Physical Literacy Mentorship: Trail Tales

See More Projects

Related Content

GRANTING PERMISSION TO TRY WITH CYCLING

Written by Tracey Coutts, Ever Active Schools Watching young cyclists discover the freedom and thrill that comes with learning how to confidently navigate new neighbourhood and community routes is the equivalent of reading about C. S. Lewis’ Lucy moving deeper into the wardrobe, brushing past fur coats that transform to fir tree branches, on her…

A circle of adults during a basketball coaching clinic with a rolling whiteboard in the centre.

EVERYBODY PLAYS: LEAGUES OF PLAY

In the 2022/2023 school year, Ever Active Schools and Canadian Tire Jumpstart entered into a multi-year partnership centered around the dream that everybody plays. Through this work, we are providing: 100% opportunity to participate so that everybody plays. Focus on priority populations so that everybody plays. Capacity building through grassroots approaches so that everybody plays.…

Two people are playing Giants, Wizards, Elves – a game to help teach the Phys Ed and Wellness section of the Alberta K-6 Curriculum. The person on the left is posed like a wizard with fingers pointed like magic wands. The person on the right is crouched down in an elf pose using hands for elf ears.

TEACHING THE NEW ALBERTA K-6 CURRICULUM

The new Alberta K-6 curriculum has certainly been a hot topic, and we’ve heard a lot of questions about the Physical Education and Wellness (PEW) section. The biggest question: how do I teach this Alberta K-6 curriculum without losing active time with my class? Never fear: Ever Active Schools is here! We’ve compiled 8 games…

HOW TO HOST A TOURNAMENT

Written by Nathan White and Melissa Tierney, Ever Active Schools In our Everybody Plays project work, funded by Jumpstart, Ever Active Schools has been working with schools and communities to host leagues of play, which includes tournaments! This handy guide is intended to help you plan and host a tournament. It is important to note…

HOW TO HOST A YOUTH FUN RUN OR WALK EVENT

Written by Hayley Degaust, Ever Active Schools The AMA Youth Run Club is a free, fun and flexible opportunity for schools and students to get active! Run, walk or roll your way to a healthier school community at any grade level. Hosting a fun run or walk event is a great way to either kick…

LAND-BASED LEARNING: CONSIDERING THE FUNDAMENTALS

Written by Andrea Barnes. Originally published in GEOEC Connections Journal, October 2021. As an Environmental Educator with Alberta Parks and a classroom teacher, one of the silver linings of this past 1.5 years has to be the dramatic uptake and motivation for teaching outdoors. As we move into another year, hopefully, this energy and passion…

DANCE LESSON PLAN 4 OF 4 FOR DIV 1/2 (GRADES K-6)

Dance is not only a physical education curricular requirement in Alberta schools, it’s also a fun and expressive way to move your body! This is the final post in a series of four Div 1/2 (grades K-6) dance lesson plans to help you teach movement. These lesson plans build from week-to-week, so if you haven’t…

DANCE LESSON PLAN 3 OF 4 FOR DIV 1/2 (GRADES K-6)

Dance is not only a physical education curricular requirement in Alberta schools, it’s also a fun and expressive way to move your body! This is the third in a series of four Div 1/2 (grades K-6) dance lesson plans to help you teach movement. These lesson plans build from week-to-week, so if you haven’t seen…

DANCE LESSON PLAN 2 OF 4 FOR DIV 1/2 (GRADES K-6)

Dance is not only a physical education curricular requirement in Alberta schools, it’s also a fun and expressive way to move your body! This is the second in a series of four Div 1/2 (grades K-6) dance lesson plans to help you teach movement. These lesson plans build from week-to-week, so if you haven’t seen…

DANCE LESSON PLAN 1 OF 4 FOR DIV 1/2 (GRADES K-6)

Dance is not only a physical education curricular requirement in Alberta schools, it’s also a fun and expressive way to move your body! For the next four weeks, we’ll be posting a new Div 1/2 (grades K-6) dance lesson plan to help you teach movement. These lesson plans build on one another from week-to-week. You…

Stories that move you.

Trail Tales was first launched in Parkland School Division 70 as a means to promote physical activity and literacy while enhancing the active travel experience for school communities. Storyboard kits were created and placed along popular walking routes to be read and enjoyed by active travellers. These inaugural kits were a collaborative effort between EAS, the school division, and Stony Plain Regional Library, and funded through the Alberta Traffic Safety Fund.

We adopted Trail Tales as an initiative of the Physical Literacy Mentorship project in schools across the province to keep encouraging active travel and daily physical activity. With support from Jumpstart, mentorship schools are provided with Trail Tales signs that use an adhesive, vinyl sleeve to allow for stories to be changed over time, providing an opportunity for student voice in selecting books to read on the move! We received permission from our friends, the Be Fit for Life Network, to display Leah Yardley’s moving story As Big as the Sky, As Tall as the Trees – a perfect Trail Tales title – including movement prompts on each page.

Most of us have experienced stories that have moved us, but Trail Tales offers that opportunity in every sense of the word.

Trail Tales is a seamless way to partner with school-based teacher librarians as well as local community libraries. Library knowledge and experience helps ensure we honour copyright laws and provides recommendations for engaging texts and themes. Themes and books that have been used by participating schools include Environmental Stewardship (Earth Day, Earth Week, Solstice, Equinox), Physical Activity, Construction/Innovation (MakerSpace, Loose Parts Play), Faith/Religion (Christmas, Easter/Lent), and Celebrations/Significance (Eid, Diwali, Thanksgiving, Orange Shirt Day, Walk to School Day, Winter Walk Day).

To honour copyright laws schools are advised to purchase two copies of each book (as books cannot be reproduced in any way), dismantle them, and then insert the pages of the book into the press-on vinyl envelopes that affix to the plastic corrugated pads. As an additional tracking measure, you can number each of the corrugated pads to remember the order of the pages. To welcome people to the experience and to thank them for participating, we create two additional pages to bookend the story itself. These half sheets of poster board are numbered, laminated (to provide weather-proofing), and velcroed to plastic corrugated cardboard lawn signs.

Materials we used to create Trail Tales storyboards:

Wire 'H' stakes
Press-on vinyl envelopes (12" x 18")
Plastic corrugated pads (24" x 36")

SEE IT IN ACTION!

See Trail Tales in action through this short video.

Watch

"I used Trail Tale as a unit review for Science 30. The student groups raced from sign to sign to see who could solve all of the diploma questions in the fastest time. Students worked together and discussed how to problem solve the questions. The physical component of the activity engaged students in a way that regular in-class review wouldn't have. One student took off his shoes to ensure he would be the fastest runner outside....?”