CREATIVE STRATEGY – FIT Fun!
“FIT For Me, FIT For You” creative marketing activities will include a FIT Agenda, FIT Back-to-School Kick Off Event, FIT Sponsored Recesses, FIT Lesson Plans, FIT Fun Nights, and FIT Kits.
“FIT For Me, FIT For You” Daily Academic Agendas / Wellness Journals will be provided to all third through fifth grade students and will be distributed by teachers.
Agendas will emphasize the “FIT For Me, FIT For You” theme by showing students how to include physical activity and nutrition into their daily life, in a way that works for them (regardless of cultural background or socioeconomic status)! Providing these daily academic agendas in place of the traditional school agendas will help keep the FIT Program at “top of mind.”
Students will use these agendas daily; teachers and parents will also see them when signing off on assignments. “FIT For Me, FIT For You” will not only be a daily academic agenda, but also a wellness journal in that will allow students to keep track of both their school work and their healthy choices!
The wellness journal content will be incorporated in the daily academic planning sections and will be highly interactive. It will provide healthy tips and activities for children to participate in, as well as actual “journal” sections where students are able to reflect in their personal journey to FIT Program success (reflective essays, drawings, etc.). Students will be encouraged to participate in these activities by providing FIT Program branded incentives and prizes.
FIT personnel will visit each third to fifth grade classroom weekly to sign off on and award FIT agenda participation. The classroom with the most FIT participation at each school will receive a Wii and a Wii Fit as a special gift from the FIT Program!
“FIT For Me, FIT For You” Daily Academic Agendas/ Wellness Journals are also a great marketing opportunity in that FIT Program objectives and activities can be listed! Children, teachers, and parents will always have the opportunity to know what’s going on in the FIT Program. Furthermore, a brief introduction of the FIT Program will be placed the beginning of the agenda/wellness journal for reference for students and parents.
The FIT Program will work with the Grand Rapids School District to ensure that these agendas correspond with all Grand Rapids Public Schools’ agenda guidelines, listing all relevant school events and activities.
We’ve developed an event series, all to be held at the Grand Rapids YMCA, which is currently a FIT Program sponsor.
FIT Back-to-School Kick-Off Event
The FIT Back-to-School Kick-Off Event will involve third through fifth graders attending all participating Grand Rapids schools, their families, as well as sponsors and community members, who are also welcome to attend the event with no admission fee.
This event will feature light competitive fun with activities for attendees of all ages such as “FIT Food Art,” a grocery store scavenger hunt for kids, the “FIT Food Test”- taste test to find healthy and unhealthy versions of popular cultural foods, “Grocery Challenge” with gift card prizes for adults, cultural dance lessons, a healthy cooking seminar featuring cultural foods and fun physical activities.
Prizes and free FIT promotional material will be given to each participant.
Translators will be present to assist Spanish-speaking attendees.
FIT Fun Nights
FIT Fun Nights are free of charge and will include a variety of fun, social, physical and educational activities that are specifically designed to be culturally appropriate. Healthy food and FIT-branded prizes will be provided at these events as an incentive for attendance.
FIT Fun Nights will hold activities for both adults and children such as cultural dance classes, cooking classes, seminars for raising a healthy family, and educational games and activities. Translators will be present for Spanish speaking attendees.
FIT Sponsored Recess
As an effort to increase knowledge of the FIT Program and to encourage students and school staff to participate in physical activity, the FIT Program will sponsor organized activities during students’ recess period on a weekly basis. Although the FIT Program targets students in grades third through fifth, all students, staff and parent volunteers are invited to join.
At FIT Sponsored Recess participants will engage in interactive exercise, learn about healthy lifestyles, and have fun. Participation in recess activities will be encouraged through incentives such as healthy snacks, educational materials, awards, and prize give-a-ways!
FIT Sponsored Recess Activities are a great match for our “FIT For Me, FIT For You” theme, showing children that living a healthy lifestyle through participating in physical activity can be social and fun.
English to Spanish translation will be provided at all relevant recesses. We recognize that some schools may not need such service.
For the remaining four recesses each week that the FIT Program is not sponsoring, boxes of FIT-branded recess supplies will be provided to each classroom for student use. These FIT-branded supplies will include jump ropes, soccer balls, basketballs, and footballs.
Example Recess Activity: Recess Challenges!
Several stations are set up with different challenges and activities. During a FIT Sponsored Recess, the students are encouraged to choose a challenge. He/she may set a goal or estimate what score he/she will attain. He/she will be responsible for tallying his/her own score for each challenge using the life skills of responsibility and honesty. Students work with a partner. At the end of the recess period, the students and FIT personnel tally the scores from each station and find the average for each station for the day. The students get a FIT-branded prize for their participation.
Students are encouraged to return to the FIT Sponsored Activity to continue the challenge the following week. At the end of the month FIT Program personnel will assess which students have met their goals, and /or tallied the most points. These students will receive FIT Awards.
FIT Recess Challenge participation can also include community members, parents, teachers, principals, etc.
Examples of recess stations:
• Jump Rope: How many jumps in one minute?
