to hop, how to jump, how to go and walk over the roots instead of

speaker-2 (48:56)
Also,

out on a trail and

speaker-0 (49:07)
and and walking backwards balancing balance is so important. ⁓ here with our kindergartens right now on balancing and how to kick a ball. How to you have to be able to be on one foot and have to be able to pass the ball. And just just that one hop.

speaker-2 (49:07)
on the

and working.

possible.

All balance. To someone else.

speaker-0 (49:27)
slide

with your foot. That is part of what we need to teach. And then what they say is now give a kid a phone, they know what to do, give them a ball. They have no idea what to do. And, you know, we've been so very fortunate in North Van, you know, we have great connections with the tennis clubs, we go down and pick up two, three, four, 500 tennis balls, bring them into the school, kids have access to tennis balls. ⁓

speaker-2 (49:41)
So.

centers and

schools, balls,

up north.

speaker-0 (49:57)
fan club and

said you know when I came here we didn't have a lot of sports and now we're able to teach in the gym and you know passing because kids to do during recess that's productive they know how to do they know how to pass and then they take and then they can play it at the

speaker-2 (50:01)
soccer balls they gave us soccer balls soccer

because then kids have something to

After school with their friends at the

school, you know, they stay after school and they play more.

speaker-0 (50:25)
And connecting with community through being physical is so important because I have an 83 year old aunt lives here and she goes to the rec center for

speaker-2 (50:37)
to the gym or

fitness classes in the mornings.

She's making all the time. is so important.

speaker-0 (50:48)
Yeah, she's very physical literate because of it, but also super fit Through her friends now they have this biking group and they bike between 60 and 80 kilometers three times a week Or most 90 are in their 90s and Being physically active engages your mind engages your body

speaker-2 (50:53)
She's a sting

They're old in their 80s. Some of them are old. Some of

Just...

speaker-0 (51:17)
and you become more

speaker-2 (51:19)
I'll see you.

speaker-1 (51:19)
was just reading this New York Times article about Dick Van Dyke. He's about to turn 100 and he still dances, he goes to workout classes and the big part he was saying he stays social with friends and stuff and he's got no signs of dementia or anything at 100 and that's, they say often when you're alone dementia tends to come on as well, right? So it's all interconnected.

speaker-0 (51:40)
I was with my aunt this weekend and one of her friends, she turned 100 in October. Her name is Ruth and she is in the outdoor club. They do hikes all the time. She's for the homeless, tooks and made unbelievable beautiful stuff and sharp as a whip. And you know, it is by herself in a triple story townhouse.

speaker-2 (51:47)
She's

It's like

she three.

There's she doesn't stop. Yes, that's exactly right.

speaker-0 (52:11)
can do anything and it's because

speaker-1 (52:14)
And you got moving. People

that they feel a few aches and pains and they stop. That's the you do. Yeah. So what are some of the developmental milestones for elementary school children that should be focused on?

speaker-0 (52:20)
Yes.

speaker-2 (52:21)
If you don't use it, you lose it.

speaker-0 (52:33)
Well, we do have a life program which has different ⁓ tracking sheet of ⁓ where we want to see our students go and learn. Balance, ⁓ hopping, skipping. So the cross lateral is really, important. Know how to hit the baseball bat across the center line. ⁓

speaker-2 (52:34)
We're actually using the sport.

physical literacy.

Because

most sports He's kind of one

speaker-0 (53:04)
activities you want to do except swimming.

one where it's kind of very linear. You know like throwing for example. We think kids can throw but we can teach them to throw a lot better and if they can throw a lot better a lot of the games we play everybody can participate. When you have if you play certain games and you don't know how to throw you're going to get out all the time.

speaker-2 (53:11)
For instance,

So

speaker-0 (53:30)
as teachers is our obligation to teach how to throw and that will also then build a

speaker-2 (53:37)
confidence

in the competent which is a physical literacy so that students

speaker-0 (53:42)
you know, engage in extracurricular activities such as because they know how to throw. So we need to teach them and we have the best opportunity because we have a captive audience. We have them all. We have all the students. So if we teach structure in our kindergarten or actually strong start all the way through grade 12 or

speaker-2 (53:46)
Yes.

