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- March 24, 2009
A recent News Journal story looked at how
innovative schools are introducing activity into the learning process. We're
pleased that more than a quarter of the programs highlighted feature
Appoquinimink Schools.
Every day is activity
day
Reacting to a plague of obesity, schools are getting kids
moving
By: HIRAN RATNAYAKE/The News
Journal
Posted: March 24, 2009
It's a break to get them to break a
sweat.
She instructs the 6- and 7-year-olds to find some
open space to stretch. Then they do jumping jacks, hops, toe touches, forward
kicks, deep squats and arm circles.
In a few minutes, beads of sweat form on their
brow. After several more minutes, they're ready to sit down and learn
again.
"I do it whenever it seems necessary," said Baker,
a first-grade teacher at Brader Elementary School, in Newark. "If there's a
transition in subject areas, the kids don't seem as focused, they seem more
distracted. So that extra energy has to be channeled in a good
way."
These days more schools, like Brader, are
encouraging fitness outside of gym class. A growing number of elementary and
middle schools in Delaware are incorporating physical activity into lesson
plans. They're structuring recess to ensure that students are exerting a lot of
energy at play. Some schools have created active clubs to keep kids moving when
the final bell rings. Others have dotted their hallways with fitness
equipment.
Innovative efforts also are under way to ensure
that students develop healthy eating habits. Nemours Health & Prevention
Services is partnering with schools to teach students the concept of "5-2-1
Almost None," which emphasizes five servings of fruits and vegetables a day,
less than two hours of TV, at least one hour of physical activity and limited
soft drinks, sports drinks or fruit drinks that aren't 100 percent juice. The
YMCA of Delaware is providing before- and after-school care at more than 50
sites statewide using the Coordinated Approach to Child Health, or CATCH,
program. And more schools are including topics on healthy eating in their lesson
plans, whether the class is math, science or art.
Norm Kennedy, acting assistant principal at Brader
Elementary, said it's important to use creative means to reach students when
they're young. One of those students is 7-year-old Misael Campos. When he grabs
a book, the Brader first-grader also tries to grab one of the stationary bikes
outside his classroom.
"I bike because I'm reading and learning and doing
exercise," he said.
Get up and move
Among U.S.
children, the consequences of an unhealthy lifestyle are evident. About 17
percent of youth between the ages of 2 and 19 are obese and another 15 percent
are overweight, according to the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention.
Teachers, administrators, school nurses and others
are doing their part to help reverse that trend by incorporating more physical
activity into classroom activity. Some schools are taking breaks between classes
so the students can do yoga. Others are allowing students to play video games
that demand movement.
CATCH involves group games designed for a variety
of fitness levels. Teachers at Milton Elementary even have their own name for
CATCH -- No Child Left on Their Butts, because all students are moving and
playing games cooperatively.
"Before they would be playing more board games and
there would be more discipline programs," said fifth-grade teacher Tonyea Mead.
"Kids are full of energy and they need to release it in a positive way. By being
physically active, they release it in a good way."
Brader teachers turn to a loose-leaf binder from
the International Life Sciences Institute's Research Foundation. The material --
known as "TAKE 10!" -- provides them with dozens of fun and quick physical
activities they can use to teach lessons.
Baker often relies on the binder. For example,
during a math lesson, she might have her students take part in "Race Against
Time." The goal of the lesson is for the children to answer as many
multiplication and division problems as possible while jogging in
place.
Teachers decide what activities they want their
students to perform. They know the activities are useful whenever they "see that
glazed look in their students' eyes," said Mary Beth French, physical education
teacher at Brader Elementary, which is working with the Alliance for a Healthier
Generation, a partnership between the American Heart Association and the Clinton
Foundation, to combat childhood obesity.
"The idea is that each teacher has to make it work
for them," she said.
A California study published in the Journal of
Exercise Physiology found that students with higher fitness scores had better
SAT scores. An Illinois study in the journal Medicine and Science in Sports and
Exercise found that aerobic fitness was linked to cognitive function for
students in grades 3 through 5. Both studies were published in
2005.
