By

daniel wilson,   Golden Hills Elementary School

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Physical Activity Participation

Our school has made a conscious effort to get students moving throughout the day, rain or shine. We have implemented a new program that allows students to get up and exercise for every half hour of learning. Teachers are using short YouTube workout videos, GoNoodle, and many other programs to get quick movements from the students. However, many of the activities the students are participating in are tied directly to the daily lesson by the classroom teachers. For example, multiplication facts combined with core exercises. Students do crunches for whatever the answer is. Students believe that so far this program has been a success as they enjoy the movement and the cognitive thinking process that increases from their workouts in the classroom.

What improvements have you seen at your school?

The improvements we have seen at our school are increased classroom participation and a more positive atmosphere due to the movement. Students state they are more focused for the shorter periods of time than they were before without the added movement.

How did students and adults work together as a team?

Students worked with teachers to develop a new schedule for our new plan.

What challenges did you face and how did you overcome them?

The challenges we faced had to do with coming up with a new schedule to implement these breaks. We needed to continue to have time to meet our curriculum needs. We were able to cut out some extra time to allow movement time and it all worked out.