Active Breaks ideas for middle schoolers

Check out North Carolina's Eat Smart, Move More "energizers," or active breaks, designed for middle school students! These energizers were mentioned on last week's Active Schools teleconference


Resources for elementary schoolers can be found here.

Active Schools Toolkit Updated

Download the Active Schools Toolkit

The Department of Public Instruction has updated the Active Schools toolkit. (You can find it here.)

Kids spend most of their day in school. The Active Schools Toolkit can help schools create environments that support increased activity, to ensure our children’s future is healthy. 


An active school has many benefits! 
Active Schools = Academic Success

• Higher physical fitness test achievement is related to:
• Higher state academic test scores
• Higher attendance and fewer behavioral problems
• Physical activity can help youth improve their concentration, memory, and classroom behavior.

Children who are regularly active:

• Are more like to maintain a healthy weight
• Are less likely to develop illnesses such as type 2 diabetes, cancers and other chronic diseases
• Have higher self‐esteem 

Letters: Kids need physical activity for health

Letter to the Appleton Post Crescent.

It's time we change the numbers facing our kids: According to the American Heart Association, one in three American kids and teens is overweight or obese, nearly triple the rate in 1963.

Because of these increasing rates of obesity, unhealthy eating habits and physical inactivity, we may see the first generation of kids that will have a shorter life expectancy than their parents.

So what are we doing in Wisconsin to teach kids the skills they need to live a healthier, active life?

Children spend most of their day in school. So, it makes sense our kids have access to comprehensive physical education courses and healthy foods in and out of the classroom.
Appleton East High School and the Outagamie County Fitness and Nutrition Coalition are piloting Active Schools strategies such as Bike to School Week, intramurals, ping pong club, boxing club, zumba dance club, tracking daily exercise with use of pedometers and school tubing trips to increase options for physical activity before, during and after school hours.

To keep kids healthy and fit, it's recommended that they engage in at least 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity each day. Not only does it keep their bodies active, but it keeps their minds active, too.

Regular physical activity is associated with a healthier, longer life and lower risk of cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity and some cancers. Research also shows effective physical education programs actually improve academic performance.

As a concerned citizen, I want to make sure our kids learn all the essential skills to live a healthy active life.

Ben Stumpf,
Neenah

Outagamie County: Press Release for Bike Month

Appleton East and Neenah's Hoover Elementary Gear Up for Bike Month        

Contact: Jennifer Van Den Elzen or Ben Stumpf

Phone: 920-832-4452; 920-284-0917

Email: vandenjl@co.outagamie.wi.us; stumpfbenjamin@aasd.k12.wi.us

May is National Bike Month!  Celebrate this month by biking to work, school, the store, or just leisurely with your family.

Appleton East High School and Hoover Elementary in Neenah are using this month to promote biking and physical activity.  At Appleton East High School, the week of May 23rd is Bike to School Week, and Thursday, May 26th is Bike to School Day. Hoover Elementary will be sponsoring a fun run and bike rodeo on May 27th to celebrate their efforts to build physical activity into their school day.

Both schools are also partnering with local physical activity focused coalitions, the Fitness And Nutrition (FAN) Coalition and Walk to Win, and participating in an Active Schools initiative to get kids up and moving every day and to fight the rising problem of obesity in our nation and state.  Active Schools focuses on environmental or policy changes that can be made in the school setting to help kids meet the recommended 60 minutes of daily physical activity.

“Bike to School Week is a great opportunity for students to get out and ride for fun, fitness or transportation,” said Ben Stumpf, of the Active Schools Grant Team at Appleton East.

Why is this important?

• Physical activity can help children improve their concentration, memory, and classroom behavior.
• Research shows that higher physical fitness is related to higher state academic test scores, higher attendance, and fewer negative school incidents.
• Half of Wisconsin students are getting an F in physical activity recommendations – a grade no parent wants to see.
• Children are increasingly being diagnosed with obesity-related chronic illnesses.
• More than 25% of Wisconsin’s high school students are overweight or obese.

What is being done?

Appleton East and Hoover Elementary are promoting physical activity in the classroom, at recess, at home, and before and after school.  Students have the opportunity to learn the importance of eating healthy and being active. 

Appleton East students and faculty who ride their bikes to school during the week of Monday, May 23 may be able to win prizes, including a bike from Chain Reaction Cyclery of Appleton. Free breakfast will be provided to all participants on Bike to School Day. East High School is also working hard to add more bike parking that is easier to access at the school in order to continue to promote biking year round.

