Learning resources bulletin - February 2010

Dear teachers,

This bulletin presents free information and teaching materials available on Statistics Canada's Learning resources website.

In this edition:

• Valentine's Day… numbers and activities
• 2010 is the year of the Tiger!
• School Libraries in Canada features StatCan teaching resources
• Declining fitness among youth: Canadian Health Measures Survey
• Test drive our interactive graphics
• Education services in your region

Valentine's Day… numbers and activities

February 14th is Valentine's Day!

Named for Saint Valentine, this is a day when couples express their love for each other by sending cards, exchanging gifts and even sharing romantic dinners by candlelight. See our Valentine's day feature on the Student's page for facts, lessons and articles about courtship, marriage and family.

2010 is the Year of the Tiger

For interesting facts about East Asia's connections to Canada, including the Chinese zodiac, trade, immigration, languages, and cuisine, see Chinese New Year… by the numbers from the StatCan Media room.

School Libraries in Canada features StatCan teaching resources

The Winter 2010 edition of SLIC, School Libraries in Canada, features several articles about classroom-friendly resources from Statistics Canada and other sources.

Declining fitness among youth: Canadian Health Measures Survey

You many have seen recent media reports about this survey. Between 1981 and 2009, fitness levels of Canadian children and youth, as well as those of adults, declined significantly, according to the first findings from the Canadian Health Measures Survey. While fitness levels of children and youth declined regardless of age or sex, those of adults declined particularly among younger adults. Among youth aged 15 to 19, the percentage whose waist circumference put them at an increased or high risk of health problems more than tripled.

Test drive our interactive graphics

Statistics Canada is exploring various interactive graphics that help visualize data on our website, such as in our population clock.

Education services in your region

Need help using our resources in the classroom? Contact the Statcan education representative closest to you. From our Teachers page, click on the peach coloured Education services button on the right sidebar.

Just below the "Education services" button, we've added the Keep informed button, which links to our E-bulletin, annual brochure and listservs.