Could NCLB Law be making kids fat?

According to a documentary directed by former Brigham Young University film student Steven Greenstreet, the way schools have reacted to the federal law contributes to a national childhood obesity epidemic. So do a lot of other factors that play out on the schools' stages.

Greenstreet, director of the award-winning documentary "This Divided State," about filmmaker Michael Moore's 2004 visit to Utah Valley State College, is putting the finishing touches on the film, "Killer at Large," produced by ShineBox Media Productions in Salt Lake City. The film, which Greenstreet plans to submit to 30 festivals, explores childhood obesity in America.

A dozen schoolteachers interviewed for the film said the federal No Child Left Behind policy is part of the problem, Greenstreet said. Vending machine junk food, what some call lax USDA school lunch standards, overpriced produce also are fingered as contributors, among a slew of other factors.

Utah health and education leaders tend to agree.

More on NCLB and childhood obesity film.....

Recess for Elementary School Students

It is the position of the National Association for Sport and Physical Education (NASPE) that all elementary school children should be provided with at least one daily period of recess of at least 20 minutes in length. Read more...

Making A Difference for Kids

Volunteers in communities across the nation united in late October to perform community service projects for Make A Difference Day. The local Make a Difference Day event is led by the Volunteer Resource Center of SCV in cooperation with the city of Santa Clarita in Southern CA. Whenever there are large groups of children around, playgrounds are anything but peaceful. To address the issues of conflicts in games, bullying and the rise of childhood obesity Saugus School District implemented the Peaceful Playgrounds program. It is a set of colorful games painted onto the blacktop that includes over 100 activities. With so many well-marked and colorful games, kids are motivated to play more and be active instead of waiting around in lines. The program also encourages use of a universal set of rules and methods for conflict resolution that helps cut down the number of disagreements.

When the Saugus district implemented Peaceful Playgrounds a few years ago, the schools loved it. However, over the years the games have become dull and faded and are in need of repainting. The district had the materials but not enough manpower to repaint so many schools. That's where the Make A Difference Day volunteers come into the picture.

Local volunteers will go to go to Bridgeport, Cedarcreek, Charles Helmers, North Park, Rosedell, and Santa Clarita Elementary school sites to repaint the existing play ground games. We will have eight volunteers and one school staff at each site to complete this project. By the end of the day the playgrounds will be restored to their bright and inviting states.

Champions for Healty Kids Grants : Apply Now

Champions for Healthy Kids, a grant program introduced five years ago to encourage kids to eat healthy and stay active, is now accepting grant applications for 2008. The program is open to schools and community groups with innovative programs aimed at improving youth nutrition and fitness. The entry deadline is Jan. 15, 2008. Download application. The program is a partnership of the General Mills (NYSE: GIS) Foundation, the American Dietetic Association Foundation (ADAF) and the President’s Council on Physical Fitness that each year provides grants of $10,000 each to 50 nonprofit organizations.

Study finds Wii Games equal wee exercise

Parents waiting to know if the Wii Games are a good investment for getting kids moving can find the answer in last week's release of the British Medical Journal.

Put simply. The Wii Games result in a wee amount of physical activity.

Parents are fooling themselves if they hope Nintendo's Wii active games console, which uses a wireless hand held controller to replicate athletic movement, will stop their youngster becoming obese, a study says.

Researchers in sport science at Liverpool John Moores University in northwestern. England recruited six boys and five girls aged 13-15 years and fitted them with a monitoring device to calculate energy expenditure

The three other games were sports bowling, tennis and boxing, played on Wii Sports, with a five-minute rest between sports.

The total number of extra energy units burned using Wii amounted to only 60 calories per hour, or about a quarter of a Mars bar.

"In a typical week of computer play for these participants, active gaming rather than passive gaming would increase total energy expenditure by less than two percent," says the study. Even so, nothing is a substitute for getting out of the home and doing sport itself.

"The energy used when playing Wii Sports games was not of high enough intensity to contribute towards the recommended daily amount of exercise in children," say the authors.

More on Wii Study....

PE Campaign: For the Children

The nation's second largest school system (Los Angeles Unified School District) has launched a Physical Education Campaign: Helping Students Move More, Eat Well, Stay Healthy, Do Their Best in School.

Components of the Campaign include:

First, a 55:1 cap on class size. WOW. 55 students to one teacher??? This seems outrageous. How can one teacher teacher 55 students?

Second, twenty-a-day: enforce California Education Code which mandates an average of 20 minutes of physical education every day for elementary school students.

Third, a certificated PE instructor at every elementary school.

Given the facts reported below by the United Teachers of Los Angeles (UTLA) it seems the situation is at an alarming state.

