What's up with Healthy Living Table of Contents

What’s Up With Healthy Living Table of Contents

Welcome! ...... 1 The Beneﬁts of Physical Activity ...... 2 Nutrition ...... 3 Nutritional Labels ...... 4 Hydration ...... 5 Activity 1: The Chronicle Herald Scavenger Hunt ...... 6 Activity 2: What’s Up With Healthy Living! ...... 7 Activity 3: Personal Fitness Log ...... 7 Activity 4: Healthy Headline Challenge ...... 9 Activity 5: Breakfast is Really Important ...... 10 Activity 6: Healthy Snacks ...... 10 Activity 7: Reading Labels ...... 11 Activity 8: Healthy Activity Inventory ...... 13 Activity 9: The Healthy Living Challenge ...... 14 Active Games ...... 17 Sport for Life: From Playground to Podium ...... 21 Choosing the Right Activity Program For Your Child ...... 22 Fun Sport Facts ...... 24 Websites ...... 25 What’s up with healthy living! Teaching Guide

Welcome! The Chronicle Herald is a valuable source of information for students. Reading a newspaper keeps people informed about major issues in their lives. Helping students to use a newspaper teaches them an important skill for lifelong learning.

This teacher’s guide is designed to help you use The Chronicle Herald and the special section What’s Up With Healthy Living! prepared and sponsored by Doctors Nova Scotia and Sport Nova Scotia. The special section is designed to help students in grade four learn more about issues of health, ﬁtness and nutrition and help your students meet the following speciﬁc curriculum outcomes in Health Education:

B1.1 demonstrate a knowledge of the personal and social factors affecting food choices B1.2 demonstrate an ability to select nutritious breakfast foods B4.1 demonstrate an understanding of ways the body protects itself from danger and disease B7.1 participate in a broad range of physical activities B7.2 describe the role of exercise and diet in maintaining healthy bones and muscles C2.1 demonstrate an awareness of ways that friends, family and community groups can support healthy decision making D1.1 identify and demonstrate attitudes and behaviors that support healthy lifestyle choices D3.3 demonstrate an ability to interpret and use information on food labels when making food choices

It will also help your students meet the following speciﬁc curriculum outcomes in Physical Education:

Active Living • Demonstrate a willingness to participate in an intramural activity at lunch time or after school. • Identify and list beneﬁts resulting from participation in different forms of physical activities. • Identify good and bad foods and their effect on the body.

Alternate Environments • Experience using a community resource to participate in physical activity (e.g., pool, rink). • Experience an outdoor activity in each of the four seasons. • Participate in a walking or jogging program in preparation for hiking, orienteering, cross-country skiing.

The activities in this guide and reading The Chronicle Herald will also meet some of curriculum outcomes in the English Language Arts and Mathematics sections of the grade four provincial curriculum.

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The Beneﬁts of Physical Activity

It is important to educate students about the beneﬁts of physical activity. Not only will this educate them, it will help motivate them to continue leading active and healthy lives. Being physically active and participating in sports at an early age has many beneﬁts. It:

• builds strong bones and strengthens muscles; • maintains ﬂexibility; • helps achieve a healthy weight; • promotes good posture and balance; • improves ﬁtness; • provides opportunities to meet new friends; • strengthens the heart; • improves self-esteem and increases relaxation; • enhances healthy growth and development; and • increases energy levels.

As well, children who are physically active tend to perform better in school and less likely to smoke than their non-active peers.

Health Canada’s Physical Activity Guide to Healthy Active Living recommends youth gradually increase their daily total of physical activity to 90 minutes. This total can be reached by doing various activities of 10 minutes or more at different levels of effort which are added up to get a daily total.

An example of how students can reach 90 minutes of physical activity is: • 10 minutes walking to school, • 20 minutes playing tag at recess, • 15 minutes dancing to music, • 10 minutes spent walking and playing with their dog, • 15 minutes riding their bike, and • 20 minutes playing soccer

By going over this example, you can show how easy it is to be active and students will be able to see just how quickly they can accumulate signiﬁcant amounts of physical activity and be on their way to healthier lifestyles.

Health Canada also recommends youth try to reduce the amount of non-active time they accumulate each day. Encourage your participants to spend half an hour less per day doing activities that don’t require much energy, like watching television or playing on the computer.

