In the Zone - Winter 2022: The health. moves. minds. newsletter

In the Zone Issue 5 / Winter 2022

School Administrators Share Their Perspective KRISTI BIERI | Physical Education Teacher, Odessa Upper Elementary School (Odessa, MO)

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Q&A

he health. moves. minds.® program continues to be a win-win for everyone at Odessa Upper Elementary School — for students, teachers, staff, and even parents!

We continue to promote whole body and mind health using the SEL-focused curriculum, and the fundraising component has made a big impact as well.

I recently had the pleasure of interviewing my school’s principal, Chris Doering, as well as assistant principal Amanda Smith, about the benefits of participating in health. moves. minds. In their responses (edited below for clarity), they share an important administrator perspective of how this program has made a difference at Odessa Chris Doering Amanda Smith Upper Elementary.

Q: From

your perspective, what has been the impact of the health. moves. minds. curriculum and resources within our school, as well as for the families in our community?

A: O dessa Upper Elementary’s participation in health. moves. minds. has brought about an awareness and change in our school that is amazing! We practice service learning, mindfulness and wellness using the materials provided.

Q: Can you give an example of how the program is working in general classrooms as well as in physical education classes? Also, what changes did you see in our school when other staff got involved in health. moves. minds.?

A: We incorporate health. moves. minds. during school hours using lessons, activities, and the fundraising event. Before school each day, students are allowed to

SHAPE America’s health. moves. minds. program offers lessons and activities that teach kids to thrive physically and emotionally — and includes flexible fundraising options to help you make the biggest impact in your school and community.

You can share your success with health. moves. minds. — and bring national attention to your school — by contributing to In the Zone!

If interested, email healthmovesminds@shapeamerica.org.

Kindness is a priority at Odessa Upper Elementary.

play “arcade” games in the gym for a small donation.

These donations go toward the fundraising portion of the health. moves. minds. initiative. Allowing these morning games gets kids actively up and moving while offering friendly competition and learning through stewardship.

Throughout the day, classroom teachers make it a habit to use activity breaks/brain boosts and other active learning strategies. These breaks get students up out of their seats and moving, also giving them the chance to refocus.

Another whole-school approach that ties into the health. moves. minds. program encompasses kindness and positive thoughts. We talk a lot about being kind, including others, and doing the right things. The entire school observed Kindness Week during November in order to boost student and staff morale. We conducted many activities and witnessed kindness sprouting throughout the entire school.

Q: How has the fundraising component of health. moves. minds. affected the school, from a budget/financial standpoint?

A: As part of this program, we raise money to help create a more active and healthy school environment, which will ultimately help our students physically, emotionally, (continued on page 4)

Learn more and register at healthmovesminds.org

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fundraising focus School Success Stories

Harrison Elementary School GREEN RIVER, WY

BRIANA FULLER | Physical Education and Health Teacher

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have had the honor of doing a health. moves. minds.® event every year since the pilot program in 2019, and each time my program and fundraiser has grown. This year I decided to partner with our school’s PTO and hold my event toward the beginning of the year. It was a huge success!

We started with a kickoff during PE class and for the next four weeks I sent an email and text weekly to parents, keeping them updated on the fundraiser and how much we had raised. For two weeks during our fundraiser, I used the lessons provided to teach kindness and social-emotional skills. (My K-2 students love the Emotions Selfie exercise!)

One of my favorite parts about putting on a health. moves. minds. event is coming up with fun incentives.

Partnering with my school PTO was great as we came up with a few new ideas that I had not used in the past.

This year, the top student fundraiser would get to be principal for the day, which was a huge motivator for students. And, for every $50 a student raised they would get to “pie” a teacher in the face with a plate of whipped cream during our health. moves. minds. celebratory assembly. The students and teacher volunteers have a great time doing this each year!

We also added two new incentives: a T-shirt for every student who raised $25 offline and a spin of our prize wheel (for gift cards to local businesses and other small prizes) for every $100 a student raised. Group incentives included a pizza party for the top class and an extra free day of PE for the top grade.

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Our top student fundraiser, Hayden Witt, raised $525, earning the opportunity to be principal for the day.

PTO Partnership As I mentioned earlier, this year we partnered with our PTO. This was so helpful! Not only did we raise funds to build up our health and physical education program, but our PTO and classroom teachers benefited as well!

