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

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!

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/

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.

* Provide appropriate physically active role models for youths.

* Provide access to school buildings and community facilities that enable safe participation in physical activity.

* Provide a range of extracurricular programs in schools and community recreation centers to meet the needs and interests of specific adolescent and young adult populations, such as racial and ethnic minority groups, females, persons with disabilities, and low-income groups.

* Encourage health care providers to talk routinely to adolescents and young adults about the importance of incorporating physical activity into their lives.

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 or restless and experience reduced concentration. Thus, long periods of instructional time without a break might be counterproductive to academic performance.

Methods

Participants

All kindergarten through fourth-grade students (15 classes; three classes per grade level) at a public school in eastern North Carolina participated in a classroom-based physical activity program called Energizers. Students returning signed informed consent forms were assessed on the outcome variables of physical activity (91% returned signed consent forms) and on-task behavior (83% returned signed consent forms). Physical activity was assessed at all grade levels. On-task behavior was assessed in two randomly selected third-grade and two randomly selected fourth-grade classes. The study was approved by the institutional review board of East Carolina University and the local school district.

Intervention

Energizers Classroom-based Physical Activity Program. Energizers are short classroom-based physical activities. By allowing students to stand and move during academic instruction, these activities provide students with an opportunity to increase daily physical activity levels during the school day. The activities last approximately 10 min, integrate grade-appropriate learning materials, involve no equipment, and require little teacher preparation. Energizers activities can be downloaded at no charge from www.ncpe4me.com/energizers.html. In the present study, teachers were asked to lead one 10-min activity per day for 12 wk. Teachers were trained to lead the activities, were provided with copies of all of the activities, and were allowed to choose whichever activity they wanted each day. Teachers were told which week their class would be assessed for physical activity and, if applicable, when their class would be observed for on-task behavior.

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/551022

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, I’m trying to advocate a 5 minute aerobic or strength training (yoga is a perfect solution — see this article about Silver medal winner  Sasha Cohen and how it’s turning her game around )

If you have any comments or suggestions that are a quick and effective solution to the school’s set schedule, please comment on this blog below. Be realistic…the school is not going to uproot its existing schedule and parents take just as long to make necessary changes ; )

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.

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 “misinformation”  Yet, there is no misinformation…We should go to this meeting with the understanding that we are parents…and that change must be made.”

and

“Let’s not…turn things into a love fest”

I agree. Although the staff is worthy of respect, we must focus on the bottom line: Our kids, right now, are not getting the recommended amount of physical activity required by the state. Very simple. If some things HAVE been implemented, have you been informed?? I am not aware of any of this, and I have a sensitive ear to the ground for the changes that need to be made.

So my plea is:

1. To attend this meeting and show your support for your kids physical health, therefore increasing their academic performance. Let the school know you’re attending ahead of time please: mcarvalho@nottingham.k12.nh.us

2. Be gracious yet firm. This needs to change now. Not next year. Not two months from now. Give the school a one month deadline. Done deal.

Thanks.

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.”