Tips to help keep you safe while biking:

• Keep your bike in proper working order.
• Have your bike checked over by your local bike shop.
• Learn the routine maintenance that needs to be done on your bike.
• Always wear a helmet to protect your head in the event of a crash.
• Ride on the right side of the road, always in the same direction as other traffic.
• Ride as far to the right as practical, not as far right as possible.  Practical means safe and reasonable.
• Obey all stop signs, traffic lights and lane markings.
• Look before you change lanes or signal a turn; indicate your intention, then act.
• Be visible and predictable at all times; wear bright clothing and signal turns.

About the Fitness And Nutrition (FAN) Coalition: FAN grew out of the Outagamie County Community Health Improvement Planning process, which identified nutrition, physical activity and obesity prevention as priority health issues for our county. This collaboration strives to create environments that support and promote healthy eating, daily physical activity, and a healthy weight in the places we live, learn, work and play. We work to build capacity within our community to implement best, evidence-based and promising strategies, identify and enhance communication with non-traditional partners, and create opportunities for program sustainability. In addition to partnering with Appleton East High School on the Active Schools Initiative, the FAN Coalition is working to address rising obesity levels in other schools, the community, and the worksite setting through a variety of partnerships. For more information on the FAN Coalition, or to get involved contact Jennifer Van Den Elzen (vandenjl@co.outagamie.wi.us, 920.832.4452)

About Walk to Win: Walk to Win is an annual community walking program that has been in existence since 2002. The program is heavily promoted to area schools and businesses, but is open to all individuals 5 years of age or older, employed or residing in the counties of Calumet, Outagamie or Winnebago. All participants are challenged to walk 30 minutes a day at least 5 times a week over a 3-month period in the fall. This program is part of the solution to encouraging our citizens to engage in positive behaviors that impact their health. For more information, visit http://www.walktowin.org/.

Recent Poll Shows Parents Want More Physical Activity at School

The University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children's Hospital National Poll on Children's Health asked parents of children 6 to 11 years old for their views about physical activity in schools. The results may surprise you:

"Parents are virtually unanimous that it's very important for elementary-school kids to get physical activity during every school day." says Sarah Clark, MPH, who directed the poll.

A few other key points from the poll:

• Overweight and obese parents were more likely than other parents to view school-time activity as essential for preventing obesity and promoting healthy physical development.


• 35% of parents feel their children's schools have too little time in gym class; 26% think there is not enough equipment on the playground; 22% say there is too little time for recess.


• Parents' responses are especially important given the budget pressures on schools, illustrating that parents value the benefits of physical activity - not only for obesity prevention, but for academic success as well.

See the article

For more information about the poll, visit http://www.med.umich.edu/mott/npch/

Active Recess

"In the face of this accumulated wisdom, the question is why so many educators across the nation have, in recent years, decided that it is acceptable to reduce or eliminate recess."

The Power of the Playground

By David Bornstein, 

New York Times, April 7, 2011

Tracie Faust, New York Times

Active recess involves purposefully designing the playground and recess activities to encourage physical activity for all students. It also involves including a minimum of 20 minutes of recess each day for students in elementary and middle school. 


Active recess provides children with a guarantee of non-structured play each day, with equipment and supplies needed to be physically active on the playground. It provides some structure to recess and may include several activity stations scattered around the playground and green spaces. It is one of 17 strategies included in the Active Schools Toolkit.  


“Active Recess has had a positive impact on students and staff. Students are more active and staff has noticed a decrease in discipline referrals.” 

Hoover Elementary, Neenah, WI

Manitowoc County CAN and U --> CAN: Public nurses discuss health initiatives with Leibham

Julie Reimer and Amy Storm, public health nurses from Manitowoc and Calumet counties, respectively, discussed the Active Schools Initiative and other health-related issues during a recent visit with state Sen. Joe Leibham.

Coverage in the Herald Times Reporter summarizes the topics covered during the visit. Read the article.

Remember to "Keep it Local" When Planning for JFCs

Guest post written by Spencer Straub, Media & Communications Coordinator for the Wisconsin Tobacco Prevention and Control Program.

This season of Joint Finance Committee hearings is sure to be unlike any other. People from all walks of life throughout all parts of the state will be prepared to discuss a variety of issues, and it's important to be part of that discussion. However, while you're recruiting speakers, writing testimony, and planning JFC trips, don't forget the important role earned media can play in your communications efforts.

With the number of issues sure to be discussed at JFC, don't ignore the impact that a well-written letter to the editor in a legislator's home town paper can have. While many people will be reaching for the microphone at the hearings, not everyone will think to tell their story to the local media.

Letters are just one strategy--try holding an event on your issue and invite your local media to cover it. When effectively planned, local media outreach can effectively complement your JFC strategy.

