In the Zone - Fall 2023: The health. moves. minds. Newsletter

In the Zone Issue 10 / Fall 2023

Stock Up on Kindness … and PE Equipment KRISTI BIERI Physical Education Teacher, Odessa Upper Elementary School (Odessa, MO)

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#1 TOP CHAMPION SCHOOL For 2022-2023, Odessa Upper Elementary was one of three schools to receive the health. moves. minds.® FUNdraiser Top Champion School award.

Total Amount Raised:

Gopher Gift Card Received:

Best Year Yet Incentive VISA Gift Card:

$12,717 $6,358.50 $100 have been doing fundraisers at my school for 23 years.

For 18 of those years, I did Hoops for Heart through Items Purchased With Gopher Gift Card: the American Heart Association. In spring 2019, Outdoor Adventure Curriculum K-12; Rainbow PEmoji Balls; ACTION! Barrier Battle; GaGa Pit Balls; Go Rings Set; UltraPlay Basketballs.

Odessa Upper Elementary was one of the pilot schools In addition, gifted over $1,500 to grade levels 3, 4, and 5 for alternative for the health. moves. minds. FUNdraiser, and 2022-2023 seating, brain break activities, and stand-up desks. was our fifth year of participation.

I started participating in health. moves. minds. because of the lessons (and there are a lot of them) and to use — and I am blown away with what they do for my because I receive a lot more giveback to my school. I alternate school community. While it is primarily me and the school each year between the option that gives our school the full counselor that implement the actual lessons, our entire 50% back and the building uses the lessons and fundraiser theme in some way. option where we get Last year’s health. moves. minds. theme was Amplify 25% and our chosen Kindness. Our art class made their own guitar and posters, charity gets the other and some of the teachers used the Emoji Rating Scale to build 25%. So far, we have relationships with students by asking how they were doing supported our local and then talking later one-on-one if needed. Almost every Police Canine Unit hallway had bulletin boards using the theme. One class was (helping them get learning math multiplication facts that translated into making a new dog) and our a “Be Kind” quilt artwork board with those multiplication facts Parks and Recreation in them.

Department. We Throughout the school, students are learning to be are looking to help mindful, kind and respectful because of health. moves. minds. multiple charities in our Respectful listening is an important lesson that has carried community over time. over into classrooms because of the impact it had during I use the lessons assemblies. We celebrate our custodians, lunch attendants, throughout the school and resource officers by making cards and posters showing Kristi Bieri, PE teacher at Odessa Upper year. They are detailed Elementary, shows off her school’s Amplify appreciation. By spreading the lessons and theme throughout and ready for a teacher Kindness mural. the school, we hope it carries over into the community.

During our health. moves. minds. FUNdraiser, I don't make it about the rewards or incentives. I emphasize that it is a community service project — we are building things up in our school and community. I like that the program is such an eye opener to students. For example, in the lesson From Here to The health. moves. minds.® FUNdraiser brings together There, each team doesn’t get the same equipment and some the lessons, activities, and community-building ideas students don’t realize it until they are done because they are that help students live their best life. so focused on the activity. When the activity is over, we talk You can share your success with your health. moves. minds. (continued on page 4) FUNdraiser — and shine a light on how it is bringing positive change to your school — by contributing to In the Zone! If interested, email sjumps@shapamerica.org.

Learn more and register at healthmovesminds.org

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fundraising blueprint Superheroes Unite to Raise $2.5K+ With health. moves. minds.® Here’s How They Did It! Mike Chamberlain | Physical Education Teacher Diamond Path Elementary School of International Studies, Apple Valley, MN

Why did I choose health. moves. minds.?

I teach in a building with banners from 2003 for Jump Rope For Heart. The history and tradition of Jump Rope For Heart is strong, so I was hesitant to try health. moves. minds., but I set up a meeting with Stephanie Jumps and communicated with my state representative Tom Roberts. After chatting with them, it honestly appeared again too good to be true. I felt there had to be a catch with getting 50% of the fundraising efforts back to the school, but I decided to go for it!

With our event, we ended up raising $2,870.

Our school ended up receiving $717.50 back for our PE program and $717.50 went towards The theme of Diamond Path Elementary’s During the health. moves. minds. Hero Week, a charity of our choosing. health. moves. minds. event centered around the students invited someone they value greatly to I decided the best way to increase buyFantastic Four Character Heroes. their PE class period. in for our school would be to include the character images available on Canva and gave them names: student council in the decision-making process as well as Captain Kindness, Mr. Responsible, Dr. Safety, and Respectra. the advertising efforts. The student council chose the nonI focused on one hero per week over a span of four weeks. profit from the list provided by me. As a school, we chose an The lessons and activities I came up with were found/created organization called 360 Communities. This organization is also after looking through the health. moves. minds. resources. the group we were holding a canned food drive for during the Personally, I found the mini-lessons easier to blend into my same four-week period. unit without disrupting the students’ learning, as well as When did I host my event? maintaining their interest in class.

