New program at Ella White teaches kids about healthy living
Crystal NelsonBy CRYSTAL NELSON
News Staff Writer
Approximately 160 students at Ella White Elementary School are participating in a Healthy Kids Challenge led by student teacher Carole Amlotte. The Healthy Kids Challenge is a four-week program that encourages students to eat healthy and exercise. The program, which is in its second week, focuses on different weekly goals.
Amlotte, who has been student teaching in Leslie Code's fifth grade class, said she came up with the idea but had a lot of help from the school's physical education teacher.
"The reason why I came up with it is because the teachers and staff are doing a challenge ourselves through the Bay Athletic Club and thought it would be nice to include the kids in some kind of challenge as well," she said.
She said her favorite part of creating and putting on the Healthy Kids Challenge is that it's a great learning experience and that she gets to know the parents and students of Ella White beyond her classroom.
Amlotte said the kids challenge is not about losing weight, but about living healthy while the staff challenge is primarily about losing weight.
Amlotte said so far the response has been positive and she has still seen permission slips trickling in. She said the staff seems excited about it and has been encouraging her.
"As far as the students, the only way I can tell is by who shows up to my workouts and it seems like at least half, maybe more of the total, show up every week for the workout," she said. "I'd say that's a good turnout, especially because it's so early. That means they have to get up earlier to come here."
In order to meet their weekly challenge and goals, students must complete one hour of physical fitness and meet the food challenge daily. The students then mark boxes on their fit logs if they completed the challenge for that day. At the end of the four weeks, the students will turn in their completed logs and will receive a fit challenge award certificate.
Each week the students and their parents receive a newsletter telling them about their weekly challenge. The newsletter explains what their challenge is and offers helpful information including facts, tips and resources to help them meet their weekly goals.
"And a credit goes to their parents as well because they're the ones buying the groceries" Amlotte said. "They have been great and supportive for their kid's healthy lifestyle,"
Last week's food challenge was called "stop the pop" and encouraged students to trade in their soda for water, milk and tea. This week the students have been trying to make sure half the grains they eat are whole grains while continuing last week's challenge of "stop the pop."
Next week's challenge is "attack the snack" where students will be reducing their snacking and learning about healthy snack choices. "Vary your veggies and focus on fruits" is the food challenge for the final week of the challenge which ends Dec. 7.
The students are split up between upper and lower elementary grades and spend a half hour exercising before school. The workouts begin at 8 a.m. with grades kindergarten through third exercising on Monday and grades fourth through sixth exercising on Wednesday. Amlotte said after stretching the students focused on muscle work last week and that they focused on cardio this week.
"I just see that being healthy is important in the regular classroom because it helps kids stay focused and if they're healthy, they're more apt to do well in school," she said.
Crystal Nelson can be reached via e-mail at cnelson@thealpenanews.com or by phone at 358-5693.
