Florida fights childhood obesity with new gym rules
Students exercise at Forest Hills Elementary in Coral Springs, Florida
Decades ago we had initiated a similar program out of self-defense in the Archdiocese of Louisville, Kentucky where I began as a young teacher. Many days young children were shut in classrooms because of cold or rainy weather, and as every mother and teacher of young students comes to understand: allowing children to constructively burn off energy may be a nuisance, but in the end all will be happier for it.
Also, some kinetic learners need movement in order to learn. Thus, they learn concepts and skills while all have fun during exercising and learning, imprinting the lesson.
Florida fights childhood obesity with new gym rule
Schools must comply with a state law requiring children in kindergarten through fifth grade to receive 30 minutes of continuous physical education every day.
Coral Springs, Fla. - James Destilus and Kenneth Gutierrez want to be on the football team when they move up to middle school next year. Mike Lawson prefers basketball. And Lauren Rebaza and Jhullyza Calderon will try out for swimming.
The fifth-graders might have different sporting ambitions, but they're working toward their goals in the same way: strutting around their classroom, flapping their arms like roosters, and singing at the top of their voices to a song called "Chicken Fat."
It's great fun for the students, but this unorthodox approach to fitness also has its serious side. It helps the school, Forest Hills Elementary in Coral Springs, Fla., comply with a state law that came into effect this semester requiring children in kindergarten through fifth grade to receive 30 minutes of continuous physical education every day.
While efforts within the education system to curb soaring rates of childhood obesity are not new, Florida's recent inclusion of the word "continuous" presents a specific difficulty to schools trying to juggle already crowded curricula.
Before the law was implemented, there were reports of some schools including the children's walk to the cafeteria at lunchtime as part of a looser requirement of 150 minutes' exercise, in any combination, per week.
"There's no doubt this was a challenge, and we had a lot of planning to do, sitting down with our teachers to find a way to get this exercise in without disrupting their schedule," says Vince Dawes, assistant principal of Forest Hills Elementary, which has 620 students.
"The teachers rose to the challenge, and the kids love what they're doing," Mr. Dawes says. "I walk around the school, and I'll hear a lot of noise and music from somewhere, and wonder, 'what was that?' And there will be a class full of kids jumping up and down with big smiles on their faces."
Forest Hills, which is part of the Broward County Schools District, came up with some of the most creative responses to the new requirement, according to Elly Zanin, curriculum specialist in physical education for the district.
One of Forest Hills' first steps was finding space in the timetable. Each class now uses daily recess for formal PE, whether that is yoga, pilates, or routines like "Chicken Fat," which fifth-grade teacher Patricia Purvin prepared for her class.
Videos entitled "Forest Hills Fever" are also shown daily. The 30-minute programs are professionally produced outside the school and feature a variety of activities, of which the children say they prefer mock martial-art routines.
And parts of the Forest Hills schoolyard have been transformed from general playground to "designated outdoor fitness areas" for activities under the guidance of PE teacher Joseph Alfonso, who sees each class at least once a week. In better weather, this is where Mrs. Purvin's class would usually be flapping to the chicken dance or performing another favorite, the "Cha Cha Slide."
The Broward school district has "one of the shortest school days, and of course it's a challenge to fit it in alongside the academic demands," Ms. Zanin says. "That's why the schools have had to be creative."
With no extra time in the school day, and no extra funding for the law, necessity has become the mother of invention. Take one of Broward County's new lesson plans that is recommended to elementary schools:
Students perform PE during the math segment by circling the classrooms and stretching to measure desks, windows, and white boards.
At Gilchrist Elementary School in Tallahassee, PE teacher Neeley Knight has adopted a "learning through movement" program called "Brain Gym," which uses stretching exercises to try to improve thought and mental capacity.
In Polk County, according to PE curriculum coordinator Don Knitt, several schools are integrating PE with academic lessons in other ways. "Our focus is not to reduce physical education time but to concentrate on activities that will help improve their learning ability," he says. "PE supports other academic disciplines."
Also, fitness doesn't stop with the children. The Broward school district encourages its staff to take up its provision of free membership in a national gymnasium chain, as well as to participate fully in their students' exercise sessions.
"It gives me a good workout, too," says Purvin, who claims to be fitter than ever to pursue her outside hobby of line dancing. "But teachers are excused jumping," she jokes.
Lauren, one of the students who wants to try out for swimming, thinks it's "cool" that her teacher not only choreographs the class sessions, but leads them, too. "It shows us that it's important to stay active and get stronger for when we're older," says the 10-year-old, who also exercises with weekend Frisbee games and long walks with the family dog.
Experts in childhood obesity agree that schools alone cannot solve a problem in which the percentage of overweight 6- to 11-year-olds in the US has leapt from 6.5 in 1980 to 18.8 a decade and a half later, according to the most recent figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
"The law in Florida is a good one, and it's definitely a step in the right direction," says James Sallis, professor of psychology at San Diego State University and program director of Active Living Research at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
"By itself it won't solve anything. Neither will removing vending machines from schools nor improving school lunches," Professor Sallis says. "But take those things together and encourage children to walk or cycle to school, make them more active after school and at weekends, and you begin to make progress."
He also cautions, "My issue is that a lot of elementary school teachers have responsibility for PE teaching, but may not have the training. Students might get 30 minutes of PE, but it might not be of good quality."
Florida's aim is to guide its youngest students away from a path leading to the state's 11 percent of high school students who are obese, according to the CDC.
"We need to be teaching children to make good, solid, healthy choices early in life so they can form the habits that will last a lifetime," says Sterling Ivey, spokesman for Charlie Crist (R), Florida's governor.