• Basketball: How many baskets made in one minute?
• Walk/Jog/Run: How many laps around the track?
• Hula Hoop: How many minutes without a miss?
• Push-ups: How many push-ups in one minute?
• Pull-ups: How many pull-ups in one minute?
• Jump across: How many times can you jump across the line in one minute?
• Step-ups: How many times can you step up and down on the box or curb in one minute?
• Number Ball: Partners throw a ball with numbers 1-9 marked all over it. When the partner catches the ball, he/she adds the number under his/her right thumb to the running sum. What is your final sum in one minute?
FIT Sponsored Recesses will also try to incorporate educational material when possible. Some Michigan Grade Level Content Expectations concepts practiced during our example activity are measurement, number operations, averaging, estimating, and predication. The fitness component in the challenges meets the FIT Program’s principles and health education needs of the students.
FIT Lesson Plans
Lesson plans will comply with Michigan Grade Level Content Expectations and will be taught by FIT volunteers; teachers will be excited because they are required to teach these topics and classroom activities will be planned and executed for them.
FIT Volunteers be recruited from MSU’s Education seniors, participation in teaching will be good for their resume and a great learning experience.
Lesson plans to be used in the classroom provide further marketing for the program in that FIT volunteers will introduce the program before beginning the lesson, children will share with others what they have learned, and many of the lesson plans involve students creating FIT-branded work for school display (please see example lesson plans for reference). Translators will be present to assist Spanish-speaking students when applicable.
Example FIT Lesson Plans:
Third Grade Lesson Plan: Aerobic and Anaerobic Activity
Lesson Curricular Connection: Health/ Science
Michigan Grade Level Content Expectations:
S.IA.03.13: Communicate and present ﬁndings of observations and investigations.
S.RS.03.11: Demonstrate scientiﬁc concepts through various illustrations, performances, models, exhibits, and activities.
Objective of Lesson:
Children will discuss and demonstrate the differences between aerobic and anaerobic exercises, identify aerobic and anaerobic activities they enjoy, and discuss the importance of participating in both aerobic and anaerobic activities.
Points to Emphasize:
Aerobic activities are those that make you breathe deeply for an extended period of time, while anaerobic activities are those that strengthen the body and cannot be performed for long periods of time.
Chart paper, art supplies, whistle, and beanbags (one for each child).
1) Begin a discussion with children about a track meet. Ask children if they are familiar with these two running events: the 100-meter dash and the marathon. Discuss the similarities and differences between the two races. Graph the information using a Venn diagram. To create the Venn diagram, draw two overlapping circles on a piece of chart paper or on a board. Label the circles “100-meter dash” and “marathon.”
2) Ask children:
• Which race is faster?
• Which race takes longer?
• Which race requires more energy in a shorter period of time?
• Which race requires more energy over a longer period of time?
3) Record children’s responses in the appropriate circles. If an answer applies to both races, record the information in the intersection of the circles.
4) Guide children in reading the graphic organizer by explaining that in the 100-meter dash, a runner uses lots of energy to run as fast as he or she can over a short period of time. The athlete may get tired faster. That is, they will feel their heart beating faster. Their breath will be deeper and faster, usually after the race, to make up the oxygen debt for the energy used during the sprint. Tell children this is called “anaerobic” activity. It literally means “without oxygen.”
5) Now, turn the discussion toward the marathon runner. Explain that this athlete needs energy to burn over a longer period of time. Since the runner is going much slower, the energy is utilized on a “pay as you go” basis over a long period of time. The duration of this run far exceeds that of the sprinter. Tell children this is called “aerobic” activity, which means “with oxygen.”
6) To help children fully understand the difference between aerobic and anaerobic activities, perform the following game. Have children stand on a line in your room or outside.
7) Ask children to sprint as fast as they can to the finish line. Once they reach the finish line, give them a few minutes to “catch their breath.” Ask children to describe how it felt to perform this activity. Was their heart beating fast? Were they out of breath?
8) Next, ask them to jog (not run!) a few easy laps on a pre-designed jogging track or around the playing area.
9) When they complete the second run, ask them to walk one lap then to sit down. Ask children how it felt to perform this activity. How do their hearts feel? Are they out of breath? Ask children which activity is easier to sprint and which would be harder to sprint. Why might this be so?
10) Back in the classroom, invite children to create a chart that lists the different aerobic and anaerobic activities (both in and outside of school) that they enjoy. Post in the classroom. Ask students to label charts “FIT Program- Fun Exercises.”
11) Using the list, have children keep a log for one week in which they keep track of all of the aerobic and anaerobic activities that they do and how performing them makes them feel.
12) When the week is up, ask them to set a personal goal to increase their aerobic and anaerobic fitness.
• What is an aerobic activity? An anaerobic activity?
• Name activities that have a long duration and also activities that have a short duration.
• What activities make you tired fast? What activities do not make you tired fast?
• Why is aerobic and anaerobic exercise important?
Fourth Grade Lesson Plan: Eat Right! Nutrition Activity
Lesson Curricular Connection: Health/ Science
Michigan Grade Level Content Expectations:
L.OL.04.16 Determine that animals and humans require air, water, and a source of energy.
