Welcome Mrs. Walker

We would like to welcome our new Phys Ed teacher to the Panorama Hills School Staff. Mrs. Walker will be joining our PE team for the remainder of the school year.

Mrs. Walker attended College in Grande Prairie Alberta where she studied Physical Education and Education. She received her Bachelor of Education Degree from University of Alberta in 2012 and has been enjoying her new love for Teaching ever since. Mrs. Walker is passionate about health and fitness, and teaching students how to become active life long learners. She is excited to have the opportunity to interact with each student as well as motivate and support them throughout their educational journey.

Mrs. Walker enjoys going on walks at the dog park with her husband, Tom and her two dogs, Twix and Turbo. During the winter season you may find her on a mountain attempting to Snowboard or cheering on her favorite Hockey team. As the weather warms up she will be thrilled to hit a baseball around and take time to visit with family and friends. She is extremely happy to be teaching Physical Education at Panorama Hills School! :)

Metro News - Calgary kids, once the city’s most active, now walk less than people in their 50s

As we prepare for Winter Walk Day, we are reminded of the change in lifestyle over the last decade especially with children walking to school. In 2001, children in Calgary had the highest percentage of weekday walking trips. In just 10 years, kids aged 5-14 now walk less than 25-54 year olds.

As we continue to build active transport in our school through creating patterned hallways, we encourage families to build on this idea by walking around the neighbourhood and allowing children to see what great things are in their community.

Read the article by clicking here

The Journey Continues

This is a challenging post to write on our blog for a lot of reasons, and a very exciting one all at the same time!

I have accepted a position with Ever Active Schools. Ever Active Schools (EAS) facilitates the development of health and wellness in youth by promoting healthy and active schools - and I couldn't be more excited about this opportunity. My new position with EAS is as the Healthy Schools Communities Education Coordinator where I'll have an opportunity to work with many Alberta schools and health promoting organizations.

My last day at PHS will be this coming Wednesday. From there I'm heading to EAS's annual Shaping the Future Conference (where we'll be sharing our Don't Walk in the Hallway project!) and officially be joining the EAS team on Feb 2.

I feel very fortunate for all the time that I have spent at Panorama Hills School. The students, staff and community have always been very supportive and I am going to truly miss the relationships we've developed together over the years.

All my years at PHS have been very formative as an educator and even more so in the recent past as a Physical Education Specialist. I can honestly say this this has been one of my best years teaching at PHS and I owe that to my very supportive family, extremely talented teaching partner, Ms. Atwal, and all our students and staff. They listened to all my crazy ideas and were very supportive of many initiatives.

All the best for the rest of the school year and thank you for all your support over the years!

Sincerely,

Chris Fenlon-MacDonald

Don't Walk in the Hallway Part II

This morning.

We were fortunate to have a reporter from Active for Life come to visit our school today. Active for Life is a tremendous resource that targets parents looking for physical activity ideas for children - though I can assure you it's a resource for everyone (teachers, recreation leaders and parents alike) looking to raise active and healthy children. Sure, it was cool to share this initiative with these folks, but what was more amazing was the engagement happening around us while we were walking through the hallways. We stopped to take a few photos and talk how this project came about and before us was a string of children hopping, jumping and skipping their way through the tiled patterns. This activity continued to happen throughout the morning and equally as much into the afternoon.

We even had a few positive comments today too - "We've been working with [student] all year to recognize patterns and this morning [student] identified an ABAB repeating pattern, an increasing pattern and hopped right through both!" - PHS Education Assistant.

Did we tell you part of our goal was to blend mathematics and wellness? We've changed the physical space and the immediate cultural changes that coincide have been remarkable.

Research aside, we are on to something special!

An update.

Tiles are installed. Thirty students are again wearing activity monitors to track their daily physical activity levels. There is a buzz in the air. And, the excitement continues to build. For those reading abut this project for the first time, HERE is some background.

Phase 2, or is it 3, of this project is under way. I write this lightheartedly because Don't Walk in the Hallway continues to evolve everyday. A year ago there was never much intent to 'research' the effects of these patterns on student physical activity levels (a massive learning opportunity of which I owe much gratitude to Dr. Dean Kriellaars for the guidance). Our goal then was to simply enrich the school hallways and promote active transport and the development of physical activity. Today preparation is underway to present where we are at with this project at Ever Active Schools' annual Shaping the Future conference in Kananaskis at the end of this month and eventually publish the findings - I couldn't be happier!

