Clague School

Project Healthy Schools is happy to be back at Clague for a fourth year! We’re working with the 6th graders and the whole school to create a healthier school environment emphasizing our goals:

• Eat more fruits and vegetables
  
• Try to get 30 minutes of physical activity each day
  
• Eat less fast and fatty food
  
• Make better beverage choices
  
• Spend less mindless time in front of a screen
  

Updates
PHS Health Ambassadors began teaching during the second week of January in your child ’s 6th grade advisory. Our Health Ambassadors consist of 7 parents and 6 students from the University of Michigan. Our current UM students are in the medical school, School of Public Health and also taking an undergraduate class in Sociology.

Activities taught:

Activity 1: Overview of the program and physical activity
Students will be able to describe PHS goals and objectives, learn that the minimum goal for daily physical activity is 30 minutes and describe the three types of physical activity (aerobic, strength training and flexibility). Students will also begin tracking a weeks worth of physical activity as they compete in a friendly competition against other advisories at the school.

Activity 2: MyPyramid!
By the end of the lesson, students will be able to recognize MyPyramid and identify healthier and less healthy food choices in each category. This week students continue to use their Tracker form and tracked fruits and vegetables consumed at lunch.

Activity 3: More MyPyramid
Students analyzed menus from the school cafeteria and were able to determine if the meals contained food from all five food groups and categorized combination foods into MyPyramid food groups. The last week of “tracking” was introduced and students will track healthy beverages (water, 100% juice and lowfat milk).

Activity 4: Get the Beat
Students learned how to find their heart rate and identify aerobic activity as a way to strengthen their heart. Health Ambassadors showed the students a 5 pound model of muscle and fat and comparisons were made. Students chose different activities to perform during a two minute period of time then recorded their heart rates in response to the activity. Tracking forms were collected and winners will be determined.

Free the Children/Life in Action Update

If your child is a member of the Student Council or perhaps enrolled in one of Mrs. Beaupre’s or Mrs. Greishaber’s classes you might have heard of a new initiative at Clague Middle School called Life in Action. Life in Action is a partnership of Free the Children, Project Healthy Schools and the Robert C and Veronica Atkins Foundation. Life in Action delivers innovative and unique youth training on healthy active living, combining inspirational peer leadership and mentoring. Through Free the Children’s network of over one million youth, Life In Action uniquely connects youth in North America to youth in developing countries through leadership education and the power of choices.

On Wednesday February 7, the Student Council, under the direction of Jennifer Quint and Kim Jackson, were treated to a day long workshop from Long Le, an energetic motivational speaker from Toronto, who took the students through a series of mind opening activities. Students learned about inequality in education for children throughout the world, with a particular focus on child labor in developing countries. The students were encouraged to verbalize inequalities that they perceive in their own world or frustrations viewed from a middle school perspective. We heard statements such as “I wish that kids came to school to learn and not socialize”, ”I wish other judged you on who you were and not what you looked like”, “I wish that there were not starving children in the world.”

Long then taught the students how to give a brief speech and coached them on how to be persuasive and effective speakers. Each student gave a 30 second speech and was critiqued in a positive way by Long and the other students.

Long showed parts of a documentary about the founder of Free the Children, Craig Kielburger, who at the age of 12 took on the issue of child labor by embarking on a journey to Asia to document abusive situations. He led a spirited game of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, quizzing students on their knowledge of good nutrition, physical exercise and world issues.

Long then concluded the day with the students verbalizing “I will” statements, such as “I will volunteer more”, “I will change the world”, “I will make a difference” or “I will be nicer to my little sibling” For those of us in attendance, it was an amazing day full of hope for what these students can do in the future. Look for great ideas to germinate from the Student Council in the next few weeks.

For more information about Free the Children and Life In Action visit their Web sites.

Throughout the remainder of February and into March, the Health Ambassadors will complete the 10 Project Healthy School activities in the 6th grade advisories. More updates next month!

Earlier this year:
During the last week of November we taught yoga and Pilates to the sixth graders in their PE classes. Small groups of students rotated through our stations learning moves such as, the cobra, downward dog, tree pose and the plank! The students ended the session with a corpse pose focusing on concentrating their energy into relaxation – not an easy task for 11 year olds! We are looking forward to circuit training in PE next week when we share strength training exercises using stability balls, medicine balls and elastic bands and loops. The students always love to learn these new activities and find them challenging.

The upcoming holidays and ever present cold and gloom in the winter months in Michigan make it difficult to realize our fitness and nutrition goals. Most Americans gain 1-2 pounds during the holiday season (not the 5-10 that is usually reported). The problem is that we tend to never take off these 1-2 pounds and over the course of 10 years the pounds add up! Counteract the usual gluttony by planning outdoor walks looking for wildlife or stars on a clear evening. Take your family to one of the fitness facilities in town (YMCA, Washtenaw County Recreation Center or one of the Universities facilities) and shoot some hoops, enjoy sledding, then walking back up of those hills – talk about a calorie burner! Try a new winter sport like snowshoeing, cross country skiing or downhill skiing!

Halloween was an exciting day at Clague middle school! Not only were the students excited about the evening festivities but the sixth graders were treated to an exciting kick-off assembly for Project Healthy Schools and Life in Action. The Project Healthy Schools kick-off began with inspirational talks from University of Michigan and Eastern Michigan University athletes. Students learned about the five goals of our program then participated in a lively, energy pumped dance with our fitness instructor. Mr. Hoeflinger dressed up like a carrot and looked fantastic!