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Nutrition Our society has become very dependent on processed and fast foods as well as snacks that are high in fat and sugar. As a teacher, you are in the position to provide students with information about healthy nutrition and encourage them to move away from such a strong dependence on “junk food.”

Remind students they only have one body to last a lifetime and that it will perform better if it is run on high- versus low-quality fuel. One way of helping students become more aware of what they are putting in their bodies is to encourage them to keep a journal, listing everything they eat and drink over a series of days. This exercise is helpful for showing them how much they consume and areas where they can make some changes to their eating habits. Here is some basic information about healthy food choices. We encourage you to remind students about ways in which they can strive for a balanced diet.

1. Encourage them to use Canada’s Food Guide to find out which foods are healthy choices. Healthy snacks can include cut up fresh fruit, veggies, low-fat cheese, yogurt, popcorn and low-fat crackers with peanut butter. 2. Students should choose at least one vegetable or fruit for each meal and snack. Encourage them to pick the dark green, orange or yellow ones as they are full of vitamins needed to grow and be active. 3. Encourage students to choose lower-fat milk products such as skim milk, 1 per cent chocolate milk, yogurt and low-fat cheese. These provide calcium, which is good for the bones. 4. Students should eat two or three servings a day from the meat and alternative group such as fish, beans, eggs, peanut butter, or chicken. These foods also provide energy for growth and nutrients for the muscles. 5. Encourage students to eat at least five servings of grain or bread products a day such as whole grain breads and cereals, rice or pasta. These foods are a great source of energy for an active lifestyle. 6. Students should limit the sugar they consume from candy, chocolate and pop. They may cause cavities and, if consumed excessively, can lead to weight gain and health problems. 7. Students should limit added fats such as margarine, butter, mayonnaise and oil as well as other fatty foods such as processed or fast foods. 8. Use the Healthy Eating Challenge and encourage participants to track the healthy snacks they eat each day in their logs.

Health Canada’s Food Guide was updated and released in February 2007. Please visit the Food Guide website to learn about the changes http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/fn-an/food-guide-aliment/index_e.html

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Nutritional Labels Nutritional information is available on many food packages in the grocery store. A new system for providing this information was introduced in 2003 and is applicable to almost all pre-packaged foods. Health Canada offers information on understanding what these labels mean and how to compare the nutritional value of one food versus another.

http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/fn-an/alt_formats/hpfb-dgpsa/pdf/label-etiquet/inl-eni_e.pdf

For a more interactive game-style, Health Canada also offers an interactive nutrition label lesson and quiz. Flash 8 Player is needed to view the interactive game, however a basic HTML version of the quiz and lesson are available.

http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/fn-an/label-etiquet/nutrition/interactive/index_e.html

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Hydration Staying properly hydrated by drinking water regularly is important when exercising and for overall health. Whether being active or sitting in class, the body needs water. In fact, over 60 per cent of the body is made up of water, so students should be encouraged to drink six to eight glasses of ﬂuid each day. This can be from a variety of drinks including water, unsweetened juice, milk, chocolate milk, healthy milk shakes or fruit smoothies.

Drinking ﬂuids is especially important when exercising as it replaces water lost through sweat, helps the participant perform to the best of their ability, prevents them from becoming dehydrated, and helps maintain a healthy body temperature. Reinforce healthy hydration practices all day, everyday.

Here are some tips regarding hydration:

• Dehydration, which is what happens to your body when you don’t drink enough fluid, will result in you not being able to exercise to your best ability, especially during prolonged aerobic exercise like running. • Waiting until you are thirsty is not a good way to figure out how much to drink. By the time you feel thirsty, your body is already being affected by a lack of water. It is important to drink at regular intervals during prolonged exercise. • Drinking large amounts of fluid before or during exercise can give you a stomach ache. Drink a cup (250 millilitres) about an hour before you exercise. • Sports drinks taste good but are only necessary if you are exercising for more than one hour without rest or in extreme heat or humidity. Sports drinks can also be harder to digest and give you a stomach ache. • To prevent spreading germs, use your own water bottle or drink from the school fountain. • You will still sweat when running in colder temperatures so it is important to drink fluids when exercising in the winter. • Remember to have a drink of water after you run to replace lost fluid.

