The Michael & Susan dell Center for Healthy Living have multiple programs and projects that promote healthy living. Active-Play Active Learning (APAL) is just one of the many healthy programs that encourages healthy changes for kids. APAL is a school-based initiative that allows kids to become more active in recess and school time. APAL is incorporated through three main approaches: Classroom Brain Breaks- brief activity breaks that support academic learning and contribute active class transitions
School Playground Markings- beautified playground areas with locomotor markings that encourage learning and activity during recess and class time
Peer-Led Games- five to ten minute student led games Three times a year teachers are trained with interactive games and ...
The team over at Fly Movement, a Houston based non-profit organization that works to get kids excited about being fit has just released the latest results from their 6-week fitness challenge! After giving out 50 fitness trackers to 3rd grade students at Brookline Elementary, Eric Melchor, founder of Fly Movement, noted that kids were more active. While wearing fitness trackers the students walked an average of over 2.65 miles a day. According to Melchor, the idea behind Fly Movement is simple. Just give kids a fitness tracker and a goal challenge. "I usually tell them about one of my goals," said Melchor. "If you can teach kids at a young age the importance of reaching goals they are going to do better in life." For kids participating in Fly Movement, the goal is to beat ...
In the predominantly Latino city of El Paso, Texas, kids are priority No. 1 thanks to a community-school partnership that prioritizes physical activity and health for children. The El Paso Independent School District (EPISD) created and its Get HIP Now program to provide elementary- and middle-school students with integrated school health programming, alongside before- and after-school physical activity.
EMERGENCE
Awareness: As early as 2005, leaders at the El Paso Independent School District (EPISD), an 83% Latino school district in El Paso, Texas, were becoming aware of student obesity issues. It seemed obvious that students could benefit from improvements to physical activity programing, according to John Adams, a P.E. instructor at the time who would eventually become the ...
San Antonio student Michaelie Love knows that, for many high school students, the hour before school begins is spent socializing or cramming for tests—not in the cafeteria eating a healthy breakfast. Breakfast is included in the federal school nutrition program and is free or reduced-price for students who qualify. Latinos represent more than one-fifth of students participating in this federal program, but are they showing up for breakfast? Health professionals say skipping breakfast before school can lead to poor academic performance and unhealthy over-eating later in the day. Love wanted to make eating breakfast at school easy, healthy, and cool.
Breakfast Habits among Youth
The North East Independent School District (NEISD) is the second-largest school district in San ...
In order for kids to be healthy and do better in school, more and more researchers are finding that kids need to be physically active. To expand opportunities for physical education in schools, lawmakers have reintroduced legislation which would authorize physical education grants to schools in exchange for states adopting improved physical activity standards. The Fitness Integrated with Teaching (FIT) Kids Act was recently introduced to the house and senate by representatives Ron Kind, D-Wis., and Patrick Meehan, R-Penn., along with Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y. In addition to improving physical activity standards, the bill would serve to restore a 37% of funding cut sustained to the Carol M. White Physical Education Program which occurred during Fiscal Year 2015. Read the ...
U.S. Senators from the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions have approved the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act which requires that physical education be taught as part of the core curriculum at both the elementary and middle school levels. The bill which was originally enacted in 1965 and was recently updated to include an amendment sponsored by Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wisc., which reinstates the Carol M. White Physical Education Program, and supports opportunities for students to meet state standards for physical education. The Senate is expected to vote on the bill later this spring. Read more about the amendment reauthorizing the Carol M. White Physical Education Program here. To learn more about the importance of providing ...
Physical education (PE) and exercise play vital roles in the healthy development of a child, yet for many schools PE is often underrated. According to Dr. Gregory Myer, director of research at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center's Sports Medicine Division, many kids only get PE once a week. While students must be well prepared academically, can students really thrive and reach their fullest potential without being given an opportunity time to be physically active throughout the school day? Myers believes it's time we take a new approach to how we look at physical activity. Instead of just looking at minutes spent being active, perhaps we need to take into account more. Myers says we should begin exploring aspects of physical activity that might lead to: (1) ...
In 2011, two years after Latino parents in Chicago began working to raise awareness of the need for recess in schools, Chicago Public Schools (CPS) finally announced they would be working to reincorporate recess back into the school day. According to a blog post from the Healthy Schools Campaign a group of parents from the Parents United For Healthy Schools organization gathered over 4,000 signatures as part of a petition in support of recess. This helped ultimately get the attention of the district's Office of Student Health and Wellness (OSHW), who's mission is to oversee the well being of students and the implementation of health promoting policies for the district. Research shows that schools with mostly Latino students are less likely to offer students at least 20 minutes ...
Policymakers in Virginia, a state with one of the largest Salvadorean populations in the U.S., have proposed legislation that would require all K-5th grade schools to offer students at least 20 minutes of daily physical activity. If passed the new law would make physical activity a priority for students in the state of Virginia, by ensuring that all students have the opportunity to participate in activities such as PE, recess, and extracurricular activities on a day to day basis. According to a Newsplex.com report, Senator John Miller of Newport News, who introduced the bill into the Senate said: "Requiring 20 minutes of physical activity every day a child is in school is the right thing to do and it will not require additional funding..." The importance making physical ...
