1. Active Classroom Challenge
Welcome everyone and thank you for attending the Heart Healthy Schools Active Classroom Challenge info webinar.
Today we will review:
The Heart Healthy School Program
Why Physical Activity is important
Current statistics for New Brunswick students
What you can do to encourage your students to live an active lifestyle
The Heart Healthy Schools active classroom Challenge

2. Heart Healthy Schools
A school where the healthy choice is made the easiest and most popular choice available.
Our Heart Healthy School philosophy:
Providing social support and physical infrastructure to make the healthy choice, the easiest and most popular choice to support a culture of health among the school population.

3. A Heart Healthy School is…
Providing an environment that supports:
Healthy Eating
Increased fruits and vegetables
Decreased sugar sweetened beverages
Physical activity
Increased physical activity
Decreased screen time
An environment that supports Healthy Eating and Physical Activity practices and culture.
In our Heart Healthy Schools initiative, the focus for HSFNB is to address the behaviours that have been shown through informed practice to decrease the risk of childhood obesity:
Children eating at least 5 serving of Vegetables and Fruits everyday
Children limiting recreational screen time to 2 hours maximum per day
Children obtaining at least 60 minutes of quality physical activity
And a complete omission of sugar sweetened beverages
The focus of today’s webinar will be “Physical Activity in the classroom”

4. Why is physical activity so important for children?
Excellent for Heart Health
Maintain a healthy body weight
Lessen the likelihood of tobacco, alcohol, and drug use
Improved mental health
Develop good habits into adulthood
There is significant improvement in both physical and mental health when children obtain their required 60 minutes of physical activity per day.
Benefits of physical activity (Health Canada)
Physical activity is an important part of healthy living at any age, and it's essential for children.
Physical activity helps children:
develop cardiovascular fitness, strength, flexibility, and bone density
maintain a healthy body weight
reduce the risk of chronic disease and health problems
lessen the likelihood of tobacco, alcohol, and drug use
feel better every day, through improved mental health and well-being
Making regular physical activity a habit at an early age will provide your child with lifelong benefits. Adults with higher levels of activity are able to carry out their daily tasks more easily and with less fatigue and, later in life, enjoy lower rates of bone loss associated with osteoporosis while also maintaining strength, flexibility, balance, and coordination.

5. Did You Know…
Physical Education classes averaging 18 minutes or more a day can double the odds that an overweight or obese child becomes and remains physically active.
McKenzie TL, Felman H, Woods SW, Romero KA, Dahlstrom V, Stone EJ, Strikmiller PK, Willsiton JM, & Harsha DW. Children’s activity levels and lesson context during third-grade physical education. Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport 1995;66:
Long-Term Consequences of Physical Inactivity
Overweight and obesity( which are influenced by physical inactivity and poor diet, can increase one’s risk for diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, asthma, arthritis, and poor health status.5-7
Physical inactivity increases one’s risk for dying prematurely, dying of heart disease, and developing diabetes, colon cancer, and high blood pressure.1

6. Why is physical activity so important for children?
Physical Activity plays a significant role in improving academic performance.
Positive associations between physical activity and cognitive abilities, behaviours and academic performance (grades) have been consistently found. Studies also indicate that increased time spent on physical education, which led to less time spent on other “important” subjects, such as math and English, did not result in diminished academic performance. More physical education during the day can therefore contribute to children having improved academic outcomes.

7. Physical Inactivity – How are we doing?
Only 4% of girls and 9% of boys are meeting Canadian Physical Activity Guidelines (CHMS, )
In NB, Youth (5-19 yrs.) take fewer steps when compared to the national averages
Only 22% of Canadian Children receive Physical Education at school daily.
4% or Girls and 9% or boys are meeting CPAG (Colley RC, Garriguet D, Janssen I, Craig C, Clarke J & Tremblay MS. Physical activity of Canadian children and youth: Accelerometer results from the 2007–2009 Canadian Health Measures Survey. Health Reports 2011;2(1):12–20.)
Canadian Guidelines are 60 minutes of moderate/vigorous activity every day for children and youth.
Only 22% of Canadian Children receive Physical Education at school daily. 44% days/week. 25% days/week. 9% - no PE classes
(Active Healthy Kids Canada – Report Card 2011)
Children and Youth (ages 5 – 19) in New Brunswick take fewer steps than the average Canadian child, recording roughly an average of 11,100 daily steps compared to a national average of 11,600 daily steps.

8. Physical activity recommendations for youth who are 5 to 17 years old
Accumulate at least 60 minutes of structured physical activity per day
At least 3 times a week, activities that are vigorous intensity
Examples: running, basketball, soccer
At least 3 times a week, activities that strengthen muscles and bone
Examples: running, walking, sit ups
What are we recommending for physcial activity in our school aged children?
At least 60 minutes of quality, structured PA daily.
And at least 3 times a week, children are engaged in vigorous activity with another 3 times/week children engaging in bone and muscle strengthening activities.

9. What can we do to encourage our students to be active?
Schools can promote physical activity through comprehensive physical activity programs:
Classroom-based activities
Recess
Intramural clubs
Interscholastic sports
Physical education
Ensure Physical Education is provided to all students in all grades, each day.
Schedule active time for your children after school.
CDC – Center for Disease Control - US
Schools should ensure that physical education is provided to all students in all grades and is taught by qualified teachers.
Schools can also work with community organizations to provide out-of-school-time physical activity programs and share physical activity facilities.

10. What can we do to encourage our students to be active?
Make your classroom an active classroom. Have 5-10 minutes activity breaks.
Encourage students to move outside of the classroom at recess, lunch and afterschool.
Encourage students to walk or bike to school.
Be a role model. Talk to your students about being active in sports and games.

11. Active Classroom Challenge
Objective: To promote an environment that supports and normalizes physical activity.
Goal: To ensure students get 60 minutes of physical activity each day. To normalize an active lifestyle.

12. Active Classroom Challenge
Before the Active Classroom Challenge week
Posters hung in school and classrooms
Pre-survey questionnaire
Parent handout
As you approach your Active classroom challenge week please remember to:
Hang posters in school and classrooms and
Administer the pre-survey questionnaire
Once the pre-survey questionnaire is administered, you can send the parent handout home

13. School Fruit and Vegetable Challenge
During the Active Classroom Challenge week
PA/classroom announcements
Active Classroom activities each day
“Get active” lesson plans (optional)

14. School Fruit and Vegetable Challenge
During the Challenge week
Each day, teachers pick one active classroom activity to do with students from handout provided.
*Post-survey questionnaire must be administered after each day of the 5 day challenge.
Teachers are welcome to use their own active classroom activities if they include a description in the post survey report.

15. School Fruit and Vegetable Challenge
After the Active Classroom Challenge week
Celebrate (optional)
Send questionnaires to the Heart Healthy Schools Coordinator
Once the challenge week is finished, please remember to administer the post-evaluation survey, logs and send in your questionnaires.

16. Questions? Christine Roherty, RD
Director, Heart Healthy Children and Youth
Questions?