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Activity 1 The Chronicle Herald Scavenger Hunt

Make enough photocopies of the scavenger hunt for your class. They must complete the scavenger hunt using The Chronicle Herald. Allow 30 minutes to find the answers. You can speed things up by having groups of students complete the activity. After 30 minutes have students discuss their answers to the questions keeping in mind there may be more than one answer for each question! This activity forces your students to explore The Chronicle Herald and find out information about some of the sections in the newspaper, especially on the topics of health and fitness. ��"��"�#��$�%��&��

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Activity 2 What’s Up With Healthy Living! Have your students turn to What’s Up With Healthy Living! Let them read the section. Have a discussion with your students about what they have read. Some questions might be: • What is different about the way this section of the newspaper is written compared to other sections of the newspaper? • What did you learn from reading the information? • Did you enjoy reading the story?

Activity 3 Personal Fitness Log Personal Fitness Log – Young people should try to have 90 minutes of physical activity every day. For some, physical activity just takes place primarily in gym class or when they play organized sports like hockey or soccer. However, there are other ways to accumulate 90 minutes of physical activity. Many students walk to school or walk to a bus stop. Activity at recess, before the bell rings in the morning, lunch break, playing outside after school, walking the dog, shopping at the grocery store with a parent, and dancing with a friend to music you enjoy are all examples of physical activity.

On the next page is a Personal Fitness Log. Make enough photocopies of the log and pass them out to your students. Ask them to think about all of the physical activities that they have done in the last seven days and estimate the time they spent on each one and write them down on the Physical Fitness Log. They should give a tally in minutes of activity at the end of each day.

After the sheets are completed, ask some of the students to name some of their physical activities. Then by a show of hands, ask who had more than 100 minutes on Monday, then 90 to 100 minutes, and less than 90. Complete for each day.

The purpose of this exercise is to introduce the idea that students should try to have 90 minutes of physical activity per day. Students that do not have 90 minutes of activity per day should gradually increase their activity until they reach the 90 minute goal.

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Activity 4 Healthy Headline Challenge Above most stories in The Chronicle Herald you will find a short summary in large type called a headline. A good headline will make the reader want to read the whole story. Have your students look at the headlines in today’s newspaper. Then have them look at the first page of What’s Up With Healthy Living! You will find the following information in a box that states:

Healthy body = Rest + Exercise + Healthy food. Rest: getting a good night’s sleep. Exercise: Being active, playing games and sports. Healthy food: Eating a balanced diet.

Have your students prepare a good headline the sums up the information from scene one. Have willing students share their information with the class.

They can also enter our Healthy Headline Challenge. Students can e-mail their Health Headline to our Newspaper in Education program, [email protected] In the subject line of the e-mail, please put Healthy Headline Challenge. In the body of the e-mail, have students type their healthy headline, name, grade and school. On Monday, March 5, we will have a random draw for a Chronicle Herald backpack.

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Activity 5 Breakfast is Really Important Ask your students to read page two from What’s Up With Healthy Living!

Many people skip breakfast because they are too rushed to eat and grab something like a chocolate bar as a substitute. A good, healthy breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Students that have a healthy breakfast come to school better able to learn and usually do better in their school work. Because of this, many schools now offer a healthy breakfast program for students.

“Oatmeal with strawberry jam and milk on it.” This is the breakfast choice of one of the characters in What’s Up With Healthy Living! Is it your favourite choice? Using Canada’s Food Guide, have students create their own version of a healthy breakfast. You can ﬁnd a copy at www.hc-sc.gc.ca/fn-an/food- guide-aliment/basics-base/index_e.html

Extended activity

Have your students bring in grocery store flyers from The Chronicle Herald, the Out & About flyer pack or other grocery flyers from other publications. Divide your class into small groups. Using Canada’s Food Guide and the grocery flyers, have each group create a healthy lunch, dinner and snacks for one day for a family of four. Each group can make a colourful display on bristol board and display them in the classroom. Activity 6 Healthy Snacks This section mentions some great healthy snacks. Ask your students to give some examples of healthy snacks that they eat that are not on the list. Write them down on the chalk board. Using the snack list in What’s Up With Healthy Living! and the list on the board, plan a Healthy Snack Day for the class. Each student could bring a healthy snack and share with other students in the class.

Extended Activity

Students could make a healthy snack recipe book and give to other classes in the school or send home to parents.