Crist, a former high school quarterback who prides himself on his own physical fitness, is backing up the elementary school initiative with the eight-week Governor's Fitness Challenge, which is scheduled to begin in January and encourages elementary and middle schools to take part in physical exercises and tests.
Richard Luscombe | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor
Go here for Chicken Fat aka "The Youth Fitness Song," that was written by Meredith Wilson of "Music Man" fame. It was commissioned by John F. Kennedy for his new Youth Fitness Program.
Chicken Fat
Credit: Meredith Wilson, composer; Robert Preston, performer; Bernie Green, conductor
LYRICS TO "CHICKEN FAT," ALSO KNOWN AS "THE YOUTH FITNESS SONG"
Touch down
Every morning
Ten times!
Not just
Now and then.
Give that chicken fat
Back to the chicken,
And don't be chicken again.
No, don't be chicken again.
Push up
Every morning
Ten times.
Push up
Starting low.
Once more on the rise.
Nuts to the flabby guys!
Go, you chicken fat, go away!
Go, you chicken fat, go!
Good morning!
Hands on hips, place!
Now then, touch your toes with me. Ready!
Touch down (up)
Every morning (down)
Ten times!
(Up) Not just (d-) [he mistakenly starts to say "down" here]
(Four!) Now and then (up)
(Five!) Give that (up) chicken fat
(Six!) Back to the (up) chicken and
(Seven!) Don't be (up) chicken (Eight!) again
(up) No, (Nine!) don't be (up) chicken again. (Ten...halt!)
Hit the dirt! Hit!
Push ups next,
Nice and steady.
Not too fast.
Ready!
Push up (down)
Every morning (up)
Ten times!
Push up,
Starting low.
(Down! That's five.) Once more (down) on the rise
(Six!) Nuts to the (down) flabby guys.
Go, you chicken fat, go away (down).
(Nine) Go, you (down) chicken fat, go!
Ten, and halt!
Now, struggle up to your feet!
Strug...(Struggle!)
March in place, march!
Left! Left! Left! Left!
Left a good pound and a quarter.
Was it right, right that it should be left?
Yes, I left! Left! Left! Left!
Left a good pound and a quarter.
It was right (left), right (left) that it should be left!
And halt! One, two.
Next, sittups.
Everybody's favorite, so on your back, drop.
All right girls, you're in this too.
Arms over head, flop!
C'mon girls, now!
Sit up!
Sit up (down)
Every morning (up)
Ten times
Sit up (down)
(Up) On your seat. (down)
(Five) Swing that rusty gate.
(Six) Don't drop the tempo, mate.
(Seven) Can't win draggin' your feet.
(Eight) No, (nine) can't win draggin' your feet.
Ten, and halt!
Now on your feet, up!
Everybody, hands on hips, place.
Twist your trunk to the left, ready!
Twist left, front,
Now the right side,
Ten times!
Twist left, front
(Right) Grunting low (front)
Grunt!
(Ungh!) Louder!
(Ungh!) Front, now!
Left and front and everybody sing!
Go, you chicken fat, go!
And, halt.
Fingers back of your neck, lace.
Right foot forward, place.
The pogo spring, landing on alternate feet.
Ready!
Spring left,
Spring right,
Higher!
Higher!
Up, down,
Up, down,
Higher!
Higher!
Wait, not too high!
Up, down,
Up, down,
Up, down,
Halt!
Drop your hands to the side, feet together, place.
Overhead, clap, and jump to stride.
Known as the jumping jack far and wide.
All right, are you ready? Ready!
Jump, two! Clap, Two!
Clap, two! Clap, slap!
Clap, slap! Clap, slap!
Jump, two! Jump, two!
Jump, it's good for you.
Three more is all we do.
Jump, two!
And...halt and sing!
Go, you chicken fat, go!
March in place,
March! Left! Left! Left!
Left a good pound and a quarter.
Was it right, right that it should be left?
Oh, I left! Left! Left! Left!
Left a good pound and a quarter.
It was right (left), right (left) and halt.
One, two.
Palms up, arms to the side, raise!
Next we're gonna do backwards circles,
Ready? Ready!
Circle round, round, round,
Back and around, back and around.
Back and around, back and around.
And back and around, and reverse.
And around, Front and around.
Front and around, front and around.
Front and around, and halt.
Arms to the side, place.
On your back, drop.
And now, raise your legs in the air, raise!
It's the bicycle ride!
And, pump, pump, pump, pump,
Pump, pump, pump, pump,
Pump, pump, pump, pump,
Pump, pump, and...
Halt.
On your feet, up
Quickly, quickly, next
Inhale, arms sweep up inward,
Exhale, arms out and down.
(Inhale, arms sweep up inward,
Exhale, outward, down.)
Ready!
Inhale, slow
Every morning
Exhale, clear down.
Inhale, take the air!
Down and around and inhale.
Grab that oxygen,
Exhale and try again!
You're not getting your share.
(Clear down) No, (inhale) you're not getting your share!
On the down, halt!
The tortoise and the hare next.
First the tortoise.
Bend the elbow, and run in place.
Ready? Ready!
Running, (two)
(Run)
Like a tortoise,
(Okay)
Too far, and too slow.
Now double up, ready!
(Running)
Run two three four,
(Like a hare)
Run two three four,
(Now you are)
Run two three four,
(Getting there)
Run two three four,
Go you
(Run two three four)
Chicken fat,
(Run two three four)
(Go away!)
Everybody sing!
Go, you chicken fat, go!
Go!
Go!
Dismissed!
This actually came out on a 45 rpm phonograph record! Get ithere on CD.
Here it is at Amazon.com. Amazon also offers a section to encourage you to buy related items called "Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought." Scroll down to that section: You will find many action-learning CDs.
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