About Us

Calico Clark joined the Provincial Outreach Program for the Early Years (POPEY) team as a Teacher Consultant in 2023. Calico has a wide range of experience teaching both in BC and abroad. She brings experience as a classroom teacher, literacy coach and is currently the Literacy Coordinator for the qathet School District in Powell River, BC. Calico is a Queens University Master's student where her studies are focused on Literacy instruction. Calico is committed to collaborating with primary teachers to help their students see themselves as successful readers and writers. 

Jennifer Kelly joined the Provincial Outreach Program for the Early Years (POPEY) team as a Teacher Consultant in 2019. Jen has 20+ years of experience in education as a primary teacher, a literacy intervention teacher, and a district literacy helping teacher in the North Okanagan-Shuswap School District. She completed her Ph.D. through UBC with a focus on professional learning for teachers. Jen is the author is a new book coming out in October 2023 titled, Active Reading Classrooms. With a passion for literacy learning in the early years, Jen is able to infuse theory and practice when working with primary teachers.

Lisa Thomas is the Program Manager and a Teacher Consultant for the Provincial Outreach Program for the Early Years (POPEY), and has been with POPEY since its inception in 2014. She has 23 years of experience as a classroom teacher and teacher consultant in BC, and completed her BA, BEd, & MEd at UBC. In her role with POPEY, Lisa supports K-3 educators with workshops and resources that support best practice in literacy instruction. She’s passionate about literacy, teacher collaboration, and supporting all students to be happy, confident learners.