In the Zone - Spring 2021: The health. moves. minds. newsletter

In the Zone Issue 3 / Spring 2021

A Year of ‘Happy Side Effects’ JENNY BOULIANNE Health and Physical Education Teacher, First State Montessori Academy (Wilmington, DE)

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ooking back on the past year, so much has changed from the spring of 2020. The life-altering effects of the pandemic created huge changes to our daily lives, our schools and our communities. At our school, students’ physical and mental well-being is a priority during the best of times; during this past year it became a high priority as the effects of isolation, inactivity, and stress on our students was of great concern.

Last August we had many Zoom staff meetings with the purpose of finding programs and ways to meet our students’ social-emotional needs. When I looked at the health. moves. minds. curriculum, it seemed tailor-made for our school.

Peace education is a fundamental part of all of our classrooms.

In our school, children begin to realize that they are part of a larger community and begin to understand their role in promoting kindness and respect. When I presented the health. moves. minds. curriculum to my principal, her directive was “Go for it!”

This “Be the Nice Kid” sign greets everyone at the main entrance into school.

Stay in the Moment In September we started with half the school distance learning and the other half in-person hybrid. One of the underlying currents I noticed in both distance and hybrid students — from kindergarten to eighth grade — was a feeling of helplessness and loss of control.

My younger students had ”big emotions” moments, and my middle school students had quiet (and not so quiet) panic attacks. To help students regain a feeling of control and empowerment, Mindful Minutes and Better Breathing became standard beginning and closing activities in all my classes.

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.

Now, we often refer to the Mindful Minute as a “60-second vacation from worries.” If I see a student showing signs of stress, I will quietly ask them if they need to take a “quick vacation” and give them time and peace to breathe. Mindful breathing and being pulled into the present has helped many students regain a sense of balance and control over themselves, at least for a little while.

Understanding Emotions Acknowledging and identifying emotions was very effective at the elementary level. Using the emoji scale or the “thumbs up, down or sideways” as a check-in at the start of class not only increased self-awareness but helped to create community and empathy.

We also used these at the end of each class — along with a Mindful Minute or Better Breathing — to see how everyone was feeling after PE class. The thumb scale has become so popular with elementary students that when I am in the hallways or during morning duty I am often greeted with “Hi, Ms. Jenny” and a thumbs up, down or sideways that shows how their day is going. (continued on page 4)

Learn more and register at healthmovesminds.org

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fundraising focus School Success Stories

Twin Chimneys Elementary

KYLE SALVO | Physical Education Teacher

O’FALLON, MO

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hen I started teaching at Twin Chimneys 15 years ago, I inherited a culture that was passionate about fundraising.

My students were very focused on “If I donate or raise this much money, what do I get?”

Two years ago, our school signed up for the health. moves. minds. program — and now we take a different approach.

Each year, the students and I discuss options for the next year and whether we are going to donate to the same charity or select a different charity.

This year, we chose our school’s PTO. We knew that due to the pandemic our PTO was unable to do their annual fall fundraiser — which meant they could not support the classroom teachers financially the way they had in the past.

With that in mind, the students and I came up with some goals and incentives that were not materialistic, such as:

• Dedicating the gym to a student • Class pizza party • Having me sleep on the roof of the

school building if they reached their school goal

When I mentioned our school goal to the students, it seemed unattainable for the younger students and students who had just moved into our community. But I simply broke down the monetary goal by the number of students enrolled to get an individual student goal — and then broke that down by the number of weeks we were holding the fundraiser to make it even more realistic and attainable.

Stagecoach Elementary School ROCK SPRINGS, WY

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uring our health. moves. minds. event this year, the school was filled with an electric energy!

Students loved the program’s socialemotional focus, fun games, and empowerment theme. We learned that it’s COOL to be KIND — and raised a total of $1,855 for a kinder and more active world.

Our school had decided to “pay it forward” by giving 25% of the funds raised to a local charity. We used the health. moves. minds. program as an opportunity to educate students on the concept of charity, as well as the missions of three worthy organizations in our local area: Loaves and Fishes Food Pantry, United Way of Southwest Wyoming, and Make-a-Wish Wyoming.

A unique venture for our school’s program was empowering students to

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We met our school fundraising goal, so I spent the night on the school roof as promised.

We spoke about strategies and how to talk with their parents about ways to meet their individual goals. Most importantly we celebrated everything — every quarter, every dollar, and every effort — and in the end I’m proud to say our PE program received about $2,750 and our PTO received an additional $2,750.

ERIC URLACHER | PE/Health Teacher

vote on the school’s charity partner.

Each organization sent in a short video for students to watch before voting, which helped develop great community connections. Once the votes were tallied, Make-a-Wish Wyoming was selected as the local charity.

Continuing with the theme of empowerment, students who raised money during the fundraiser will be able to vote on the recess/PE equipment we purchase to help our school become a more active place.