Students can create their own personalized Canada Food Guide at www.hc-sc.gc.ca/fn-an/food- guide-aliment/myguide-monguide/index_e.htm

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Activity 7 Reading Labels All pre-packaged foods in Canada must have nutrition labeling. Students can use these labels to make better choices for the food they eat. All of the ingredients listed on the labels are important for good health. From What’s Up With Healthy Living! we learned about the amount of fat in a chocolate bar. Many students will not recognize the word “sodium” from the food label, but it is salt. Salt is a necessary nutrient for good health but too much salt in the diet is not good for you. If a food label on a bag of chips says that the content has 27% of the sodium needed for the daily diet, then four bags of chips will put you over the amount of sodium you need every day.

The list of ingredients on food labels also lists the contents of the package from the largest ingredient to the smallest. It also lists the chemicals that are added to enhance ﬂavour and give the food a long shelf life in the store.

Ask students to bring in food labels from different pre-packaged foods from home. Divide the class into small groups and ask them to look at the food labels for each member of the group. Which food has the largest amount of fat, sodium, calories, vitamins? Have each group present their results to the class.

Extended activity

Look for the recipe in today’s edition of The Chronicle Herald. Cut out the recipe or copy it down and take it home to your parents. Assist them in preparing the meal.

You may want to hand out the Shopping List activity to your students. Students will have to plan healthy meals with their parents or guardians using Health Canada’s Food Guide website for help.

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Healthy Activity Inventory The next scene takes place in gym class, where our two cartoon characters are discussing some physical activities they might participate in at the Milk Energy SportFair, Sport Nova Scotia’s After- School Physical Activity program and the Doctors Nova Scotia Youth Running for Fun.

What healthy activities do grade four students in your community participate in? As a class discuss the following kinds of physical activities and write down the results on the chalk board.

Physical activities I can do by myself. Usually there is little or no supervision involved. Some might be walking, jogging, shooting hoops at your basketball net at home or chores that you are responsible for at your home that require physical activity.

Physical activity I do with my friends. They usually involve little or no supervision and sometimes the group participating makes up the rules. Some might include playing soccer at recess, hockey on a pond or outdoor rink, baseball with your friends on a summer afternoon, table tennis, swimming, or maybe you play a game with your friends that you have named and developed yourselves.

Physical activities in our school. They are usually supervised by the gym teacher or other teachers at the school. Some of these activities might include soccer, track and ﬁeld, dodge ball, baseball and badminton.

Physical activities that take place in our community. They are usually supervised by parents or adults in the community and some may take place in the school after-school hours or community halls, arenas or gyms. Some examples could be soccer, baseball, Guides, Brownies, Scouts, Cubs, dance groups, hockey, basketball, gymnastics, or judo.

Physical activities that we would like to try. These are activities that you have heard about from reading books, newspapers, watching television or talking to people from other places and that you would like to try someday. Some examples might be snowboarding, platform diving, jazz dance, kayaking, or mountain climbing.

Prepare a bulletin board display of the information you have gathered to share with other students in your school.

Extended activities

Attend The Milk Energy Sport Fair with your class. For more information about this event, visit Sport Nova Scotia at www.sportnovascotia.ca

Play some of the games included in the Active Games section of this guide.

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Activity 9 Putting it all together: The Healthy Living Challenge

Adequate physical activity and healthy eating are the keys to good health. This means we must not only help our youth increase their level of physical activity but also help them adopt healthier eating habits.

In the Healthy Living Challenge, each student will receive a log sheet. The back of the log sheet contains information about physical activity and why it’s important to be active, the four food groups, their recommended serving sizes and some examples from each group.

Participants are challenged to complete seven days of being active and consuming at least the minimum requirements from each of the four food groups. Once the student has successfully completed seven days, they show their sheet to you. An option is to come up with a reward challenge to encourage everyone to participate.

Be sure to check in with students regularly to see how they are making out with the challenge. You may want to send a note home to parents with the log sheet to explain how the challenge works and encourage them to work together with their kids to complete the log sheet.

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Ask students to bring in food labels from different pre- packaged foods from home. Divide the class into small groups and ask them to look at the food labels for each member of the group. Which food has the largest amount of fat, sodium, calories, vitamins? Have each group present their results to the class.

Extended activity

Look for the recipe in today’s edition of The Chronicle Herald. Cut out the recipe or copy it down and take it home to your parents. Assist them in preparing the meal.