So.

fundamental movement skills from

or whenever.

speaker-0 (54:09)
the you know great 10 which is mandatory p but after that too our students more out of life when it comes to being physically active you know cleveland elementary they take their six girls on the last thursday of september that is really

speaker-2 (54:15)
get so much

sevens. crying in a... Cool.

A lot of kids don't even know it exists.

speaker-0 (54:28)
It's hard work.

speaker-1 (54:29)
I always tell her, I did that, and was at Dorothy Lions, I took my class up there. Luckily I had an EA, because I was at the front and the poor EA was at the back, so this one kid and I, did it in like 55 minutes. The poor EA, the slowest, two hours. But they were so proud of themselves. It wasn't a race, right? But it was so amazing to get that class up there.

speaker-2 (54:49)
That's it.

speaker-0 (54:54)
Yeah,

and it's that. And. Liberation when you get up there, you know when this year we had a kid that did in 38 minutes. I have the health and then we had kids. But everybody made it and. We had to slow down because with the deer right on the trail and we couldn't so you know we lost a minute or two, but.

speaker-2 (54:56)
Good.

personal, so-

He was just flying. ⁓

One group.

That

was worth it. was worth it. You know what? Teachable moment.

speaker-0 (55:24)
Exactly. it's,

speaker-2 (55:26)
all of those local

speaker-0 (55:28)
events that we have. don't even have to go far. can just walk down. Like right now, elementary schools, we can take the kids on the bus for free. We can bus them and we can go skating.

speaker-2 (55:36)
It's

Lonsdale doesn't cost anything. Like it is unreal. We are so lucky.

speaker-1 (55:47)
So then is there difficulty in the way that we compartmentalize our physical activity days? For example, we have 30 minutes for gym and we're done. And the frequency of those 30 minutes, depending on the size of your school, could be twice a week. Are we being ⁓ fair to our students when we just have those smaller segments of time? I know in elementary schools we're limited, but there's often times I've always felt that if I had

an hour instead of half an hour.

speaker-0 (56:19)
Well, I think teachers are becoming very, very creative in expanding that, but also doing cross-curricular. I feel like I have to cover so much in everything else I don't have time for.

speaker-2 (56:29)
because some teachers feel...

I was

correctly like social studies for instance doing language and social studies because social studies is so much a lot together. So two classes together so clearly classes which means that they didn't

speaker-0 (56:37)
and one language based so you can do little bit there. There's so much teachers are now doing together, doing two things together. We often have two hours

of PE instead of 30 minutes or sessions. Highlands really good setup.

speaker-2 (57:00)
Stations on Thursday, so you know they had two classes which

speaker-0 (57:02)
at a time

allows more PE time but I things outside and in the classroom and if you we have there's kids ⁓

speaker-2 (57:06)
Also do

You also been to some schools, it's called don't jump in the hallway, stickers down the hallways. you know, becoming physical with it while

going out for recess.

speaker-0 (57:24)
And then many classrooms also.

speaker-2 (57:26)
have

physical literacy stations set up. ⁓ some schools, multiple times a day, or some classrooms, they do next station, four kids at each station. The kids might do one station that session or four, depending on how much time they have. So developing those skills, there's endless places. It doesn't have to be at the But it can also be, you know, let's

speaker-0 (57:29)
But, yeah.

and

really and hour but it's

Let's

do an hour.

speaker-2 (57:55)
just do two classes together because we can work on know I can I have a grade five class you have a grade one class the grade fives are going to practice you know how to teach kicking to the grade ones because once they can teach it they can all those kinds of collaboration and learning together

speaker-0 (57:58)
Or.

together,

we do have.

speaker-1 (58:20)
Roy and I have talked in the podcast house, you know, we often look in the classroom though to solve every problem. So sometimes maybe we should look back out again at society. are there things that parents should be doing more? Because a lot of this comes from sedentary behaviors at home, right? So if parents are listening, what would you say to them to get their kids off the phone? Whether it's outdoor learning or physical literacy, what can parents be doing so it's not all on the class?

speaker-2 (58:47)
Parents can...

speaker-0 (58:48)
and take an active engagement in their students and asking you know what are you doing in PE or are playing? ⁓

speaker-2 (58:52)
what they're learning at school.