We are also very appreciative that some of the money raised goes back to the Wyoming Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance (WAHPERD). This can be used to help fund our vibrant state convention, which in turn translates to best-practice teaching and a

physically educated and healthy student population in the state of Wyoming!

Stagecoach first graders prepare for a Mindful Minute as part of the health. moves. minds. curriculum.

The parachute creates a “cave” to calm down the environment and optimize mindfulness.

Learn more and register at healthmovesminds.org

state spotlights H

Bringing health. moves. minds. to Alaska Dorothy Orr (Alaska) Alaska is one of a handful of states that received a CDC “Healthy Schools” grant — and SHAPE Alaska applied for a portion of the grant money to do twice-a-month sessions for classroom teachers.

In building our schedule and budget request, SHAPE Alaska leaders knew that health. moves. minds. had to be part of the sessions. We reached out to SHAPE America staff, who then identified two teachers who might be able to help us: Anna Forcelledo of Missouri and Michelle Huff of New Jersey.

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Anna and Michelle worked together to introduce teachers in Alaska to health. moves. minds., as we had no one in the state who had tried the program. In the first session, Michelle provided an overview of the program and walked us through the registration process. We also learned how to use the Mindful Minute lesson.

In the second session, Anna walked teachers through another health. moves. minds. lesson, offering options for teaching the lesson in a gymnasium, in a classroom, or virtually. In our final session, Michelle will talk us through a different lesson, once again with options for teaching in various settings.

Spreading Kindness Across the Commonwealth Jamie Sparks (Kentucky) After nearly 15 months, we are all “Zoomed” out! Here in Kentucky, we are ready for in-person, kinesthetic-based professional learning experiences — and that’s exactly what we have planned! On Sunday, July 18, as part of the Kentucky SHAPE Summer Conference, we’ll be holding a health. moves. minds. State Leaders Summit.

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ealth and physical education teachers are learning just how easy it is to integrate the health. moves. minds.® program into an existing curriculum. Best of all — students love the health. moves. minds. lessons and activities!

In this issue, we’re shining a spotlight on Dorothy Orr of Alaska and Jamie Sparks of Kentucky. They are both doing great work spreading the word about health. moves. minds. throughout their state.

In Kentucky, we had more than 231 schools participate in the health. moves. minds. program this year. We also held a Kindness Across the Commonwealth Week in November which was inspired by the health. moves. minds. program. Our teachers are looking forward to sharing tips and advice on integrating the SELbased lessons into an existing curriculum, developing an epic health. moves. minds. school-wide event, and getting everyone excited about the flexible fundraising options.

This full-day event will feature workshops and sessions for health. moves. minds. coordinators — and any health and physical education teachers who are interested in implementing the program in their school. For more information, visit www.kyshape.org or email kentuckyshape@gmail.com.

Our hope is that teachers throughout Alaska are encouraged to register for the health. moves. minds. program with the goal of implementing it starting next fall.

Learn more and register at healthmovesminds.org

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A Year of 'Happy Side Effects' (continued from page 1)

terse, but as they began their acts of kindness project their journal entries grew more thoughtful.

Around February, students started to make the connection Students wrote about the “happy side effects” of kindness of feeling better after vigorous exercise. I was happy to projects — and some students made the connection that even hear many comments such as “I feel better after PE class,” small acts of kindness gave them a big happy feeling, which “Dancing helps me get my emotions out,” or “I cardio drum made them more likely to do a kind act more often. my pillow when I am upset at my brother.” The skills learned The power of slowing down and from health. moves. minds. has helped reflecting on what they were grateful for give students a sense of control over gave students a positive lens with which themselves and their emotions. to view their world … and they discovered The older students were introduced it wasn’t all doom and gloom. to the H.A.L.T.E.D. activity, which Incorporating the health. moves. minds. prompted many a spirited conversation curriculum into my classes led to so many about who was “hangry” and who was positives for the students and the school. just “hungry.” They responded well to The inherent flexibility of the program being in charge of identifying what allowed me to adapt the curriculum to they were feeling and why and came virtual and asynchronous classes fairly up with many ways to react or deal easily so the program was school wide. with some of their feelings.

This sign hangs prominently on the landing which I am fortunate that the administration leads into the gym. and classroom teachers at my school believe Kindness Matters in brain breaks, Mindful Minutes, and the power of kindness — The students’ budding self-awareness was evident in their and are supportive of the health. moves. minds. program. assignments and gratitude journals. Gratitude journals Most importantly, the students felt empowered and had and gratitude projects provided another way to empower tools to help them manage and regulate their emotions. Now, students and help reduce their feelings of helplessness. In the they are better prepared for the coming year as well as the beginning, students’ gratitude journal entries were short and day-to-day challenges in their lives.

Social-Emotional Learning Pack

By

Personal equipment packs and expert-written activities designed for teaching PE during challenging times!

Purchase My PE Packs for your school with the funds raised during your health. moves. minds.® event!

LEARN MORE

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Learn more and register at healthmovesminds.org