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President's message
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I am sure that all of
you enjoyed your summer vacation. I had the opportunity to attend the
Middle School Workshop up at Fullerton and it was a blast. After 4 days
of intense physical activity, I came out with so much information that
I was ready for the new school year, I would highly recommend for you
to attend such workshop. Now, we are almost in the middle of October,
and I can’t help to wonder where has the time gone? I hope that the
beginning of your school year has being running smoothly and it will
continue that way. I know you are teaching great activities and
providing inquisitive knowledge to your student’s.
This is my second year as Unit President and even
though it was challenging we were able to reach all of the goals that I
proposed last year. We had a large amount of improvement in the Fall
Workshop attendance and we were able to provide our newsletter via
e-mail. In mentioning that if you have a new address or want other
teachers to be informed please pass this message on to them and provide
us with their information. For this year, my goal is to start having
some social gatherings that we can meet Physical Educators throughout
the county and start networking great ideas. It has been my personal
experience that it is difficult to get to know teachers from other
districts. A little interaction with other people can go a long way.
If you ever need help with preparing lesson plans or
getting resources for this our web page http://www.sandiegocahperd.net/
is a great source of information. Also, this web site provides
multiple ways of communications for our whole region and I encourage
you all to take a look and pass this address onto any Physical
Education, Health and Dance Teachers you know.
I want to take this opportunity to thank the CAHPERD
unit board for helping me throughout this journey as president. I
believe that all of you have great talents and advice. With each other
support we can make impacts on our profession. Thank you to our new
CAHPERD members that have joined this past year. This is the only way
organizations can get stronger by your participation.
I am looking forward to seeing everyone at our
upcoming events such as our own unit workshop that takes place
Saturday, December 8th, the Annual Fun Run in February, and the Awards
Banquet in May.
Please e-mail me with any thoughts, ideas or articles that you have for our unit that you want to share with us.
Sincerely,
Karla Martinez
kmartinez@sandi.net
President CAHPERD Unit 47-412
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US Olympic Education Resources
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Olympic Education Materials:
The United States Olympic Committee have opened a website with mega
resources for not only the physical education teacher, but also,
lessons in language arts, science, math and social studies.
They will release new lesson every month through the end of the 2008 school year.
You can access them here:
Olympic Class Lessons
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Konami Makes Track & Field Plug and Play Game: Perfect for Fitness Rooms
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Check out this cool new product:
Track and Field Challenge
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Free International Folk Dance Classes
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The San Diego Folk Dance Center offers free folk dance classes on Monday evenings at:
Dancing Unlimited
4569 30th Street,
San Diego, CA 92116.
Come join fellow CAHPERD members Karla Martinez, Kim Butler and Dennis Gildehaus from 6:30-8:00.
Music from the dances are available for you as well as DVD instructions
on how to perform each dance. Contact Dennis Gildehaus for further
details.
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Presidential Fitness Challenge
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The Presidential Fitness Challenege website is full of resources and ideas for your physical education
class. The site includes a web-based fitness file for yuore school and your students to keep track of their fitness progress.
Be sure to check their website out here: Prsidential Fitness Challenge
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Playing First, Eating Later
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Playing First, Eating Later
Growing Number Of Elementary Schools Putting Off Lunchtime Until After Recess
By PENELOPE OVERTON | Courant Staff Writer
October 15, 2007
Playing First, Eating Later
EAST HADDAM - It is early afternoon on a sunny weekday in October,
and the nurses' office inside East Haddam Elementary School is nearly
deserted. The three child-size cots are empty. No groaning students
await comfort for aches or pains. The only sound to be heard is that of
school nurses filling out paperwork.
"Welcome to the world of
recess before lunch," nurse Marty Dexter said. "In the past, at this
time of the day, this office would have been full of sick kids. They'd
get sick from eating too fast on their rush to recess, or lose their
taco after hanging upside down on the monkey bars, or get headaches
from not eating at all. Kids like that are in no shape to learn."
That
all changed this fall, when East Haddam joined a growing number of
schools rearranging their daily schedules to allow children to go to
recess before eating lunch. Schools from Norwalk to Niantic are letting
kids play before they eat because studies suggest those children eat,
behave and learn better than children who eat before they play.
