About Us

Lisa Thomas is the Program Coordinator 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.

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, including work as a classroom teacher, curriculum coordinator and literacy coach. While working in Singapore at the Canadian International School, opportunities in curriculum leadership were a catalyst for her passion for literacy instruction. Calico is committed to ongoing professional learning and keeps up to date with current research in the field of literacy. She enjoys working alongside colleagues to support best practices in reading and writing instruction.

Dr. Jennifer Kelly joined the Provincial Outreach Program for the Early Years (POPEY) team as a Teacher Consultant in 2019. Jen has 25+ 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 of the books Active Reading Classrooms and Reggio-Inspired Literacy in Primary Classrooms. With a passion for literacy learning in the early years, Jen is able to infuse theory and practice when working with primary teachers.