By

renee howe,   Ryan Elementary School

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Topics:

Community Involvement, Physical Activity Participation, Student Leadership,  Teamwork

At Ryan Elementary our Fuel Up to Play 60 team has taken over Wednesdays. Student leaders use the morning announcements to give challenges and brain break reminders for the week. Some examples of our challenges include: walking and biking to school week, eating colorful fruits and vegetables, getting your winter exercise, and a water drinking challenge. We kicked off the school year with National Walk and Bike to school week. Students who rode bikes or walked to school were awarded tickets for prize drawings. Students who were not able to walk or bike to school were given the option to complete exercises (lead by our FUTP 60 team) to attain tickets. Students, staff, parents and administrators have really embraced this concept by being engaged and supportive of the efforts. Students and staff are encouraged to wear their work-out gear on Wednesdays. This gear sets the tone for students to complete their healthy challenges and remind teachers to take those "Brain Breaks." The Wellness Wednesday supports our healthy school efforts and provides a sense of collaboration and school spirit at our school.

How did students and adults work together as a team?

Student leaders help excite students and staff to motivate for the week's theme. Students are always reminding each other and staff of our weekly goal. The FUTP 60 Team reminds classrooms to keep up with their daily brain breaks to get more classroom movement. We have a teacher on staff that sends out a weekly Wellness Wednesday email that includes some motivational quotes to the staff.

How did you accomplish your goals?

Our FUTP 60 student leaders each select a theme or challenge for the week. The student then announces the challenge to the student body and staff on our Wednesday morning announcements. We created a simple chart to track which students have been leaders and their topics so that we don’t repeat throughout the year.

What improvements have you seen at your school?

Not only are we becoming more of a healthy school with these weekly goals, but we are building a sense of community and school spirit. Students and staff relate to each other by wearing sports or athletic wear and teachers love the fact that Wednesday’s attire is more relaxed. Students and staff cheer each other on to reach their goal. Not only can our staff and students see this culture, but parents are aware that we are a healthy school.