By

Stefanie Ediger,   Westside Elementary

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Physical Activity Participation

We have a running club with 300 kids and around 30 parent volunteers. This year we met for 26 weeks on Thursdays after school for 30 minutes. We had 200 students complete one marathon, 40 students complete two marathons, 20 students complete three marathons, and 20 complete four marathons this year! At our school Move-A-Thon our school K-5th ran 3,501 laps in one day! I have had several parents thrilled that their child has been challenge to complete 4 marathons during a school year. This has helped the parent and student bond and be active together. The parent has started to be more active on their own as well. Our students love coming to running club! I've got Kinder kids chanting down the hall as they are coming to running club saying "running club, running club"!

How did you accomplish your goals?

Students were given a challenge to complete four marathons during the course of the school year. I changed the back of the running club badge so they would be able to see exactly how many miles they had completed. They also knew if they filled their badge then they had completed a marathon. Making this very visual for kids helped them push towards their goal. I also extended our running club season to last 26 weeks. Students could also with the help of their parents track at-home miles.