Circle.

Yeah.

speaker-0 (59:00)
teach me how to kick the ball. Go to the park, go to your, even like, how do you aim for certain, for throwing, ⁓ and go for a walk in, you know, and I think that's really, walking, walking. And you know, we see kids being driven around the block. ⁓

speaker-2 (59:05)
What are the two?

Engage with your students. Walk to the grocery store. Really important because walk to school.

speaker-0 (59:28)
And you know, I'm making our community more walkable. And it has to be a role model. You know, instead of like, I, we don't have a TV at home. I'm not, we never watch TV. But, you know, the other day, one ⁓ and his girlfriend

speaker-2 (59:30)
trying to

to start for the parents. ⁓

home so.

My son who's 20

It was after dinner and

was pitch dark. It was only a week ago. I walked in Cleveland and was a flashlight. It was so fun and so scary. That just brought out something new.

speaker-0 (59:58)
8.30 at night.

You know get a flashlight. It's we have you know reflect And but even it's so easy

speaker-2 (1:00:16)
So it's safe on the streets. So you

just stay at home and stay inside. Sign up for a class together, like a dance class.

speaker-0 (1:00:23)
or you

or Taekwondo

speaker-2 (1:00:28)
your child or go

to a swimming pool. Do things that are

speaker-0 (1:00:32)
in your neighborhood. In the summertime, there's a brand new water park that the Elberg school used to be. It's going to be absolutely It's It's almost

speaker-2 (1:00:34)
Some of the things that's been developed, they're all deletes.

speaker-1 (1:00:42)
that's coming.

speaker-2 (1:00:44)
Okay, like

they were close to opening it some kind of beautiful

speaker-0 (1:00:46)
And it's the full

speaker-1 (1:00:46)
Penta

speaker-0 (1:00:50)
park. ⁓ Bridgeman Park. mean, to the park, play with your kids, but don't bring your

speaker-2 (1:00:57)
phone.

Play with your kids. Go down the slide with your kids.

speaker-0 (1:01:01)
Like, monkey bars are so hard for adults.

speaker-2 (1:01:04)
You know if the kids could teach their parents how to use the monkey bars. So yeah the parent

speaker-0 (1:01:08)
Parents

need to engage and walk the walk and talk the talk.

speaker-2 (1:01:14)
So if you say, let's go for a walk, walk with the kids, and play with the, you know, build something or, you know, bring a skipping rope, skipping rope.

speaker-0 (1:01:16)
Explore with them.

or if you...

I'm skipping. ⁓

speaker-1 (1:01:27)
Yes,

speaker-2 (1:01:29)
Get some ropes and then a minute to get...

speaker-1 (1:01:32)
And I think once kids discover it, they actually want to do that. They'll put the phones down themselves. They discover that they feel better mentally and physically. the parents do too.

speaker-0 (1:01:42)
And then you connect in a deeper way.

speaker-1 (1:01:44)
Because

there's even more and more families, and I know your family does this a lot Roy, are playing board games, right? They're sitting down, they're realizing, they're talking, they're laughing, they're doing problem solving, whatever the game is. There's so much going on that they had forgotten how to do that.

speaker-0 (1:02:00)
play card game yes

speaker-1 (1:02:04)
So how would you support a teacher who's having difficulties with multi-range classes where you have students who are in soccer, ⁓ high level soccer, you have students in high level basketball, and you have students who don't come out of the house. So how do you organize a gym class so that everybody's able to participate at their level?

speaker-2 (1:02:23)
You

That's a really good way to study.

speaker-0 (1:02:32)
Good question. ⁓

I find that it works quite well.

speaker-2 (1:02:37)
is that you know skills

and ball skills with a class here.

