Azin Bohlouli Masouleh
Supervisor: Dr. Stephen Berg
City: Kelowna
Occupation: After School Care Staff Member/ Education Assistant
Year: 2025
Subject:
- Other
Description
This capstone project designs and explores Small Moments, Big Skills, a nine-week Life Literacy Program intended for K–3 children in after-school care, while implementing selected components in a mixed-age setting serving children ages four to twelve. Grounded in research across nine domains of life literacy (social and emotional learning, health and hygiene, nutrition, safety, financial and decision-making skills, routines and independence, experiential and environmental learning, stress regulation, and family and community engagement) the program uses a consistent daily structure, the SAFE model (sequenced, active, focused, explicit), and a pedagogy of experiential learning, guided play, and explicit reflection. The curriculum is designed to be woven into everyday after-school routines such as snack, transitions, and clean up, using concrete, sensory-rich materials and short, predictable activities. Observations from implementation indicate that children engage most readily with life-literacy concepts when learning is anchored in familiar experiences, visual supports, and routine-based practice, and that mixed-age dynamics and end-of-day fatigue strongly influence participation. Topics related to food, routines, and simple scenarios drew steady interest, while abstract ideas such as money concepts required additional scaffolding. The project argues that after-school care is a powerful context for nurturing life literacy and offers a practical framework educators can adapt to their own programs, while suggesting future directions for refining materials, strengthening support for mixed-age groups, and examining the longer-term impact of life-literacy work on children’s confidence and independence.
Student Biography
Azin Bohlouli is a 30-year-old graduate student from the Middle East, currently pursuing a Master of Education at the University of British Columbia Okanagan. Drawing on her lived experience, she is committed to developing life literacy and equitable educational practices, shaped by both the challenges and strengths of where she comes from