By

Beverly Jordan,   Flower Mound El

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Topics:

Access to Healthy Foods, Community Involvement, Physical Activity Participation,  Student Leadership

Our 4th & 5th grade girls lead our school’s STEAM Night. This year we added a Health Fair that included Fitness and Health related to STEAM goals. Our students volunteer to run stations during the evening. These stations utilize our Science and Math curriculum, and the activities are taken from the TEKS curriculum. The Health and Fitness component brought community members together with our campus to provide healthy snacks examples to our students.  Aramark, our district’s food service company, utilized fruits, vegetables, and dairy product samples to demonstrate healthy snacks to our families. This allowed a connection between the 21-Day Snack Challenge and FUTP 60’s encouragement of healthy snacking for children. In addition, our local hospital, Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital, provided screening dates the hospital provides, and goodie bags to promote the hospital's relationship with the community. There were also two community members who provided hands on fitness activities for the families. One set of local personal trainers used running parachutes to simulate wind resistance and how it affects objects. The second activity provided the families with the opportunity to measure their heart rate before completing an obstacle course and after completion. The students compared the heart rate readings and explained how the activity affected their heart rates.

How did students and adults work together as a team?

The students and teachers worked together to decide which activities the STEAM Night would include. There were “training” sessions to provide the students with the opportunity to practice leading an activity. The students created signage, advertised, provided personal check-in, and ran the various activities throughout the school. The adults were available to the students should a need arise; however, the evening was completely run by the students.

What improvements have you seen at your school?

We had computers available to sign up for the 21-Day Snack Challenge. The availability of technology for the families to sign up increased the number of families who are participating in this challenge by approximately 30% from last year. Also, the students have been excited to share their experiences from the activities and how they are using the experience to understand concepts found in their math and science curriculum.

How did you accomplish your goals?

There were several goals. Our campus wants to encourage STEAM fields for our campus students, especially with the girls. We also wanted to increase the number of families participating in the snack challenge within our district. Lastly, we wanted to connect the health and fitness industry to STEAM goals and choices as a career.