Next Steps

We have a few goals that we hope to accomplish this school year. The first is developing teacher capacity to utilize these patterns in 'their everyday' at school. At the moment this looks like teacher professional development in the areas of math integration, daily physical activity opportunities, small group activity breaks and indoor recess deployment strategies. Throughout each of these we feel it's important to touch on the fact that this small project fits many aspects of Alberta's Ministerial Order on Student Learning. Who knew that components of this project would be so far reaching and could have such positive effects on student learning. In one brief day with the patterns in place we see students already find ways to problem solve and think critically as they use the patterns. (I sense another blog post coming soon!).

Next, Next Steps

My family and I frequent a few recreation centres on occasion, taking advantage of open family swims. Have you ever noticed their floors? You will now! Many have similar size tiles spanning the floor space waiting to be replaced with physically-engaging patterns. What better place to encourage movement.

I feel this isn't just an opportunity for our school but for other schools too. As I write this post I just received notification that a fellow PhysEd colleague in Colorado is about to launch a version of the patterns herself.

I've mentioned before that Alberta Education is building 50 new schools and modernizing 70 existing facilities - I see more opportunity here too. A close friend of mine is designing the accessibility architecture of an existing school and feels there is an element here that their team of interior designers could be looking at. What does this project look like for students using mobility resources?

Needless to say, we feel this is just the beginning.

More to come.

~CFM

Don't Walk in the Hallway

Students spend a fair amount of time walking in school hallways - during classroom transitions, indoor recesses, walking to get a drink and even returning library books. Imagine if we could enrich a school hallway to encourage moving creatively and promoting Physical Literacy.

A New Project

For almost a year Mr. Fen-Mac has been working on a project called Don't Walk in the Hallway. This project was inspired after Mr. Fen-Mac went to a workshop where Dr. Dean Kriellaars was speaking about developing Physical Literacy, enriching school hallways and the impact Physical Literacy has on childhood health and development. Perhaps at first, reading the title Don't Walk in the Hallway sparks a lot of questions. So here's my attempt to bring you in on this fantastic initiative and how Panorama Hills School is perhaps the first of it's kind to attempt this.

Overview

This school-based initiative to promote Physical Literacy is the beginning of a culture-shift in the design of traditional hallways. Recreation, Health or Education, regardless of your professional setting, Don't Walk in the Hallway encourages a shift from walking, to moving with purpose and creativity. In addition to supporting the development of physical literacy, this project aims at increasing daily physical activity levels among youth while nudging older populations to meet their recommended levels of activity. 

Our Plan

In the near future we will be taking a baseline assessment on the number of steps children take on a given day in our school. The plan is to measure 30 students over the period of 10-15 days. This is still in the works however because there is some policy around this type of assessment and we want to ensure that we are in line with CBE policy and regulations. More in the coming weeks on this. We will be using 30 Garmin activity monitors (Vivoki) that have the capacity to collect weeks of activity data. 

Once we have this assessment completed, and have an idea of the daily amount of steps, we are ready for the next stage. At this point we will be replacing nearly 130 floor tiles in our school hallways and creating patterns in the floor. These patterns are currently being designed with the help of the CBE Math Specialist, the CBE Comprehensive School Health Specialist, the Physical Education Specialists from the CBE and Catholic Board and of course our own Physical Education Staff. We want the patterns to be purposeful and encourage skipping, hopping and jumping (think agility ladder built into the floor) as students move through the hallways and we also want them to serve a cross-curricular purpose as well - in this case math. 

Once the floor tiles are in, we can take a post-baseline assessment of these same children. Our goal is that we will see an increase in their daily accumulated steps because they were no longer just walking in the hallway!

More Info and Other Applications

In one generation we have eradicated walking to school. This accumulates to a loss of 2000 steps a day and when converted into a caloric measurement, nearly 10 pounds of accumulated fat annually.  A typical target for children is 15,000 steps and on average children fall short of this by 4000 steps during the week and 7000 steps on the weekend (CS4L)! If we can replace this huge number of lost steps perhaps we can further make a difference in the health of our students and reclaim these steps.