You may want to hand out the Shopping List activity to your students. Students will have to plan healthy meals with their parents or guardians using Health Canada’s Food Guide website for help.

Activity 8 page 15 What’s up with healthy living! Teaching Guide

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Active Games

One way to add some fun and keep students active is by including active games to their daily routine. Try to use a variety of games to keep students interested. Below are some ideas for games that can be played on a ﬁeld or in a gymnasium.

British Bulldog: One person is “it” and stands in the middle of the ﬁeld or gym. The rest of the participants stand on a line at one end of the ﬁeld or gym. When the person who is “it” yells “British bulldog” everyone must try to run to the other side without being tagged. Those who are caught, join in the middle to try tagging remaining participants. The last person to be caught becomes “it’ in the next game.

Catch-up: This game is an easy way to add some distance to a workout. Have the participants line up behind one another. If your group is large, break it into groups of eight to 10. These groups will jog laps around a speciﬁc area or to a destination and back. The goal is for the last person in each group to run to the front of the line. It is critical that the pace is fairly slow or those trying to run to the front will tire very quickly. Have the groups keep running until everyone has been to the front a few times.

Crab walk soccer: Break the kids into two teams and play soccer with the participants in the crab position, on their hands and feet in a bridge position, belly facing up. They can hit the ball with their feet only. (Although this game does not include running, it requires participants to be very active and can be a great workout.)

Islands: This game is played like statues (see below) except when the whistle is blown, students must run to one of the islands (hoola hoops or small mats placed on the ﬂoor). The islands can be shared but participants are not allowed to touch each other. The last one to land on an island is out. Reduce the number of islands as your group becomes smaller.

Ladders: Break the group into two teams. Two lines are formed, facing each other. Have participants sit down, legs straight out, feet just touching. Give each pair a number. When a number is called, the two opponents jump up, run over the legs of the other pairs in one direction, then run outside the ladder to the other end and then continue over the legs of the other pairs until they get back to their original spot. The ﬁrst person back to their spot wins a point for their team. Be sure to space the seated pairs with enough room for players to run between their legs without stepping on anyone.

Loose caboose: One person is the loose caboose while the remaining participants break into groups of three, forming small trains by holding on to the hips of the person in front of them. The loose caboose chases the trains and tries to attach to one of the ends. When the caboose successfully attaches to one of the trains, the lead person or engine of that train becomes the new loose caboose.

Obstacle courses: This can be done inside or out, depending on the size of your group and space available. Include as many actions as possible such as going over, under, or around items; crawling; hanging; hopping; skipping; etc. Participants can do this individually, one after another, or in a relay format. Include some callisthenics like push-ups, sit-ups or lunges somewhere in the obstacle course to add some variety.

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Active Games cont’d

Octopus: Played like British bulldog except the player in the middle is an octopus that runs and tries to tag players as they cross the ﬁeld or gym. As the octopus tags people, they remain in their spot and act as tentacles, trying to tag players without moving their feet. To make this game proceed a little faster, try limiting the playing space or starting off with more than one octopus in the middle.

Port and starboard: Tell participants to imagine they are on a ship. You will yell out commands and the participants must obey. The last person to complete the command is out of the game. Some of the commands you can try are starboard (run to the right), port (run to the left), bow (run to the front), stern (run to the back), scrub the deck, hit the deck (lying face down), submarine (lying on back with one leg up in the air), and Captain’s coming (stand at attention and salute). Be creative and make up some of your own commands.

Rabbits and Hounds: Choose three or four of the faster participants to start out as hounds while the rest are rabbits. Start the rabbits running around a lap of the ﬁeld or gym. Once they get a head start, let the hounds loose by yelling “the hounds are loose” or “who let the dogs out.” The hounds run after the rabbits which are considered caught once they are passed by the hounds. Depending on the size of your lap, let the kids do one or two laps. Choose your next hounds from the group of rabbits who were not caught.

Relay races: There are an endless number of relay races to choose from. Use forward, backward or sideways running; hopping; skipping; crawling; cartwheeling; running in pairs; wheelbarrows in pairs; leap frog; etc. You could have a simple running relay where each participant has to do a speciﬁc exercise at the turn around spot. For example, have them run to the spot, do a certain number of sit- ups, push-ups, jumping jacks, or lie down and get up without using their hands and then return to tag the next person who then repeats the same thing.

