At Our Best: How the Signature Play Day Recipient School in Moose Jaw, SK Uses the At My Best Program

At Our Best: How the Signature Play Day Recipient School in Moose Jaw, SK Uses the At My Best Program

This past June, the PHE Canada team travelled to Saskatchewan to administer At My Best Signature Play Days to three deserving school communities. 

The At My Best program introduces a holistic approach to wellness by engaging children and youth in learning experiences about physical activity, emotional well-being, and healthy eating.  Signature Play Days are whole-school celebrations of the great work each school has done throughout the year with the At My Best Program.  Each Signature Play Day recipient school receives a visit from the program mascot, Rae the Star, a healthy snack from Saputo, and a $2,000 grant to spend on healthy school initiatives, courtesy of PHE Canada and Saputo. 

It is always inspiring when teachers use information and resources from the program and extend the learning for their students and their school communities.  This is what Physical Education Specialist, Laura Adrian, was able to do at her school. 

When starting at St. Agnes School, Adrian was looking for different programs and resources that she could use in her instruction.  “My cousin, who has a PH.D. in Epidemiology, and does a lot of work in regards to physical literacy in young children immediately recommended that I check out PHE Canada.  As soon as I went to the website and came across the At My Best program I knew I had found a resource that would support my vision,” Adrian said.  “Not long after [signing up] I received a set of stretching cards, classroom task cards, ABC cards, and food serving cards. The cards were simple enough to use with my youngest learners and also engaging and challenging enough to use with my older groups.  My job share partner saw the cards on my desk and asked if she could use them with her classes as well (Gr.4-8).”

As a new At My Best program user, Adrian was eager to share the program with her students.  Adrian says, “About halfway through the year I began to use the adapted slogan ‘At Our Best’ as I wanted to build a classroom community and school community with the language I was using.  The word ‘our’ felt like a better fit for us while still maintaining the intention of the message.  I started gathering documentation of happy, active children to post around the slogan along with some of the documents we use to support physical literacy in our P.E. programs.  The kids loved seeing their faces up on the wall.”

Impressed with the program, Adrian decided to apply for a 2018-2019 Signature Play Day on behalf of her school, and with her strong application and compelling school story, St. Agnes School was awarded a Signature Play Day.

“Finishing the year with a Signature Day of Play was absolutely amazing,” Adrian says. “Next year I hope to use the program in a more in-depth manner.  I will be encouraging our staff to check it out for resources to support their classroom Health learning.  I hope to start a program called ‘Mindful Mondays’ and use the motto of healthy eating, physical activity, and emotional well-being as the basis for our group (this may be what some of our grant money is used for). The slogan ‘At Our Best’ will definitely stick with us as we move forward.”

Registration for the 2019-2020 Signature Play Days opens in March 2020, please visit the At My Best website for details.

Kelsey Fahie
Programs Assistant - PHE Canada