Energizers for K-12

In this day of accountability, many schools are focusing on reading, writing and math. Many teachers are being asked to integrate academia areas into our physical education classes. Some teachers are upset about this. But did you know, you may already be doing this in your quality physical education classes? Did you know you can integrate without losing the integrity of our standards for physical education? Click on these four links below for more information, integration, and potential presenters for your staff development on literacy, academic integration, or just to learn more about the link between academic performance and physical activity.

www.actionbasedlearning.com
Action Based Learning is an educational consulting firm featuring award winning Consultant and Speaker, Jean Blaydes Madigan, an internationally known Neurokinesiologist.  She is a master at making  the connections between physical activity and academic performance.

www.stationpe.com
Activities for implementing sections of the coordinated school health programs in your school, including literacy training and many other fun activities.

www.pecentral.com
PE Central is the premiere website for anyone who wants to know more about implementing quality physical education classes.

www.braingym.com
Brain Gym can be implemented in the gym or many of the techniques can be implemented in classrooms. Another great resource for making the connection in physical activity and academic performance.

Article credit: http://www.ncpe4me.com/energizers.html

Schools trim gym classes: Less funding, staffing cited

Check out this article in Foster’s Democrat. Folks it’s a major problem in NH!!!! WTH? It looks like something drastic may need to be done. This is our kids we’re talking about!

The President’s Challenge to Schools and Kids

1. Choose an activity.
Just about any physical activity where you’re using large muscle groups and burning energy counts. Taking a long walk. Playing basketball or tennis. Taking an aerobics class. Even doing chores around the house if you do these activities in addition to what you normally do.

There is a wealth of scientific evidence showing that as little as 30 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity (equal in intensity to brisk walking) done on most, if not all, days of the week has substantial health benefits for adults. Sixty minutes has been recommended as a minimum amount of regular activity for youth. Click here for more information on  why these activity amounts were chosen.

2. Get active.
Your goal is to meet your daily activity goal (30 minutes a day for adults/60 minutes a day for children under 18) at least 5 days a week, for a total of 6 weeks. You can take up to 8 weeks to complete the program.

3. Track your activity.
Our personal activity log makes it easy for you to track the time you spend on activities, right online. You can log your time as often as you want, in amounts as short as 5 minutes. Accumulating your activities in periods of 10 minutes or more is even better. Although you can’t log time for activities you haven’t done yet, you can go back a maximum of 14 days to enter past activities.

You can also keep track of your progress on paper by downloading an activity log form. [PDF] Keep in mind, this means we won’t have an online record of the activity points you earn – so you can’t carry them over if you ever want to compete for a Presidential Champions medal.

4. Order your award.
When you reach your goal, your activity log will remind you that you’ve earned an award. You can order it right online or by mail. Then you can continue earning awards in the Active Lifestyle program or move on to the next challenge: the Presidential Champions program.

Can you use a pedometer? Absolutely. If you like to walk, run, or play games like basketball or tennis, you can use a pedometer – a small device that automatically counts the number of steps you take. Then just record the amount in your activity log. Different people will have different daily step goals:

Girls 6 to 17 – At least 11,000 steps a day
Boys 6 to 17 – At least 13,000 steps a day
Adults 18 or older – At least 8,500 steps a day

For more exciting news about this, see http://www.presidentschallenge.org/

Active and Healthy Schools

What communities can do…

I don’t have a reference, but here a few bullet points:

* Provide quality, preferably daily, K-12 physical education classes and hire physical education specialists to teach them.

* Create opportunities for physical activities that are enjoyable, that promote adolescents’ and young adults’ confidence in their ability to be physically active, and that involve friends, peers, and parents.

Lack of Physical Activity makes kids more fidgety in classroom…

I’ll continue to reference articles that have already been published to further drive home the point that exercise in the classroom is a solution that will bring about results that we, both parents and teachers, can live with. Here is an excerpt of a very helpful article that may offer some easy-to-implement tools from an article online:

The importance of physical activity for overall physical fitness and health is well known, but the positive impacts of physical activity on increasing concentration, mental cognition, and academic performance and on reducing fidgeting, other self-stimulatory behaviors, and school-related stress are not as well understood. Children often are more attentive, behave better, and perform as well or better scholastically after participation in physical activity through recess or physical education. Elementary school children who undergo prolonged periods of academic instruction often become more fidgety

The Sedentary Problem

Young kids should not be inactive for prolonged periods of time — no more than 1 hour unless they’re sleeping. And school-age children should not be inactive for periods longer than 2 hours.

– kidshealth.org

I know it sounds kinda preachy, and boring to say the least, but I figured it was worth posting. The point I want to highlight is the “And school-age children should not be inactive for periods longer than 2 hours.” If you’ve missed any of my blog entries,

Yikes! I’m talking about our kids physical health and there are a few hazards that need to be addressed…for us adults!

Some tweaks need to happen for us adults to remain healthy when we go to the school. What do I mean?

Did anyone bring their kids to the Thursday night Basketball practice the other night? Well, you may remember the very icy sidewalk that led up to the school gym. I felt bad for a gentleman, suffering from Multiple Sclerosis, trying to make it across the ice on the sidewalk. I was trying to direct him to a non-slippery spot but there was none, unless he walked in the snow. Jeez…

How about the volume of the Basketball Score Board buzzer? Is that the noisiest contraption inside four walls? I mean, does it need to be THAT loud? I bet if the Dept of Health came in to test the decibel level of that thing, it would be declared a health hazard. The crowds aren’t that noisy for it be that loud.

Okay, they’re small gripes, but I’m sure if I hurt my back the other night, it wouldn’t be so small. Or if a kid slipped and cracked his hea…well we won’t go there.

On Wednesday, January 28 at 6:00pm Will Your Voice Be heard on Behalf of Your Kids Health???

Mark your calendars. Save the date! This is a chance for your voice and concerns to be heard in a face-to-face forum (don’t forget to add to this blog daily your comments, concerns, insults etc.).

It’s been brought to my attention some concerns about this meeting, some of which I agree with. For instance, one parent sent me an email insisting that [my edits]:

“The school Principal – a terrific person for sure – looks to be trying to assemble some control of this physical fitness/recess/gym/healthy-kids matter.  She has called a meeting where she intends to straighten out any

OMG….It’s really bad folks…

At the federal level, the report notes that five years after a U.S. Surgeon General’s Call to Action to Prevent and Decrease Overweight and Obesity put forth quality daily K-12 physical education as key action, a federal law, the No Child Left Behind Act, is actually threatening the amount of time available for physical education, with schools concentrating on assessing student achievement in defined core academic subjects. “As states conduct standardized tests to hold schools and students accountable, content that is not tested, such as physical education, has become a lower priority.”