The best part is, if you're planning your JFC presence, chances are you've already written testimony that can be re-purposed into a letter to the editor. Good letters, just like solid testimony, tell a human story of your issue's impact--or your program's success. Take advantage of your existing resources to maximize your impact.

Sometimes just getting started is the hardest part of writing testimony or letters to the editor. Luckily there are tools to help you get your feet wet. Click here for letter to the editor resources and here for testimony preparation tips to help you get started.

Thinking about physical activity

We received a question this week about tools for assessing how much physical activity is currently taking place in schools. Here are some resources that might help coalitions work with schools to assess the current physical activity environment.

The Active Schools Toolkit assessment checklist is a good place to start. The toolkit still says draft because DPI is piloting it right now, but it’s definitely a useable tool!

Following are tools that are more comprehensive than just physical activity. You could either focus on the physical activity portions or complete the whole assessment to get a broader sense of what your district is doing well and what areas might need work.

• The Wisconsin School Health Award also has some helpful questions about school wellness policies, activity and movement, and physical activity/education. As a bonus, you could work with you school to apply for the Wisconsin School Health Award. Applications are due March 15, 2011!
• The CDC encourages schools to use the School Health Index, a self-assessment and planning tool that schools can use to improve their health and safety policies and programs. Note, the self-assessment process involves members of your school community coming together to discuss what your school is already doing to promote good health and to identify your strengths and weaknesses.

Additionally, you might consider assessing your school district’s current Wellness Policy.
WellSAT provides a standard method for quantitative assessment of school wellness policies. The tool offers a consistent and reliable means of assessing the comprehensiveness and strength of school wellness policies. The tool takes about 45 minutes to complete.

Healthier Douglas County Hosting Community Meeting, Coalition Building Event

Healthier Douglas County Coalition is hosting a community meeting and coalition building event tonight. The event is intended to engage community members and leaders in the coalition and obesity prevention efforts.

Coalition leaders Grace Gee, Mary Mahan and Lynne Bauer reached out to key community groups and leaders in a variety of ways, including:

• Letters to schools, businesses, elected officials and key community members
• One-on-one meetings
• Media

The event was featured in the Superior Telegram.

Gee said the fight against obesity must be fought on three levels — individual, community and corporate/government. It’s more complicated than telling people to change their behaviors, however. Coalition members hope to foster a climate that encourages good nutrition and physical exercise — easy access to trails, more gardening, use of fresh locally-grown foods, workers taking a walk during lunch breaks and more.

Read the full story here.

Speed Date review: Social Media and Collaborative Communication Tools

Julie Swanson from the Wisconsin Clearinghouse for Prevention Services offered coalitions an opportunity to "speed date" social media and collaborative communication tools during our Tuesday, Dec. 21st Coalition Teleconference.

Social Media Tools

• Blogs use to publish information (ex. http://hip-eatmovelive.blogspot.com/)
• RSS (real simple syndication) use to keep up to date on blogs (ex. use a reader like Google Reader to follow blogs you're interested in)
• Micro-Blog use to get out quick updates to a mass audience (ex. http://www.twitter.com/)
• Photo sharing use to share photos with colleagues and/or find photos for documents or presentations (ex. http://www.flickr.com/, https://posterous.com/)
• Video sharing use to share video — spread excitement and model action (ex. http://www.youtube.com/, http://www.vimeo.com/)
• Social Networks provide an online community that connects you with other people (ex. http://www.facebook.com/)

Collaborative Communication Tools

• RSVP Tools provide easy, fast way to set up meetings (ex. http://www.meetingwizard.com/)
• Survey use to collect data in real time (ex. www.surveymonkey.com)
• Collaborative calendars, documents, wikis, and video chat make planning and editing collaborative and communication easier (ex. Google)
  

What social media and collaborative communication tools do your coalitions use? Please share examples of blogs, wikis, websites, etc. Click on Comment below to respond.

Health Eating Active Living Coalition of Pierce County was named as something that is positively impacting health in River Falls. Read the article in the River Falls Journal:
http://www.riverfallsjournal.com/event/article/id/97172/

A River Falls area health care provider held nine sessions across its Minnesota and western Wisconsin service region. Collective attendance totaled 260 people representing businesses, non-profit organizations, schools and government entities.

Participants were asked what is positively impacting health in their community and what barriers to health exist in their community.

"Those responding cited the things they think positively impacts health in River Falls: The Kinnickinnic River, the Free Clinic, sports activities for youth and adults, the YMCA, and the Healthy Eating Active Living Coalition focused on improving nutrition and increasing activities."