I chose to run our event along with our “I Love to Read” health. moves. minds. Hero Week! month 4-week celebration. Each week focused on a different As a celebration of the work our students did through learning superhero. As I think about next year, I plan to hold my event with our Fantastic Four Character Heroes, I held a “Hero separately, during October/November. As much as I want our Week.” I invited every student in every class to invite someone school to be successful in fundraising efforts for our physical they value greatly to their PE class period. education program, I also want us to make a big impact for What started off as an idea quickly became an event that the non-profit organization. I feel by late February/March, long-time veteran teachers in the building were raving about families have been requested to donate to many other as the best thing our school has ever done. Since my students fundraisers, so they may turn away. receive PE once per week, in total we had over 360 guests After diving into the resources available through the SHAPE America health. moves. minds. site, I decided my theme would visit from Monday to Friday in the 6 classes per day. be around heroes. As a specialist team, we were already focusing on four character traits that were divided throughout the school This article excerpt is printed with permission from GOPHER. The full article year: Kindness, Respect, Responsibility, and Safety. I found some can be viewed on the GOPHER PE Blog.

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Learn more and register at healthmovesminds.org

he health. moves. minds.® FUNdraiser provides flexibility in how you fundraise. You can choose to receive all the giveback funds back to your school or share a portion of those giveback funds with a 501(c)(3) charity your school has a passion for!

In this issue, we’re shining a spotlight on PE teachers Bo Phillips in Illinois and Kelsey Cook in Kentucky. Both share the fundraising options they chose and much more!

Bo Phillips Salt Creek Elementary School Elk Grove Village, IL

Kentucky

state spotlights T

Kelsey Cook Briarwood Elementary School Bowling Green, KY

I lead fundraisers at my school because I want to find ways to get more back for my kids — to give them the opportunity to have the PE equipment and resources they deserve. Having funds to get new PE equipment is a challenge for many PE teachers with the limits of their program budgets. Finding ways to get new equipment and experiences is important because it affects kids’ overall health and their future lifestyle.

At Briarwood Elementary I have a budget of $400, which is more than some schools that have $100 or less for the year. At our school we have over 700 kids, so realizing that our budget provides less than $1 per student for resources in my class inspires me to fundraise. As a result of participating in the health. moves. minds. FUNdraiser last year, I was able to supplement my budget by receiving a $1,547 Gopher gift card.

Illinois

I had done another fundraiser for about 15 years and decided to try the health. moves. minds.

FUNdraiser last year because I had heard a lot about it from other schools and had seen a lot of positive feedback on social media. Everyone said it was a unique fundraiser and you could put your own spin on it. What was more important was that the program benefits all my students, not just those who do the fundraising. That got me hook, line and sinker.

I decided to hold the fundraiser over three weeks leading up to our spring break in March, focusing each week on a different aspect of the fundraiser name: Week 1 was health; Week 2 was moves; and Week 3 was minds. Along with the provided fundraiser incentives, I offered incentives for my students to keep it fun and engaging. In all, we raised $1,685 and received a Gopher gift card for $842.50!

If I had to tell someone why they should participate, it would be because you are impacting your students and community in a whole different way — and there’s great support from SHAPE America and other PE teachers that have participated in the health. moves. minds. FUNdraiser in the past that can help you.

What makes this fundraiser so appealing is that I didn’t have to stop supporting a charity our school has a passion for. Along with our gift card we were able to support the American Heart Association last year and give them $1,547 too. The lessons within the health. moves. minds. FUNdraiser tie in with giving back and teach students about leadership.

NEW FUNDRAISING REWARDS

Thanks to our national partner, Gopher, students can earn these exciting rewards when they raise funds online or offline!

$25

$50

Rainbow SoftTail

Limited Edition T-shirt

$100

$200

Rainbow SkyBlazer Foam Disc

Rainbow SofTek Soccer Ball

Rewards are cumulative. Color shown not guaranteed. T-shirts are pre-shrunk. If any item becomes unavailable, SHAPE America reserves the right to offer an alternative item of equal value. These rewards meet the requirements, where applicable, of the Consumer Products Safety Improvement Act and other product safety regulations.

Learn more and register at healthmovesminds.org

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#1 Top Champion School (continued from page 1) about the fact that one team had to finish with fewer items to help them and how that relates to students who all come to school, that not everyone has the same resources to help them do things they need to. We talk about what those items in the activity might represent, like not having enough food or sleep.

Raising donations during the fundraiser period (which lasts about four weeks at my school) is a game changer for my school. My equipment closet is now busting at the seams, so I’ve started gifting classroom teachers with a portion of the funds I get back. This year, I gave each neighborhood (grade level) $1,500 so they could get alternative seating, brain break activities, and stand-up desks. By doing this fundraiser, we are getting things we don’t have a budget for and wouldn’t normally have the chance to purchase.

I like to make it FUN when we are fundraising. I ask the students what school incentives they would like to PE Teacher Kristi Bieri (far left), Assistant Principal Amanda Smith (second from left), Principal Chris Doering (far right), and top fundraising students. see (beyond the four rewards they can get from SHAPE America). It’s important to get the students’ feedback fundraiser. I also let the top fundraising student take the Gopher about what they want the fundraiser to look like and what they catalog home and bring back suggestions on what PE equipment think we need. to order with the funds we received back to our school.

Last year we had a dunk tank, students could have their picture If there is one thing I would tell a school to encourage them to taken in front of the Amplify Kindness Wall, and we gave away a participate in the health. moves. minds. FUNdraiser, it’s this: The guitar (because of the musical theme). The parent of the winning program is really a great way to help your PE program, help a student shared that he is really trying to learn to play, so this charity if you choose to, and change the environment in your school. may be a new musician who may not have tried it without our

Help students embrace a variety of emotions with these social-emotional learning tools!

PEmoji™ Coated-Foam Balls

CalmEDice™ Dice $49.95

ReflectED™ PE Mat $59.95

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Learn more and register at healthmovesminds.org