Bean bag relays can be a lot of fun too. Have participants carry bean bags by balancing them on their heads, holding them between their knees or feet or under their chins. They must cover the distance and pass the bean bag to the next person. Over and under relays involve teams having their members stand with some space between each other. Have participants alternate between standing with legs apart and crouching down on hands and knees. The participants take turns traveling over and under each other. The ﬁrst team to have all their players go over/under their teammates wins.

Simon Says: This is a well-known game where participants must obey your commands but only if you say “Simon says” before giving the command. For example if you say “Simon says do ﬁve jumping jacks,” all the participants must do ﬁve jumping jacks. If you say “spin around 10 times,” participants must stand still. Those who move are out. Try to use a variety of commands, especially ones that involve running, callisthenics or other physical activities.

Snatch It: Divide the group into two lines. Have the opposing teams form lines facing each other approximately 15 feet apart. Number the members of each line from opposite directions so that the number one participant of one team is opposite, for example, the number 20 participant of the other team. Place an object, such as a bean bag, in the middle of the ﬂoor between the two teams. Yell out a number and have corresponding players race each other to pick up the object. The player who is able to snatch the object and return to their spot without being tagged by their opponent gets a point for their team.

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Active Games cont’d

Soccer: This is a highly aerobic game which can be a lot of fun. Break the kids into even teams and play a game of soccer. If your group is really big and you have the space, have two games going simultaneously or use two balls. To include as many kids as possible in the play, make it mandatory to make three passes before a shot on net can occur.

Statues: Try playing this popular game with or without music. Have the kids jog around the ﬁeld or gym. When the music stops or you blow a whistle, everyone must freeze like a statue. Anyone caught moving is out.

Stormy Seas: This is a variation of British bulldog. Divide participants into two groups, one being fish, the other being whales. Line each team up at different ends of the field. Choose one or more sharks to stand in the middle of the field. The sharks yell out either “fish” or “whales.” Those participants must then try to run to the other side of the field without being tagged. If tagged, they become seaweed and must stand on the spot and try to touch others as they cross the field. If the sharks yell “stormy seas” members from both teams run across the field. The last person to be caught starts off the next game as the shark.

Tag: There are many variations of tag that will keep the kids running. Regular tag involves one person being “it” who chases the others. Once someone is tagged, they become “it” and begin chasing. If you have a large group, you may want to have a few kids as “it.”

Frozen tag can be played many ways. The person who is tagged and therefore “frozen” must stand still with their legs open. He/she becomes free when another player crawls between their legs or runs under one of their out-stretched arms. If you have a large group, designate a few people to be “it.” To change this game a little, try having participants do 10 jumping jacks or ﬁve push-ups to free themselves instead of running under each other’s legs.

Blob or amoeba tag involves the person who is “it” holding hands with those they tag and gradually forming a huge line of players that works as a unit to continue chasing the others. The blob can break into groups of two, three or four and continue trying to tag the remaining players.

Partner tag starts by everyone but the person who is “it” ﬁnding a partner. The person who is “it” chases the pairs. When one partner of a pair is tagged, the other partner breaks loose and becomes “it.” The person who was “it” remains with the new partner and tries to avoid getting tagged.

Hospital tag is similar to traditional tag except that once tagged, the person must hold the place they were touched, like it is an injury, and continue running around. If they are tagged again, they must use their other hand to hold the second injured area. A third touch means they are out of the game. This can be a lot of fun if the people who are it are able to touch people in different spots, like a leg or top of the head.

Touch or ﬂag football: This is another good running game which can be played by large groups which have players with varying abilities.

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Active Games cont’d

Ultimate Frisbee: This is a variation of football. Divide the group into two teams. The object of the game is to get the Frisbee across the ﬁeld and into the end zone. Players may not run with the Frisbee. The only way to get a turnover is when the Frisbee is dropped or intercepted.

What Time is it Mr. Wolf?: Choose one participant to be Mr. Wolf and have them stand at one end of the ﬁeld with their back to the remaining participants who are standing at the other end. The participants ask in unison, “what time is it Mr. Wolf” to which the wolf responds with any time he/she chooses. The participants then advance towards the wolf by taking the number of steps designated by the time (i.e. if the wolf says “four o’clock”, the participants take four steps). The wolf is not allowed to look at the players. When the wolf senses the players getting close, he/she yells “it’s dinner time!” in response to the participants’ question. If the wolf catches someone that person becomes the wolf.