In terms of barriers, "most said cutting physical education in schools has had a two-way negative effect on kids’ health; not only are they not getting exercise in school but also don’t learn the lessons and skills they need to be active."

Active Schools Initiative: Advocacy Training

We had an outstanding turn-out for our first Advocacy Training last Thursday, Dec. 9th!

Highlights:

• Department of Health Services Secretary Karen Timberlake kicked off the meeting talking about the importance of obesity prevention work, educational advocacy, and policy change.


• What's the difference between Educational Advocacy and Lobbying? Our trainers for the day Jill Ness, Melissa Horn and Steve Elliott laid out the rules of the road.


• Advocacy Training was a healthy training, complete with physical activity opportunity!
• Grassroots: Maintain a database of volunteers. Include name, address (so that you can determine legislative district), phone number, email, interests and special skills. Here's a sample database!
• Media Advocacy: Pitching a national story to your local media ...
  1.) Describe the issue
  2.) Take some key facts and make them your own by using local examples and making the story personal
  3.) Why is it important? Why would the listener care? How does it effect the listener or reader?
  4.) Call to action.
• Policymaker Education: Tip: When you meet with a policymaker, don’t go alone. Ensure that all attendees identify themselves as constituents/residents of the policymaker’s district and engage as many attendees as possible as speakers.

Using policy to promote community use of schools

On November 15, Communities Putting Prevention to Work invited Dr. John Spengler from the University of Florida to discuss his research on school joint-use agreements (recently published as “Policies to Promote the Community Use of Schools: A Review of State Recreational Use Statues,” in The American Journal of Preventive Medicine).

Dr. Spengler outlined the different types of joint and shared use agreements that school districts and communities can adopt, and discussed the benefits and challenges facing these partnerships.

Strong relationships exist between policy issues, characteristics of natural and built environments, and personal levels of physical activity. Joint-use agreements can create or improve safe places for people to be physically active.




School districts and communities weighing joint or shared use agreements must address real and perceived barriers related to:

• liability


• maintenance


• vandalism and crime


• scheduling, and


• costs associated with normal operations (staff time, utilities, etc.).

Among the benefits of thoughtful joint-use agreements — beyond the obvious benefits of providing safe places for community members to be physically active — school districts and communities cited increased community collaboration and strengthened ties between schools and families.

To hear a recording of this call, please dial toll free (888)567-0476. The entire call lasts approximately one hour.

Online resources:

- Public Health Law & Policy’s Joint-Use Toolkit
- NPLAN (National Policy & Legal Analysis Network to Prevent Childhood Obesity) Joint Use Resources , including checklists for developing joint-use agreements, model joint-use agreements, primers on liability, etc.
- Unlocking the Playground: Achieving Equity in Physical Activity Spaces from the California Pan-Ethnic Health Network



What experiences, if any, do you or other members of your coalition have working with school districts to craft joint-use agreements?

Making Schools Active Schools: Connecting with Local Schools and School Boards

Nov. 16 Teleconference Highlights

What's going on in schools?
DPI is working on improving physical activity opportunities in schools using a variety of strategies, including:

• Physical Education Requirements
• Active Schools
• Movin' and Munchin' Schools
• Health Education Standards

Each of these areas offers opportunities to coalitions to interact with schools. Some examples include:

• Assessing the school board's knowledge of and attitudes toward programs and/or policies related to physical activity
• Educating school board members on available resources (e.g. Active Schools toolkit or training on active recess strategies)
• Encouraging districts to review policies and plans reguarly to improve implementation

What's going on in Active Schools pilot sites?
Active School pilot sites are up and running in 21 sites across the state.

• Schools have collected Activity Logs from students and sent fitness assessment results to the state
• Coalitions have collaborated with schools on disseminating communication materials about district efforts, assisted with surveys and program planning, and assisted with programs

How can our coalition connect and work with schools on policy issues?
All Active Schools coalitions are asked to connect with local school districts, here are some tips for getting started:

1) Consider which districts you have already worked with.

2) Questions to think about when approaching a school …

• What does our coalition want from schools as part of a partnership effort?
• What can our coalition offer schools as part of a partnership effort?
• How does Active Schools fit the educational mission of the schools?

3) Conduct an assessment of your selected district to understand what they already are doing related to physical activity policies in their district. Some ideas of places to start include:

• Request a copy of your School Wellness Policy
• Interview with school district contact on your coalition or a school official (local policymaker assessment) – what might encourage the district to initiate an Active Schools policy?
• Understand the context of your selected district:
  - Who are the key education leaders in your district?
  - If school board action is necessary, what are the best ways to approach individual board members and/or the board as a whole?
  - Who do your district’s key leaders and school board members need to hear from?