Those
studies caught the eye of Cynthia Mello, the principal at East Haddam
Elementary. She thought the concept blended well with the school's
philosophy of emphasizing a child's social and emotional growth as well
as academics. Like every other principal, she wanted to squeeze the
most out of every school day, but she believes an active, healthy child
learns best.
"Recess before lunch makes a natural kind of
sense," Mello said. "That's what we do at home. We call a child in from
play to eat. An adult wouldn't think about eating a big meal before
going to the gym, so why should we expect any different from a child?
We can't stick by an old schedule just because that's the way it's
always been done."
In 2001, a national study found less than 5
percent of elementary schools had recess before lunch, but now the idea
is spreading fast as districts scramble to find low-cost,
research-supported ways to comply with a new federal law requiring most
schools to adopt a local wellness policy that promotes student
nutrition and physical activity.
Last year, the Connecticut
Department of Education published a guide to help schools adopt
successful local wellness policies, and scheduling recess before lunch
was included among the list of recommendations, said Susan Fiore, the
department's nutrition education coordinator. Several schools that
participated in a state-funded wellness pilot project made the switch.
"Kids
come to lunch ready to eat," said school wellness center coordinator
Shawn Grunwald of Windham, which has recess before lunch at one grade
school. "They've worked up an appetite, satisfied some of their
socialization needs so the focus then at lunch is to eat. ... They may
also be better behaved because they have gotten some of their energy
out."
Studies in Montana and Ohio found that children who have
recess before lunch are more likely to finish their lunches, take in
more nutrients and behave better on the playground, in the cafeteria
and in afternoon classes. Teachers tell researchers they saved more
than 10 minutes of class time that would have once been spent calming
students down after recess.
Disciplinary actions dropped by 60
percent over three years in one Montana middle school. Officials there
believed students ate more and ate better after physical exercise,
which cut down on the restlessness, lack of focus and classroom
outbursts that used to occur after fast lunches of half-eaten chips,
candy and soda under the old system of lunch before recess.
Despite the benefits, working out the logistics of the schedule change isn't easy, Mello said.
Children
don't have time to stop in the classroom on their way from the
playground to the cafeteria, so they drop their lunches into large
plastic bins, which select students haul to the cafeteria during the
five-minute break between recess and lunch, and they use newly
installed hand sanitizers to wash away the grime and germs.
Students
who use inhalers or pumps to control their asthma must now go down to
the nurses' office about 20 minutes before recess, which interrupts
class time. Under the old schedule, those students simply stopped by
the office on the way to lunch. By the time lunch was over, the drugs
had hit their system, and the children were ready to play.
But
the new schedule actually makes it easier for 6-year-old Emma McGahee
to manage her allergy to a common food additive. The first-grader can
go into shock if she even touches, much less ingests, a certain kind of
dye, so using monkey bars touched by children who may have had dye
residue on their hands would have been too risky. Now Emma proudly
shows off calluses forged by daily monkey bar sessions.
The new
schedule makes kickball fanatics like Kevin Moreau happy because they
get to play before they eat. The third-grader admits he used to spend
his lunch dreaming about kickball when he should have been eating, but
now he returns from recess exhausted, hungry and ready to eat. He still
thinks about kickball during lunch, but now he dreams while eating.
One
of Kevin's classmates, Bridget Haines, said she enjoys the opportunity
to play soccer earlier in the day than she did last year, but most
appreciates the change in schedule because it means no more post-soccer
stomach cramps. The 8-year-old used to be one of those children who
would feel ill after lunch.
"I like running around at recess," Haines said. "Recess should be fun, not make you sick."
Contact Penelope Overton at poverton@courant.com
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Action for Healthy Kids
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Action for Healthy Kids itroduces, GAME ON: The Ultimate Wellness Challenge
The Game On! The Ultimate Wellness Challenge Toolkit
was developed by Action for Healthy Kids, in partnership with the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services, and with input from the U.S.
Departments of Agriculture and Education and other leading health and
education organizations.
This turn-key guide for
hosting a local Game On! The Ultimate Wellness Challenge event includes
all necessary information to prepare, publicize, and carry-out a
successful event. View and download the Toolkit elements by clicking
on the links below.
Ultimate Wellness Challnege
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