This project doesn't come without a cost. Completing this work after a school is built can be costly. Our goal would be to have these patterns built into the plans of new schools. Alberta Education alone has plans to build 50 new schools and modernize roughly 70 more existing facilities and this initiative is not only for Alberta elementary schools. Middle and High Schools can benefit from these patterns too. Small breakout groups, working with students who require physical therapy intervention and even indoor recess can benefit from enriched hallways. 

Now here is the question - Will you stop walking in the hallway?

The Heart and Stroke Foundation visits our classes today.

Today Panorama Hills School was fortunate to have The Heart and Stroke Foundation visit our Physical Education classes. Students learned three important factors that contribute to healthy hearts – Living an active lifestyle involving daily exercise; Eating healthy and balanced meals; and, never start smoking.

Below are a few questions to challenge our students to see what they learned during today's visit. How much do you remember?

What is your heart made up of? 
1. Bone
2. Muscle
3. Fat

How do we make our heart healthier?
1. Exercise
2. Eating Healthy Food
3. Not smoking
4. All of the above

How much blood does our heart pump each minute?
1. 1 Litre
2. 7 Litres
3. 4 Litres

What would be considered a healthy after school snack?
1. Banana
2. Chocolate Bar
3. Fast Food Hamburger

When blood does not reach the heart because of a blocked vessel, a heart attack is possible. When blood does not reach the brain because of a blocked vessel what is possible?
1. A heart attack
2. A brain attach
3. A Stroke

Breakfast cereal should have at least how much fibre?
1. 6g of firbre
2. 3g of fibre
3. 1g of fibre

What percentage of heart disease is preventalb?
1. 10%
2. 50%
3. 80%

There are 4000 chemicals in one cigarette. How many of these chemicals are known to cause cancer?
1. 3 
2. 17
3. 65

Average age of Canadian child who tries smoking for the first time?
1. 13
2. 17
3. 21


Answers:

What is your heart made up of? 
1. Bone
2. Muscle
3. Fat

How do we make our heart healthier?
1. Exercise
2. Eating Healthy Food
3. Not smoking
4. All of the above

How much blood does our heart pump each minute?
1. 1 Litre
2. 7 Litres
3. 4 Litres

What would be considered a healthy after school snack?
1. Banana
2. Chocolate Bar
3. Fast Food Hamburger

When blood does not reach the heart because of a blocked vessel, a heart attack is possible. When blood does not reach the brain because of a blocked vessel what is possible?
1. A heart attack
2. A brain attach
3. A Stroke

Breakfast cereal should have at least how much fibre?
1. 6g of firbre
2. 3g of fibre
3. 1g of fibre

What percentage of heart disease is preventalb?
1. 10%
2. 50%
3. 80%

There are 4000 chemicals in one cigarette. How many of these chemicals are known to cause cancer?
1. 3 
2. 17
3. 65

Average age of Canadian child who tries smoking for the first time?
1. 13
2. 17
3. 21

What is good footwear for children?

Looking to find good shoes for your children? Are you curious about what would be a good choice of shoe? We hope that we can help a little in these decisions. 

Many children shoes today have a lot of gimmicks to encourage parents to spend their money on a pair of 'fun' shoes. The reality however, is that these shoe may likely do more harm than good and not last long enough to get your money's worth. 

In Phys Ed we see a wide variety of 'indoor shoes'. From slip on water-type shoes, to sandals to knee high boot/shoe hybrids to shoes with no laces...and this continues. Often we even see children wearing shoes that are too small for them, forcing the student to bend the back of the shoe to allow their foot to fit.  

Now this isn't all children and there are sometimes circumstances preventing families from buying new shoes for this growing children. 

Our goal with this post is to offer some advice that may make buying shoes a little less stressful and more functional for your children. Here is a fantastic video from Dr. Kelly Starett of whom Mr. Fen-Mac is a huge fan. 

Dr. Starett talks pretty fast in this video but his message is simple. Shoes should be flexable, durable and flat. It's important for children as they grow (and adults too!) to wear flat shoes to maintain proper mobility in their ankles, knees, hips and back. A shoes that doesn't fit will change the way a child walks; and if you think of the number of steps they take daily (nearly 12,000 - 20,000), this can have a dramatic effect on how their muscles and bones grow. 

Stop by the Phys Ed office and let us show you a few mobility activities you can do with your children to maintain good mobility in their feet, ankles, knees and hips.