We chose the PTO as our charity so all our teachers would feel supported and included during health. moves. minds. With the support of our PTO, we doubled the amount of money we raised over last year. Our goal was $3,000 and we raised $3,010.62!

Together with the students we had decided that the money raised would go toward soccer goals for the school

playground. I am proud to say that we raised enough money to purchase the goals and every student will get an opportunity to use them.

From the start, my principal has been very supportive of this program.

He is the first to volunteer to have a pie thrown in his face and he has gone along with any ideas I’ve come up with. He loves that we are able to pick a charity and that half of the money comes back to support our school and students. I love that through health. moves. minds. I am able to show our community how important health and physical education is to our students.

Learn more and register at healthmovesminds.org

state spotlights I

t’s easy to integrate the health. moves. minds.® program into your existing curriculum, whether you teach K-12 or at the college/university level. In this issue, we’re shining a spotlight on Angela Stark of Kentucky and Kymm Ballard of North Carolina. They are both doing great work with health. moves. minds.!

Preparing Future Professionals Kymm Ballard (North Carolina)

kentucky

Angela Stark (Kentucky)

This fall, I was happy to be interviewed by SHAPE America CEO Stephanie Morris on her video series, Unplugged. I talked about how to incorporate health. moves. minds. into the school year, how the program helps students manage stress levels, and how it helps the community come closer together.

Adding a special twist, one of my students at the School for the Creative and Performing Arts, Reese Owens, joined the interview (with her family) to share how FUN the health. moves. minds. activities are … and how the program has helped her manage her emotions during stressful times.

As I began my lessons regarding advocacy with my students at Campbell University, I decided to incorporate health. moves. minds. Advocacy is so much more than legislation; it is also advocating for your health and physical education program. I created an assignment where my students had to research health. moves. minds. and create a presentation as if they were a K-5 physical education teacher at a Title I school. They were told their principal does not like change and may not want to forgo the typical bake sale and candy bar sale.

Their PE department does not have enough equipment and desperately needs more.

north carolina

Sharing a Student’s Perspective

Students were told they could use social media, the SHAPE America website, or any other people and resources they wanted to create a presentation that made an emotional impact and included data to back up any claims of how the program could benefit the school.

While the students knew there would be two surprise guests observing their Zoom presentations, they were shocked at the very end when I introduced Stephanie Morris and Stephanie Jumps from SHAPE America! This experience taught my students how to advocate for their HPE program and fundraise for the school at the same time. They can carry this knowledge with them when they are teaching one day soon. For more information, please feel free to contact me at ballardk@campbell.edu.

Learn more and register at healthmovesminds.org

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School Administrators Share Their Perspective (continued from page 1)

A culture of kindness has spread throughout the school.

socially, and academically. Our school has also chosen the “Pay it Forward” fundraising option, which will allow us to share part of the money we raise with a charity of our choice.

Q: Are there any positive behavior changes you see in the students as a result of participating in the fundraiser?

A: Our students have really been impacted by the success and positivity of the school’s health. moves. minds. fundraiser.

So much so that to date, we have had three groups of students who were inspired to do their own stewardship projects. They researched endangered animals on their own time, created a presentation, and found a worthy charity to donate to. Administrators, teachers and students all supported their fundraising efforts.

Q: Have you received feedback about the program?

A: Yes, we have received positive feedback from students and parents! Parents appreciate how the program gets kids involved and active. We also heard from one parent who said she appreciated the values her children and the other children in the school were learning through the health. moves. minds. fundraiser. Students think the program is a lot of fun. One student specifically shared that she likes how the program “encourages kids to be active” and that some of the money helps “buy things for our school for outside and for PE.”

Q: In a nutshell, can you share how health. moves. minds. has changed our school, students, and you?

A: The whole child approach has proven to be successful and has improved our students. We have witnessed an amazing transformation in the culture of the school, the academic success of our students, and an increase in participation of our families.

Thank you for choosing to support your students’ mental and physical health.

You are helping develop a strong, thoughtful, and confident generation.

Gopher is proud to support the health. moves. minds.® program and its impact on students, schools, and communities.

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Learn more and register at healthmovesminds.org