Objective of Lesson:
The student will explain how nutrition affects personal health. Key concepts include the importance of balance, variety, and moderation in a meal plan. This lesson requires students to use their knowledge of the food groups and the Food Pyramid to understand nutritious eating and to plan a healthy meal.
Food Pyramid reference sheets, large construction paper, magazines, advertising supplements, supermarket fliers, scissors, and glue.
1) Distribute the Food Pyramid and discuss with the class the kinds of food in each level and what the triangular shape means. Explain why nutritious eating is an important part of a healthy lifestyle.
2) Distribute empty food pyramid triangles drawn on large pieces of construction paper to each group.
3) Have students scan magazines and other illustrated, consumable materials for pictures of food. Then ask them to cut out the pictures, sort them according to the food groups, and paste the pictures in the appropriate areas of the Food Pyramid as suggested.
4) At the bottom of the large construction paper, groups should create a healthy “meal” by pasting additional images of food, students should consult the Food Pyramid.
5) Have students write “The FIT Program Teaches Healthy Living” at the top of their work. Collages should be hung in the cafeteria.
• What are the major food groups?
• What should you eat the most of in a day? The least of? Why?
• How does nutrition affect your health?
• How does your daily diet compare to the Food Pyramid’s recommendations? Is it similar? Or do you eat a lot different?
• What can you do to change your eating habits in a healthy way?
Fifth Grade Lesson Plan: Mapping, Means & Multiples with Movement Skills and Fitness Activities
Lesson Curricular Connection: Math
Michigan Grade Level Content Expectations:
N.ME.05.12 Find the product of two unit fractions with small denominators using an area model.
N.MR.05.13 Divide a fraction by a whole number and a whole number by a fraction, using simple unit fractions.
N.FL.05.14 Add and subtract fractions with unlike denominators through 12 and/or 100, using the common denominator that is the product of the denominators of the 2 fractions.
N.FL.05.18 Use mathematical statements to represent an applied situation involving addition and subtraction of fractions.
Objective of Lesson:
Students will learn how to use fractions effectively while discovering healthy recipes!
Chart paper, markers, FIT Program Healthy Recipe Books, bananas, cocoa powder, and unsweetened coconut.
1) Review the FIT Program Healthy Recipe Book with students, making a point to explain why healthy cooking is important.
2) Group students into teams with four members each, supplying each student with a FIT Program Healthy Recipe Book to be used for this activity. Books are for children to keep and share with their families. Have each group pick their favorite recipe and assess if there are enough ingredients listed to feed 50 people.
3) Have students use a function table to calculate how much the recipe would have to be increased.
4) Ask students to write their new recipe on the chart paper provided and present their calculations to the class.
5) Write the FIT Program Healthy Recipe Book’s “Cocoa-Nut Bananas” recipe and serving size on the board. Have students help increase the ingredients in this recipe to prepare enough for the entire class. Make sure to write the new recipe on the board so it is visible for the class.
6) Explain to students that because they did such a good job calculating the ingredients needed for the “Cocoa-Nut Bananas” the class gets to make this healthy treat! Be sure to explain why “Cocoa-Nut Bananas” can be a great addition to a healthy diet.
7) Send 2 students from each group to measure and bring the correct ingredients to the rest of the group. Give students step-by-step instructions while they prepare their treat.
• How did you calculate the correct ingredients for the recipes?
• When will you use these calculations again?
• What else did you learn?
• Why is healthy eating important?
Ask that students use the FIT Program Healthy Recipe Book to cook with their families at home. Recipes should be altered and calculated for a different serving size than what is listed in the book. Brief reflection papers should be written on this assignment. Make sure to tell students to refrain from using the stove, oven, or sharp utensils without parental supervision.
FIT in the Cafeteria
The FIT message will be incorporated in the cafeteria and in the Federal Free and Reduced-Price Lunch Program. This is a great match for our campaign because as our situation analysis states, most children are eating school-provided foods.
FIT Nutrition Coaches will work with the district’s food program to ensure healthy meals are provided to students. Coaches will also be available during one lunch period per week to answer children’s nutrition questions and assist with healthy food choices.
“FIT Approved” stickers will be placed on all healthy cafeteria food options to assist students in healthy food selection. “FIT Approved” healthy cafeteria food listings will also be posted in the cafeteria and in lunch lines.
FIT Kits will be provided to local establishments in the Grand Rapids Community to begin independent FIT Program participation. Establishments provided FIT Kits include churches, other schools, and sponsoring organizations.
Kits will include all necessary, appropriate materials for unique FIT participation:
• Health and fitness information
• Banner to show involvement
School Staff/Program Communication Facilitation
Quarterly school staff meetings will assist staff in keeping up with current FIT happenings, and will allow feedback on our program.
Staff involvement will also include brief FIT Program training sessions to assist with the implementation of the intervention components. During these meetings, FIT Program’s goals and agenda will be introduced and staff will be taught how to best implement FIT’s agenda. Food and FIT-branded give-a-ways will be provided as an incentive for attendance.