speaker-0 (1:02:43)
everybody has a ball. And that means,

And everybody is doing a drop kick. One kid can kick with amazing accuracy and one kid can do the ball, but they're all working at their own level and they don't even see what they're doing. They're so... They have a ball and they have a skill to try to work on. You know, we're doing floor hockey, for instance, really good hockey players. We play with tiny, tiny...

speaker-2 (1:03:00)
barely hit.

the other person's focus because they

So we have

That's

they have to be accurate.

speaker-0 (1:03:20)
or it could be you know you have to pass four times or you can have teams that you know if I want to just learn I'm on one team and then play alternative I can do the gym and are at that level can

speaker-2 (1:03:23)
that are set up so that.

If I want to compete, can split into two so that, you know, the ones that

also improve and the other ones, and it's also teaching each other. soccer is going to teach who's learning how to play soccer because that to be able to teach someone is going to only improve Sally skills to.

speaker-0 (1:03:38)
Sally who's really,

Adam

ability

but I think it quit for

all.

speaker-2 (1:03:57)
Because there's nothing more important than we're playing soccer. All in 24 kids. One kid gets really upset because they never get.

speaker-0 (1:04:07)
the ball. It's way more fun. A tinier game for everybody. And we did that at

speaker-2 (1:04:10)
to develop those skills if we three on three or a ball and we do skills.

Last year we did the skill development at recess time. set up stations and we ran skills for every single recess or three recesses a week for months and the improvement among those students was phenomenal. That included a background in soccer.

speaker-0 (1:04:22)
And we.

and improvement.

And that is that didn't have any.

speaker-2 (1:04:38)
They developed the skills to feel confident to join the Northrend Football Club so they could play. We just had a friendly game of soccer between two elementary schools the other day between Ross Road and Cofliffe because they both like soccer at recess.

speaker-1 (1:04:45)
you

speaker-0 (1:04:45)
⁓ on the outside.

Nope.

speaker-2 (1:05:01)
teams. And we do the same thing for floor hockey now through the Junior Canucks. So I think having equipment, everybody working at their own skill, it's almost like you meet the students where they're at in physical literacy. Because there's nothing worse than playing basketball and you have no idea how to shoot them.

speaker-0 (1:05:12)
and like.

speaker-1 (1:05:21)
and then other people are so good at it. Roy and I talked about when we were at Dorothy Linus and when we did Track and Field.

speaker-2 (1:05:22)
Right. ⁓

speaker-0 (1:05:23)
Try

to hide.

speaker-1 (1:05:29)
We actually did it during the day and took smaller groups. had EA's involved, the administrator was involved, and so kids just rotated through everything. And it was so much better because a lot of kids tried things they never would have tried and then went to the track meets and got involved where before they would have heard, ⁓ know, high jump practice. No, no, I can't do that. I'm too short or whatever it is. And it just, I think we need to expose kids to as many things as possible and not pigeonhole them in so early.

speaker-2 (1:05:54)
Yeah, there's so

many opportunities we also

speaker-0 (1:05:56)
starting something called one ability games okay it's happening on June 9th and it's for

speaker-2 (1:06:03)
like a swan guard for

students or diverse learners. And it's going to be a settlement. ⁓ And it's going to be a celebration of sports activities.

speaker-0 (1:06:07)
And it's K through 12. And we're

working with the National Sportability Group. it's run by the... You know, there again is that celebration of what we can do. So it's going to be, you know, boccia and running. You know, what a... And it will be our first time this year.

speaker-2 (1:06:20)
the student leaders at Sutherland.

speaker-0 (1:06:37)
Thank you.

speaker-2 (1:06:37)
doing this.

speaker-1 (1:06:38)
Well, it's interesting because oftentimes the student will say, I can't do that. I don't know how to play that sport. But when you find out, when they find out the skills that are involved, is that, this involves throwing a ball. I can throw a ball. And so when it gets broken down into the components, then the students say, OK, I'm willing to try it. And so the sampling of trying many things to find out, you know,

These are the tools, these are the skills that I have and I can do that one easily and that one's gonna be a little harder and that one I don't know yet. But it's exposure and I think that's as teachers and as educators trying to provide as many opportunities to have a taster, so to speak.

speaker-0 (1:07:13)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah, and I think less on the game. you know, Monday and Tuesday, our PE block. It's not a games block. It's not a competition.

speaker-2 (1:07:29)
focus more on the skill.

