WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 23, 2017
| A19
north shore news nsnews.com
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SCHOOL IS & FALL REG
TRATION
Meghan Williams and her brother Matthew take a break at the Windsor Secondary turf field recently. The teen siblings are avid soccer players. Schools across the North Shore have recognized the importance of teaching physical literacy and providing activity opportunities to students throughout the school day. PHOTO MIKE WAKEFIELD
Physical literacy focus includes class time
ROSALIND DUANE rduane@nsnews.com
Agility ladders are becoming as common as crayons in West Vancouver primary classrooms.
And that’s by design. An agility ladder is a piece of exercise equipment that can be rolled out on a flat surface. It looks like a ladder lying down, and users can practise various types of movement such as skipping through the rungs,
shuffling, jumping, and more. It is meant to promote co-ordination, focus, and cardio. The equipment is just one small piece of the plan as the West Vancouver district school board refines its system-wide approach to physical literacy. “The importance of teachers creating quality movement opportunities for students to become more physically literate is not a new concept in West Vancouver schools, but what is different is the district’s systemwide approach to nurturing the development
of healthy, confident, competent movers,” explains Diane Nelson, director of instruction, learning and innovation. For years, the district has focused on three domains of learning that worked somewhat independently of each other: cognitive (such as memory, understanding, and attention), emotional (such as self-regulation and self-awareness of emotions), and physical (such as fundamental sports skills taught during gym class). Each domain had a district leader working
with teachers to design and implement programming. About six years ago, the district brought together the cognitive and emotional domains, recognizing the affect emotional well-being has on student learning. Emotional awareness and skills to recognize and self-regulate those emotions are now a component of classroom learning, contributing to regular academic study. Last year, the district decided to bring
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