Teleconference Share Back!
Help and learn from each other by leaving a comment responding to the following question:

How will you connect with your school district in the next month?

Coalition Building Tip: What is your coalition's strength?

Throughout the course of the Active School Initiative, coalitions are expected to implement a least two strategies to build or strengthen the capacity of the coalition. Here are some tips to help your coalition accomplish the strategies suggested in the grant guidelines. Need to review the grant guidelines? You can find them on www.healthinpractice.org/project/Active-Schools.

Assessing the capacity of your coalition will help you identify strengths, weaknesses and gaps. One way to assess your capacity, is using the Nutrition, Physical Activity and Obesity Program's Coalition Self-Assessment Tool.

The survey will take about 30 minutes to complete. At the end of this assessment you can print a report with your coalition "score," which will indicate your relative level of resources.

A description of the categories and values for the Coalition Self-Assessment Tool and the resulting score is also available. A pdf version of the Coalition Self-Assessment Tool can also be downloaded to make it easier to fill in the tool as a group, before entering your answers online.

Candidate Education: Obesity is a Top Wisconsin Killer

How has your coalition used the Obesity is a Top Wisconsin Killer candidate education piece that was shared at the Oct. 19 and 20th coalition training?

As a reminder, we suggested three ways you could use the education piece:

1. Educate your community

• Use it to recruit new members
• Use it to inspire your current coalitions members
• Integrate it into your current activities

2. Educate your policymakers

• Use it for in-person visits
• Use it, along with a letter, to introduce your coalition to policymakers

3. Media advocacy

• Use it to craft letters to the editor
• Take it to an editorial board visit
• Share with local media

Registration open for Dec. 9 Advocacy Training

Registration is now open for the Dec. 9 Coalition Advocacy Training!!

Purpose: To strengthen coalition capacity to promote healthy eating and active living through state-level and local-level educational advocacy tactics, including media advocacy, educating key local and state decision makers, and community engagement.

Details
WHO: Active Schools grantees (plan to send 3-4 coalition members)

DATE: Thursday, December 9, 2010

TIME: 9 a.m.-3 p.m. (updated time)

LOCATION: Holiday Inn Hotel & Convention Center, 1001 Amber Ave., Stevens Point, WI, 54482

REGISTRATION: Please register your coalition participants by Nov. 11 at https://doa.wi.gov/DHSSurveys/TakeSurvey.aspx?SurveyID=78MLn8l5

ACCOMODATIONS: For those of you who will need overnight accommodations, we have a block of rooms reserved at the Holiday Inn at the state rate. To reserve a room …
1. Call the hotel directly at 715-344-0200
2. Call the reservation hotline at 1-888-HOLIDAY
3. Visit the link below:
WI Department of Health Services
If you cannot click the link, copy and paste the following:
http://ichotelsgroup.com/redirect?path=rates&brandCode=HI&GPC=DHS&hotelCode=STEAA&_PMID=99801505

When making reservations, please reference WI Department of Health Services or group code: DHS

Please reserve your room by Wednesday, Nov. 17.

The Big Picture: Obesity Prevention Projects in Wisconsin

Wisconsin has a lot of exciting obesity prevention work going on right now. Here is a sampling of what's happening.

NPAO Local Implementation Grants: 13 counties have been awarded Local Implementation Grants and are getting started with a variety of projects including:

• Buffalo and Pepin counties are working together on a planning grant to create a unified bi-county nutrition and physical activity coaliton. The counties have collaborated successfully in the past and share rural characteristics.
• In an effort to increase healthy adult role models in their communities, Waupaca County's NuAct Coalition is expanding its Working on Wellness effort with businesses and adults in their places of work. The project will survey past participants to determine successful components of the Wisconsin Worksite Wellness Toolkit and how it contributed to their companies' successful wellness plan, then use the data to improve their facilitation of the toolkit use in other businesses.

Communities Putting Prevention to Work

Active Schools: 21 school sites across the state are piloting strategies from the Active School Toolkit to offer 60+ minutes of physical activity a day.

• Deerfield's Active Schools efforts made the news in early October with an activity that brought 400 people out to walk for an hour with pedometers prior to a high school football game.
• Osceola Middle School and Oakfield Elementary School have begun implementing Active Recess strategies and have reported postive responses from students.
• The Department of Public Instruction held workshops in October on Creating an Active Recess and Increasing Activity in the Classroom.

Active Early: Promoting Physical Activity in Early Care and Education Baseline data was collected in October at the 20 child care sites that are piloting strategies to incorporate 120 minutes of physical activity each day. Providers will be trained in November on how to use the Active Early Toolkit: Promoting Physical Activity in Early Care and Education.