The Babies, Books and Bonding team has been working on a complete revision of the early literacy activity booklet provided to children aged 4 at their routine child health clinic appointment. The revision has been underway for 6 months and we are now excited to announce it is complete and available for download in pdf booklet format. Inside the booklet you can find all sorts of activities for caregivers to engage with their child and to help improve early literacy development. From recipes and colouring to card games, scavenger hunts and more - all of the original activities have been updated along with additional activities added. We recognize that every child learns at a different pace, so there are activities for all skill levels. This resource can also be downloaded and used by caregivers as well as other early literacy professionals as a tool for teaching young children early literacy skills.

The Babies, Books and Bonding team of the Northern Healthy Communities Partnership is excited to showcase the recent news article in the Star Pheonix. The article highlights the program and the dedication the team has in helping to support early literacy and bonding between parent and child. Also highlighted is the NHCP published book “Are You Hungry?” as well as the increase in board books provided in the program that represent Indigenous culture, recognizing that it is important for children to see themselves in the story.

The Northern Healthy Communities Partnership and the Northern Intertribal Health Authority helped to support the development of tobacco lesson plans through the collaboration efforts of the Northern Tobacco Strategy Team. These classroom ready units and lesson plans were developed by a teacher for use in northern Saskatchewan and are designed to be incorporated into the Health curriculum. The lesson plans for Kindergarten to Grade 3 are now available for download on the NHCP website (in addition to the Grade 4 to Grade 9 lesson plans previously posted).

The Building Vibrant Youth Action Team works to empower northern Saskatchewan communities to respectfully engage, mentor and build relationships with their youth.

The Building Vibrant Youth Action Team has released some additional videos to add to the Video Series that showcases mentorship, leadership and positive youth development.

Check out the videos showcasing PBCN Land-Based Learning Coordinator Alton Michel as he mentors youth through land-based learning in Pelican Narrows, and Indigenous Spirits Leader Shane Bird as he mentors youth through traditional drumming in La Ronge.

In 2018, the Babies, Books and Bonding team of the Northern Healthy Communities Partnership (NHCP) published the northern book “Are You Hungry?” a multilingual children’s board book available in Cree, Dene or Michif & English. This book is written, illustrated & translated by northerners for northerners, and was published in response to requests from parents wanting books in northern Saskatchewan Indigenous languages.

In 2015, the Active Communities Team (ACT) surveyed organizations in northern Saskatchewan to learn more about physical activity initiatives, needs and challenges in the region. The most desired physical activity initiative was ‘policy and organizational support for physical activity in the workplace’.  For this reason, the ACT created a toolkit to provide northern Saskatchewan leaders with a guide for starting and improving initiatives to support physical activity among their employees.

We are excited to share with you the 2016-17 Annual Report of the Northern Healthy Communities Partnership (NHCP)!

The Northern Healthy Communities Partnership is pleased to release the results of its most recent evaluation of the Babies, Books and Bonding early literacy program.