I was in the classroom, I was today, Tuesday, it's physical literacy.

It's

developing skills and also all the students knew. That allows to focus. ⁓

speaker-0 (1:07:50)
And allowed us on getting better, instead of

proving how good we were.

speaker-2 (1:07:57)
So the students could lower their

shoulders a bit and say, you know what, today we're

speaker-0 (1:08:01)
We're working

on target shooting. And I don't care if I'm really good at it, I'm just going to get little better or I've never done it before.

speaker-2 (1:08:04)
That's our focus.

I'm

going to see how it goes and then I'll put.

speaker-0 (1:08:12)
or it could be shocked, it

be whatever it is. You know, a lot people are feeling depressed as you get into a competition or a test is when things start to fall apart.

speaker-2 (1:08:16)
So all those students to grow and develop without fear because as soon as

speaker-1 (1:08:28)
I remember when I took a class curling and it just evened the playing field because those kids that maybe were so good at certain sports weren't as good at that. Those who had trouble with other things were really good at this. It's important to give kids that chance and not just say you're going to do basketball with the class and you expect everyone to be at a certain level. So the other hat, the current hat you're wearing is Healthy Futures. Roy and I were happy when we saw a picture, a Colvier man posted you out doing

with your truck I guess. truck. food. We realized, we had just done an episode with Backpack Buddies, which does a lot on food insecurity. So tell us about Healthy Futures.

speaker-2 (1:09:09)
So Health Futures is the...

speaker-0 (1:09:11)
overall umbrella of learning a major part of futures and the provincial and federal government have put in funding into making sure that students have food, especially the ones that needed the most healthy, food at school. So in North Van, we took an approach and this we're in our third year now.

speaker-2 (1:09:13)
fiscal literacy out there but also this is the

the students access to the ones.

local.

speaker-0 (1:09:41)
in that we're going to have frit-

speaker-2 (1:09:42)
vegetables

available to students in all schools and all programs once a week.

speaker-0 (1:09:48)
and we also fruit and

vegetable program delivery.

speaker-2 (1:09:56)
in the high schools for your charge.

speaker-0 (1:09:58)
⁓ And there's for targeted but anybody who needs food in either in the rooms or Just like Lin Valley and co-cliff they have lunch

speaker-2 (1:10:00)
also food.

students.

There's food in the school. The office or in Choices Room. Some schools have universal lunch. The two elementary schools. Every Wednesday they have the same lunch.

All the students. Bagels and cream cheese and cucumbers and fries. Because food is...

speaker-0 (1:10:28)
and

part of our being together.

speaker-2 (1:10:35)
It's also an equalizer when everybody has the same access. It's to talk about. It's fun to...

speaker-0 (1:10:39)
⁓ And it's share. It's to learn how

it works and it's very much important. ⁓

speaker-2 (1:10:49)
building those strategies.

speaker-0 (1:10:51)
for living a healthy life. And the importance of healthy eating, but also having been very, very fortunate to have incredible community support through our

speaker-2 (1:10:54)
⁓ Because if you'd understand.

access to it. ⁓

support.

such

as food links, cough.

speaker-0 (1:11:12)
and the food bank in Quest.

speaker-2 (1:11:16)
who support us in some

speaker-0 (1:11:17)
so

many different ways in us having access to food and education of our indigenous knowledge and we have multiple

speaker-2 (1:11:22)
Part this is to educate.

So we have

smokers, close smokers in schools such as Lynn Valley, have a smoker. So...

speaker-0 (1:11:36)
One of their teachers was very

engaged in bringing food and

speaker-2 (1:11:43)
using the smokers. they're smoking salmon. In Oslo Han they're using their elders to help teach the traditional ways of...

speaker-0 (1:11:45)
Wow

⁓

preserving food and can pairs in like

speaker-2 (1:11:54)
The Oslo Hound Group, they... ⁓

Lots

and lots of jars and they made their own stickers.

speaker-0 (1:12:02)
They're giving them away. ⁓ We have dehydrators. Large dehydration.

speaker-2 (1:12:09)
15 years with trade.