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Sport for Life: From Playground to Podium Adapted from Canadian Sport Centres Canadian Sport for Life: Long-Term Athlete Development

Sport Nova Scotia believes in sport for life and that every child should have an opportunity to participate in sport. Outlined below is the basic sport framework for individuals at all stages of life. The main goal with young children and pre-teens is to develop an enjoyment for physical activity while introducing the basic rules and ethics of sport such as Fair Play.

Active Start (Males and Females from 0 to 6) § Fitness and movement skills development as a FUN part of daily life § Focuses on learning proper movement skills such as running, jumping, wheeling, twisting, throwing etc. § Daily physical activity

FUNdamentals (Males 6-9 and Females 6-8) § Learn all FUNdamental movement skills and build overall motor skills § Play many sports § Focus on the ABCs of Athleticism: ability, balance, coordination and speed § Introduce simple rules and ethics of sport § Daily physical activity

Learning to Train (Males 9-12 and Females 8-11) § Learn overall sport skills § Acquire sport skills that will be the cornerstone of athletic development § Play a variety of sports focusing on developing skills in three sport in particular

Training to Train (Age is growth-spurt development; Males 12-16 and Females 11-15) § Build an endurance base, develop speed and strength towards the end of the stage, and further develop and consolidate sport speciﬁc skills § Select two favourite sports based on predisposition

Training to Compete (Age varies depending on sport; Males 16-23+/- and Females 15-21+/-) § Optimize ﬁtness preparation and sport, individual, and position speciﬁc skills and learn to compete internationally

Training to Win (Ages are sport speciﬁc based on national and international normative data; Males 19 +/- and Females 18 +/-) § Podium performances Active for Life (Enter at any age) § A smooth transition from an athlete’s competitive career to lifelong physical activity and participation in sport.

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Choosing the Right Activity Program For Your Child Adapted from Choosing the Right Activity Program for Your Child: A Parent’s Guide to Examining Quality in Sport & Recreation Program. Sport Nova Scotia, Nova Scotia Health Promotion and Protection and Recreation Nova Scotia

Why should children participate in sport and recreation?

When asked, kids report that the number one reason they participate in sport and recreation is for the FUN of it. Leaders, parents/caregivers and organizations need to remember this and get back to the basics when they plan, deliver and evaluate their programs.

Of course, participating in any kind of physical activity is known to: ¸ Improve health and ﬁtness and instill healthy lifestyle choices; ¸ Enhance self-esteem and foster leadership skills; ¸ Inﬂuence personal and social development; ¸ Reduce the incidence of self-destructive and anti-social behaviour; and ¸ Promote stronger families and healthier communities.

We want to get our children on the road to a healthy and active lifestyle and sport and recreation provides a great opportunity to do just that. Teachers can talk to parents about getting children involved in sports or other physical activities. To help parents ﬁnd the right sport or activity, contact Sport Nova Scotia for copies of the Choosing the Right Activity Program for Your Child: A Parent’s Guide to Examining Quality in Sport & Recreation Program or download the brochure from the Sport Nova Scotia website at www.sportnovascotia.ca.

What does a quality program look like?

There are six areas in which we can look for QUALITY when it comes to sport and recreation activities. Each one can play a huge part in the experience of a child. Take a moment and consider the program your child or any child is involved in and see if it makes a grade.

The six areas are: 1. Environment: Children need a safe yet fun environment where they are free to try new things without the risk of injury or ridicule. Of course, some activities have more physical risks than others. We can’t avoid all injuries, but we can take the proper steps to ensure the environment within which the activity takes place is free from avoidable risky areas and activities. 2. Leadership: The Leader has the greatest impact on the quality of a sport and recreation experience of a child. 3. Program/Practices: All of the good intentions in the world, and all of the policies, procedures and plans cannot undo a problem in the delivery of the program. If children aren’t enjoying what they are doing they are less likely to come back.

