The Importance of Health and Fitness in the Classroom By Sonni Black

Why do we need to know about health exercise? It is a fact that all people need to incorporate exercise into their lifestyles. It is also a fact that some people are not properly educated on what type of nourishments their bodies need, and what type of foods offer it to them. There are five reasons why health and fitness should be encouraged at school: 1. Children are full of energy that needs to be released 2. They may not know the difference between what is healthy and what isn’t 3. They may not get to exercise at home 4. Some children do not like to be physically active 5. Children learn from their environment.

What are the advantages and disadvantages? DisadvantagesAdvantages Improves Mentality Improves Posture, Strength and Circulation Helps prevent obesity and diabetes Takes time away from studies

Children are full of energy  Why they need to release energy:  So they will not become restless  To relieve stress  So they will be able to pay better attention  Ways to do so:  Every half hour let the children play a small game or activity  Allow the children to stand up and walk them through some stretches  If you are teaching a math lesson ask them to do jumping jacks to solve problems. Example: have all of the children stand up and show them the equation “2+3”then ask them to jump out the answer.

The Understanding of Health  Some children do not understand that the body runs off of nutrients that comes from the foods that we eat.  Some children have never been educated on what kinds of foods your body needs aside from kinds the body does not need.  Do they understand that an apple is healthier than a cookie?

Do they get enough exercise?  An adult is expected to get at least 30 minutes of exercise daily.  Children are expected to get even more than that.  If we aren’t partaking in exercise in the school, are the children getting the right amount of physical activity that is needed?  We spend 8 hours a day in the school. Most children go straight home, eat dinner, and get ready for bed.  So when do they have time to exercise?

Are they interested in being physically active?  Some children do not enjoy being active. They look at it as work, or a challenge.  If the activity is something they enjoy doing, they will not think of it this way.  Try altering the activities in a way where all children will enjoy participating with the class.  Don’t make the activities too strenuous.  If the child can do the activity they will feel a sense of pride, and want to do it even more.

Children learn from their environment.  Have you ever heard the expression “Monkey see, monkey do”?  Children are a good example of this. If a child sees their friends doing something, they will pick that up.  If a child who normally has no interest in physical activity sees their friends playing soccer, or jump roping, that child is more likely to take part in the activity.  Children teach themselves  They will learn how to use their muscles on their own. They will also learn how to have more control over those muscles as they use them. However, they must have the opportunity to be active to learn from it.

Quick and Fun Activities to Get Moving:  1. Generate a simple routine – come up with a couple of activities such as jump on one foot, hop like a frog, swim forwards and backwards.  2. Get the students dancing. As a class come up with a dance routine that the children enjoy doing.  3. Have a quick game of Simon Says or Red Light Green Light.  4.Toss a balloon around the classroom. Don’t let it drop.  If it does, the class has to do ten jumping jacks.  5. Make musical instruments, and ribbon wands that the children can use and play music together. Let them walk in a circle around the room and pretend they are in a parade.

Incorporate Exercise into Your Lesson:  When working on spelling, have the children each hold their own beanbag or ball. Call out a word and help them to draw it out with their bodies.  Example: If they are drawing the letter “A”, they should squat and twist their body to their left foot, come up, squat and twist to their right foot, then make a cross in the center.  When working on counting in math, get a bowl for each student. Give them pieces of food from the dramatic play center to place into their bowl. You can ask the children questions to solve math problems by placing the appropriate amount of foods into the bowl.  An example question could be:  Place two pieces of healthy foods and one piece of unhealthy food into the bowl. How many pieces do you have in your bowl?

Incorporate Health into Your Lesson:  Give your students two pieces of paper. Title one “healthy” and the other “unhealthy”. Have them cut out pictures of foods from magazines. They can glue them onto each piece of paper grouping them appropriately.  Create a large picture of a calculator onto a shower curtain. One at a time have your children come up and give them a math problem. Ask them to put the problem into the calculator by jumping on the buttons. They will then come up with the answer on their own after they jump to the equal button.

References  prek/health-fitness/resources/  the-elementary-school-classroom-a the-elementary-school-classroom-a  -classroom-activities-to-promote-health- exercise/ -classroom-activities-to-promote-health- exercise/