"A lot of teachers had a suspicion, but to actually
have the research behind it helped convince them," French said. "And we gave the
teachers the opportunity to generate ideas that they thought would be helpful in
their classrooms."
The movement to make fitness and nutrition a
priority has been bolstered by the Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act.
The federal act, which went into effect in 2006, stipulates that school
districts establish wellness policies. The law also generated discussions about
the importance of health and fitness in the classroom, and allowed districts to
determine what they needed, said Linda Tholstrup, a program and policy analyst
with Nemours Health & Prevention Services, which develops and implements
wellness policies and programs with schools.
"Maybe one school district is doing a really good
job on nutrition and wanted to focus on physical activities," Tholstrup said.
"So it helped these districts take a look at anyplace where they wanted to
advance these policies."
Know when to say whoa
In 2005,
the federal National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute began a campaign around GO,
SLOW and WHOA foods. GO foods are those that can be consumed at any time, such
as fruits and vegetables; SLOW foods are those that shouldn't be eaten every
day, such as waffles and pancakes; and WHOA foods are foods that are most likely
to cause problems with weight, such as french fries.
Milton students are encouraged to eat GO foods by
sampling fruits and vegetables from around the world, such as blood oranges,
star fruit, kiwi and jicama.
"It's about introducing different foods that they
may like so when they're at a grocery store, they'll ask their parents to get
that fruit instead of getting a candy bar," Mead said.
Terri Gooch said she's noticed a difference in her
10-year-old daughter, Lexi, a fifth-grader at Milton Elementary.
"She still loves her chocolate and her cookies, but
she understands that she has to have fruits and vegetables," Gooch said. "It's
not so much of a struggle to get her to eat those, because it's not just coming
from her father and myself, it's coming from her schoolteachers and her
peers."
Students at Cedar Lane
Elementary in Middletown recently completed a "lunchbox derby" that combined
nutrition and science lessons. The students built and raced fruit and veggie
boxcars, and had to "fuel" them by putting five fruits and vegetables into each
car to make it run, adhering to the recommended five-a-day rule for fruits and
vegetables.
"Just like a car needs to
have all its pieces working together for it to run, the students learn about how
healthy bodies work and that there are a lot of different parts that have to
work together, " said Jennifer Martin, a fifth-grade teacher at Cedar
Lane.
Students also took part in a
recent milk taste test, akin to the Pepsi Challenge. The students had to drink
various types of milk -- skim, 2 percent and whole -- and guess which was which.
Most students guessed wrong, which prompted them to consider choosing lower-fat
milk over whole, Martin said.
"You have a lesson that tells
them why they need to eat healthy, but it helps to combine that with something
they enjoy, because that will stick in their heads," she
said.
At Brader, students are also finding ways to have
fun with exercise and learning. Brader has installed stationary Trek and Huffy
bicycles in school hallways. In addition, teachers have brought exercise balls
from the school gym into the classroom so students can sit on a ball, which
strengthens core abdominal muscles, while doing assignments.
Reaching inner-city kids
Many
schools that are implementing creative lessons are public schools in the
suburbs. It can be more difficult for inner-city schools to run the same
programs, because such initiatives often require a staff member who has time to
apply for grant money, said Rebecca King, the school nurse at Brandywine
Elementary, which runs several fitness and nutrition initiatives made possible
through grants.
"It might be harder for an inner-city [school]
because you also may not get the same parental support," said King, who helped
present a session titled "It Takes a Village to Raise a Healthy Child" at the
2008 Nemours Conference on Child Health Promotion in October.
But some schools are finding ways to make it work.
East Side Charter School in Wilmington runs a fresh fruits and vegetables
program with grant money from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The program
services roughly 300 students, nearly all of whom are African-American and come
from low-income families.