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Choosing the Right Activity Program For Your Child cont’d

4. Interactions/Relationships: Healthy relationships are at the heart of high quality experiences for children. A special relationship with a caring adult can help a child overcome adversity and provide a positive model for relationships the child will form in the future. The friendships that children develop through sport and recreation can follow them throughout their lives. 5. Competitive Structure: Competitions for children should not be based upon adult competition structures/frameworks. Instead, they should reﬂect the age and skill level of the children participating. 6. Organizational Support: The club, local association or community group is the backbone of the sport and recreation system. Its policies and procedures support the programs and the leaders and can affect the child’s experience in many ways.

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Fun Sport Facts Here are few simple facts that might be interesting to your students. Perhaps play a game of true or false just for fun.

Did you know….

• That when at least one parent was involved in amateur sport in some capacity, their child’s participation rate jumped to 83%. (Statistics Canada 2003)

• Soccer is the most popular sport among kids 5 to 14 with 31% of athletically active children playing regularly. Swimming and hockey are tied for second place at 24% each. (Statistics Canada 2005)

• Golf replaced hockey as the number one sport in Canada. Today, more than 1.8 million Canadians reportedly play golf on a regular basis. (Statistics Canada 2003)

• Snowboarding was invented in the 1960s in Austria.

• The youngest winner of Tour de France was Henri Cornet at the age of 19.

• The only sport that has been played on the moon is golf. On the 6 of February 1971, Alan Shepard hit a golf ball.

• Average life span of a major league baseball is 7 pitches.

• Sidney Crosby’s NHL number is 87 due to his birthday being August 7, 1987 (8/7--87).

• Exercise may be just as important to bone growth in children as milk. (Lifestyle Information Network)

• Being physically inactive has the same impact on your health as smoking a pack of cigarettes a day (Lifestyle Information Network)

• Hockey and lacrosse are Canada’s national sports.

• Quebec (38%) and Alberta (37%) had the highest regional amateur sport participation rates among Canadians aged 15 years or more, while Prince Edward Island (25%) and Newfoundland (27%) had the lowest. (Sport Canada 2007)

• Basketball was invented by a Canadian -- James A. Naismith.

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Websites Canada’s Food Guide – Focus on 6 to 12 year olds http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/fn-an/food-guide-aliment/res/focus_child-focaliser_enfant_e.html

PDF document: Canada’s Food Guide – Focus on 6 to 12 year olds http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/fn-an/alt_formats/hpfb-dgpsa/pdf/food-guide-aliment/focus_child-focaliser_ enfant_e.pdf

Doctors Nova Scotia http://www.doctorsns.com

Sport Nova Scotia http://www.sportnovascotia.ca

Doctors Nova Scotia’s Youth Running for Fun program http://www.doctorsns.com/content.aspx?cid=379&active_mid=587

Health Canada’s Physical Activity Guide http://www.healthcanada.ca/paguide

Dieticians of Canada http://www.dietitians.ca/

Breakfast, snack and lunch ideas – Nova Scotia Department of Health Promotion and Prevention http://www.gov.ns.ca/hpp/publications/02-14818_Healthy_Snacks.pdf

Snack and dessert ideas – Healthy Alberta http://www.healthyalberta.com/he_rcp_ssd.asp

Snack ideas – Region of Peel http://www.peelregion.ca/health/nutrition/nm2004/eatwell/snacks.htm

Health Check – Heart and Stroke Foundation Family Eating (brochure – pdf) http://www.healthcheck.org/english/documents/33030412FamilyEating02.23.05.pdf

Healthy Snacks (brochure – pdf) http://www.healthcheck.org/english/documents/33050312_HealthySnacks_Eng04.25.05.pdf

Healthy Eating and Children http://www.healthcheck.org/english/nutrition_healthyeat.htm

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Websites cont’d

True Sport http://www.truesportpur.ca

Canadian Association for the Advancement of Women and Sport and Physical Activity http://www.caaws.ca

Canadian Association for Health Physical Education Recreation and Dance http://www.cahperd.ca

Caring for Kids – Canadian Paediatric Society http://www.caringforkids.cps.ca/

Health Canada’s Physical Activity Guide to Healthy Active Living http://www.healthcanada.ca/paguide

Active game ideas Active team games http://www.funandgames.org/active_teamgame.htm

Active non-team games http://www.funandgames.org/games_activenonteam.htm

Active games http://www.campresources.co.uk/activities/Active-Games.html

Active activities http://www.recreationtherapy.com/tx/txactive.htm

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