So schools we had, you know, delivery of plums, tons of thousands of plums. And so some classes they split them and put them in very unbelievably good. So all those kinds of food literacy skills are possible in the school because

speaker-0 (1:12:16)
blumps like that. ⁓

dare to do it.

are now possible program because we

have access to We are recording.

speaker-2 (1:12:36)
We also support

certain families where there's food insecurity and that group is growing. We have partnership with the food bank. We support them because we often get deliveries and things down to them. ⁓

speaker-0 (1:12:45)
for having an incredible relationship and they

get too much delivered, too many and I will drive and then we have families or we can help

manage, you know, it's not easy.

speaker-2 (1:13:06)
the system

works. We also have those community dinners, Graham once put on by Rob Olsen and his group.

speaker-0 (1:13:11)
that person.

speaker-1 (1:13:16)
Yeah, he does great with it.

speaker-0 (1:13:17)
Yes,

and you know, where you know, find food and

speaker-2 (1:13:19)
to do that

kind of stuff. So search.

speaker-0 (1:13:24)
It is a

pleasure to be part of a...

speaker-2 (1:13:29)
system that

speaker-0 (1:13:31)
healthy ⁓ lifestyles. We have the best staff in the feeding futures program. We have a Red Seal chef who's just creating incredible lunch. And ⁓ at one of the high schools we have being delivered every day by an in-house staff.

speaker-2 (1:13:34)
Also resources.

for students in three schools.

60 to 80 lunches.

she's making for 200 students.

speaker-0 (1:13:59)
first breakfast between 100 a

day, free of charge, and then she... And the kids are just... And that way we can include culture, we can include different needs, and some kids want that is easy to chew or whatever it tastes.

speaker-2 (1:14:06)
makes lunches so alive.

certain foods.

speaker-0 (1:14:24)
everything and they're able to do that.

speaker-1 (1:14:30)
And did you see the high schools have a breakfast program? Like every high school now? Yeah. Okay.

speaker-2 (1:14:32)
They're the ones that have the most breakfast programs. So

almost every high school.

speaker-0 (1:14:38)
But there's food in every high school if it's needed. like, Carstens Windsor, have breakfast programs, like full breakfast programs going. And at Windsor, it's run by students.

speaker-2 (1:14:41)
students.

for you.

which is student voices sewing with a combination of staff and students.

speaker-0 (1:14:54)
important. Sutherland is run by

staff, but it's three meals a day. It's based on the need.

speaker-2 (1:15:06)
for all students.

to

the school, but also the need within the school. So there could be certain... so they know where... other students don't get it, so... always food.

speaker-0 (1:15:14)
kids that need to go and but there's billable

and that has been an incredible like it supports

speaker-2 (1:15:26)
students coming to school and

with the soft start especially in the high schools you know breakfast is from 8 so students are coming they socializing with friends and they're ready for school

speaker-0 (1:15:32)
39. They are eating their 910.

speaker-1 (1:15:40)
You can't learn on an empty stomach. you can't. Nothing, doesn't matter how good your program is.

speaker-0 (1:15:44)
That

is right. And I think that coming so we've had families reaching out, you know what my child never eat and never ate breakfast home. And now I know I feel really good about that. And now, you know, we never we're not getting enough money so we can have like a lunch program for all students. But you know what, we're dealt one. I'm really proud of the government.

speaker-2 (1:15:49)
and said,

is that they get first and I feel

Thanks.

the only G7 country with... I'm really going

to go... in plural... stepping up to the plate and seeing the importance because if students...

speaker-0 (1:16:13)
here for

are fed, are more able to able to learn, have more energy, and they become in so many ways.

speaker-2 (1:16:21)
the right

speaker-1 (1:16:22)
I'm

speaker-2 (1:16:26)
the educated citizens.

