Get Moving During National Physical Education and Sport Week
This guest blog post was written by Brian Devore with SHAPE America.
We know the benefits of giving children 60 minutes of activity throughout the day. Those students have more focus, perform better on tests, miss less school, and stay out of trouble. With National Physical Education and Sport Week coming up May 1-7, SHAPE America is helping schools across the country celebrate by providing ideas to #MoveInMay!
Physical education teachers should be the champion in planning their school’s event. Get support from your administrators, staff members, PTA, and of course, your students to celebrate activity throughout the first week of May. Advocate for ANY extra activity that students can get during the school day. Find ways to spotlight staff members, parents and students who participate in sports and fitness activities after school hours. Design some unique opportunities for your students to move before, during, or after the school day. It could be as simple as opening the gym for activity before school begins, planning a “Walk/Bike to School Day,” or leading the school through some movement exercises on the morning announcements. SHAPE America’s website features one such activity called “Announcements, Announcements” that is easily implemented to get students moving during morning announcements. Added activity time during the day is a great way to enrich the culture at any school.
Classroom teachers can also get in on the celebration by incorporating activity breaks into their classroom time. A simple search of YouTube can provide easy activity breaks that can get your students moving in the classroom safely. Other programs, such as Adventure to Fitness, engage students in classroom curriculum standards and incorporate movement into the story. Want to start simple? Check out SHAPE America’s In-Class Brain Break or Tabata which will allow their students to move safely with simple body exercises that get their blood moving and brains refocused to learn!
Don’t miss out on the fun of National Physical Education and Sport Week this May 1-7. There are multiple resources available that enable our students to move throughout the school day and celebrate being active. With SHAPE America’s theme of “50 Million Strong by 2029,” it is a great time to get all of our schools’ students and staff on the path to good health and active lifestyles!
Brian Devore is a Health and Physical Education Content Specialist with the Cobb County (GA) School District in Marietta, GA. He was the 2014 SHAPE America Southern District Elementary Physical Education Teacher of the Year and Georgia’s Let’s Move! Active Schools Coordinator. You can find Brian on Twitter @bdevore7 or on his website www.coachbdevore.weebly.com.
Posted by Allie Lawrence
on April 29, 2015