Every Tuesday and Thursday, those students are
exposed to a variety of produce, such as broccoli, greenbeans and berries. Jiana
Murdic, a fifth-grade teacher at East Side, is completing her master's degree in
education and is researching how this nutrition program can impact inner-city
students.
"I didn't think they'd be receptive to the fruits
and vegetables," she said. "But maybe 20 percent of the kids go for the
vegetable option every time. They would take seconds if there were seconds
available.
"It's been a perfect opportunity to see that this
kind of program is important," she added. "... It's just about
exposure."
Schools with limited resources can make lasting
changes. King suggested that teachers start the day with just five to 10 minutes
of simple exercises. They can also find ways to incorporate nutrition lessons
into teaching. Math class, for example, can include lessons on nutrition
labeling. It also helps, if money is available, to invest in a few stationary
bikes, exercise balls or other fitness equipment to encourage an active
environment.
Perhaps the biggest key is to make sure teachers,
administrators and other staff value the importance of fitness and nutrition
education.
"Then it will work," King said.
And it will have a lasting impact on students.
David White, of Newark, said his 7-year-old son Jacob, a first-grader at Brader,
has begun to take a break from his assignments to run around.
"Then he'll come back and finish his homework," he
said.
Pictured above: The
"lunchbox derby" at Cedar Lane Elementary School teaches kids about good
nutrition.
Photographer: The News Journal/JENNIFER CORBETT
MORE SCHOOL
PROGRAMS
Here's what some other schools are doing to promote
healthier lifestyles among their students:
--Brick Mill Elementary School in
Middletown has a daily morning stretch, and offers exercise balls as classroom
chairs.
--Louis L. Redding Middle School
in Middletown has started an after-school fitness club to teach students about
healthier lifestyles through nutrition education. The club includes fitness
sessions on aerobic exercise, kick boxing, walking and Jazzercise.
--Douglass Alternative School in Wilmington
publishes the "Healthy and Fine in 2009" newsletter to make students, staff,
parents and the community aware of fitness and nutrition trends.
--Long Neck Elementary School in Millsboro has
started a "Walking is Cool" initiative to encourage its students to go for
walks.
--Phillip C. Showell Elementary School in
Selbyville has a program in which students who eat fruits and vegetables for
lunch get a special reward.
--John R. Downes Elementary School in Newark has
students start the day with "Sharkersize," a three-minute dance warm-up
conducted over the loudspeaker. (The school's mascot is a shark.)
--Claymont Elementary School offers an after-school
fitness club so students can play games, exercise and eat healthy
snacks.
--Highlands Elementary School in Wilmington has
students take part in yoga, tai chi and other forms of meditative
exercises.
--Olive B. Loss Elementary School,
near Glasgow, has a fitness lab with exercise bikes, yoga mats and other
equipment. It also has installed a new climbing wall in the gym and a
quarter-mile walking trail on school grounds.
--Baltimore Elementary School in Ocean View has a
PlayStation and dance pads so students can play Dance Dance Revolution, a
Nintendo game that directs students to do certain dance moves for
points.
--East Dover Elementary School has started the East
Dover Garden Project, in which students work in the school's seven gardens
utilizing science, math and even social studies skills.
--Silver Lake Elementary School in
Middletown conducts a "scavenger hunt" in the cafeteria to help students learn
the importance of eating a nutritious breakfast every day.
--Skyline Middle School in Pike Creek has a hiking
club in which students hike through Carousel Park.
--Forest Oak Elementary School in Newark is
publishing a "Fruit & Veggie Cookbook" with recipes from students and staff.
The school also has an outdoor veggie garden.
--Nellie Hughes Stokes Elementary School in Dover
offers monthly "Come Play With Me" nights where parents and students are invited
for fun physical activities while also learning healthy habits from local
organizations.
--Frankford Elementary School has used grant money
to buy stationary bikes, Wii fitness gaming systems and new outdoor athletic
equipment for student use. At 10 a.m., all students engage in 10 minutes of
physical activity.
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