speaker-1 (1:16:28)
And we benefit from it, you know, we

get we get that back. money spent, we get back. Yeah. And I love that idea, because attendance at schools is at all time low compared to ⁓

previous years, except for COVID. And so the excuses that students have, it's kind of the veneer of, well, the social thing, that my I don't want to do work, you know, I don't have any food to eat. So just the ability of this these food programs to take one layer off, so that the chances that as a child will have fewer excuses not to go to school. So I know that I'm to get a good

good breakfast. I know that in that breakfast I made some connections with people socially. So it's almost like the assistance of re-establishing kind of connection to the school that somehow has been broken for a while for many students.

speaker-2 (1:17:32)
There's absolutely almost none.

speaker-0 (1:17:34)
no doubt that connection is number

one. If you have a connection with somebody at school and you know that they want you to be there, you are more likely to come. That kind of sense of community and I think that's really important in, in, in, like, you have an adult that you, you know, how can we make sure that every

speaker-2 (1:17:50)
know, the surveys that are

trust at school.

Every

student has at least one issue.

speaker-0 (1:18:00)
want

more somebody they can go to and that will you know and part come and have lunch and have breakfast morning. Yeah. And the joy in like staff has food and go and grab a bagel and it's important. It's for all it's it's it's

speaker-1 (1:18:09)
You know?

speaker-2 (1:18:18)
And that's also for staff.

Insecurity system.

for students to see that.

It's

not about food insecurity.

speaker-0 (1:18:30)
It's

about sharing something, starting the day off right and having a chit chat with the lineup for breakfast.

speaker-2 (1:18:37)
Somebody who's also.

speaker-1 (1:18:41)
Well, thank you, Tina. This has been so wonderful. And all these things you're involved in, they're very foundational, I think, to kind of building a healthy, happy adult. And we really appreciate everything you do for North Van. And we just have been so happy to have you come on our podcast. Yes, thank you so much.

speaker-0 (1:18:55)
Thank you for... and you know what? We couldn't do... this community. And I mean everyone at North Bend School District works hard and you see the effort that people put in. And that's why our kids are so lucky and you know, make sure that each child is taken care of. Thank you.

speaker-2 (1:18:56)
Thank you for raising these important questions.

this without the support

speaker-1 (1:19:02)
It

everyone right now.

speaker-2 (1:19:07)
day so I see

they're belated to.

speaker-1 (1:19:21)
Absolutely, thank you.

Well, there you go, Tina Parker. I'm tired. That was a lot of amazing stuff. She packs a lot. I think you've done a marathon in that. That was great. She packs a lot in a day. And we got to sit down. didn't have to get on the Stairmaster, but she does do a lot, right? She does a lot. And what I really enjoyed was hearing her stories, you know, sort of the...

how she started out in sailing and then getting to where she is right now in North Vancouver, ⁓ in the district. ⁓ It warms my heart knowing that there's someone out there just really promoting ⁓ Healthy ⁓ Futures as a part of the Healthy Futures program, which is eating properly, so getting food to our students in North Vancouver. ⁓

encouraging people to be out there and moving in the fresh air and developing that physical literacy. That's so vital nowadays. And these things give me hope, right? Despite AI and all the takeover of online world, I think there's a pushback we're recognizing, especially places like North Van where, you know, we have this beautiful outdoors, right? There's no excuse not to get outside of any school here, right? The schools all are on part of what's.

in many parts of the world would be considered wilderness, right? So we're very fortunate and it's important that we realize this is as important as any math lesson, as any science lesson is to get out and you can do your lessons. Well, that's it. You can, you can have your math and you can have your cake and eat it too. you're right in your outdoor experiences. Just make it a healthy cake. Yes. Thanks everyone. We'll talk to you next time when after the bell. This podcast is organic, taking shape with each episode.

building resiliency for teachers everywhere. That sounds great. And our website is stuntbrothers.ca. That's stuntbrothers.ca. We will chat again. After the bell.

speaker-2 (1:21:31)
you