At LAUSD’s South Gate High School, 1,600 children took the state Fitnessgram test and not one child passed. Forty schools did not have a single physically fit student. Less than 10% of students were physically fit in nearly one-third of the 605 schools in LAUSD. Only eight schools had student populations that are more than 50% physically fit.

These statistics spell out an alarming situation in which a school system is failing its students- miserably- inequitably- forgivingly......

More on UTLA's PE Campaign for Children...

Judge Slashes Jury's $4 Million Payout To Boy In Bullying Case

A Florida judge over turned a jury's $4 million award to a elementary school age boy that was bullied at recess. The judge cut the award to $600,000.

Hillsborough County Circuit Judge William Levens wrote in his order that the boy's attorney delivered an "improper and unfairly prejudicial" closing argument. The attorney's words, Levens wrote, were inflammatory and focused on punishment rather than the facts of the case.

On Jan. 29, 2004, then-12-year-old Danny Heidenberg was at recess when he was tackled by another boy. Heidenberg's left arm was broken in two places, causing long-term injuries, his attorneys argued at trial.

The lawsuit, filed by the boy's parents, said there was no supervision and teachers at Hillel School of Tampa knew the other child was a bully. Hillel is a private school.

Playgrounds Could Be Parks

I live on what's called "the Westside" of Los Angeles. Our local schools are in the 600 school Los Angeles Unified School District. My local elementary school called Kentwood Elementary is surrounded by 6 foot tall fences. On weekend and after school the school yard and playgrounds (like the majority of LAUSD schools) are closed and empty.

Slowly - way too slowly - but surely, Los Angeles city and school leaders are inching toward a common-sense plan that would benefit communities immeasurably: After hours, when schools aren't being used for instruction, they would be open for countless other uses.

Imagine: Playgrounds could be parks. Classrooms could be community meeting rooms. Arts and athletic facilities could enrich cultural and fitness opportunities for everyone.

This is, by the way, not just fantasy, but what the Los Angeles Unified School District promised voters when we approved billions of dollars in school bonds over recent years. The new campuses, we were told, would be hubs for community life.

Fortunately that is changing ... slowly.

On Wednesday the Los Angeles City Council approved a plan to expand agreements with the LAUSD to keep schools open for the public on nights and weekends. Under the proposal, a master joint-use agreement will be developed, and the school board is set to take up a similar proposal soon.

This is a good idea that should catch on. With the childhood obesity crisis research indicates that living close to a local park is important in children's physical activity levels.

Last week I took my granddaughter to our local park. It was 2 miles away. The closest elementary is about 3 blocks. The local elementary has green grass, a sandbox and a play structure and is MUCH more convenient. Tax payers pay for these facilities. Let's open them for public use.

Bullying UK Resources

Check out the Bullying UK website for bullying resources for schools, parents, students . Sign up for their online newsletter or create and print a bullying poster.

Bullying UK is sponsoring Teachers TV in Anti-Bullying Week. These videos are playing as part of every web video we produce and can be seen on Teachers.TV Check out Nick Hall's inspirational song Sticks & Stones.

Children’s physical fitness should be priority in Congress

Amy Heuer; Bismarck, The Jamestown Sun

Two recent studies published by the New England Journal of Medicine on childhood obesity provide greater evidence that children are in dire need of quality physical education programs in schools. Overweight children have an increased risk for heart disease in adulthood as early as age 25, and are prone to premature heart attacks and strokes. Bottom line, our children are in trouble, and particularly here in North Dakota.

Congress has an opportunity to help improve the health and well-being of our children by supporting the Fitness Integrated with Teaching Kids Act, which amends the No Child Left Behind Act to encourage schools to increase physical education and give children the tools they need to stay fit and healthy through adulthood. Not only is a fit child at less risk for future heart disease, studies show they also achieve more academically.

Rising levels of overweight are negatively effecting children’s health and quality of life. The increase in childhood obesity is linked to a dramatic rise in the number of children suffering from type 2 diabetes. If current trends continue, adolescents with type 2 diabetes may experience heart disease symptoms beginning as young as age 30 to 40.

Giving the nation’s children a head start on physical fitness to reduce their risk for obesity-related diseases should be a priority for Congress in 2008. The FIT Kids Act will not only fill a void in NCLB, it will also give children the tools they need to lead healthier lives.

Heuer is president of North Dakota Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance, as well as, a Physical Education for Progress (PEP) Grant writer/director bringing Peaceful Playgrounds a physical activity recess program to 10 local schools in North Dakota.

Wii Fit

Peaceful Playgrounds Finding #3: More balls, jump ropes results in active children.

Peaceful Playgrounds research has suggested that adding more consumable equipment like balls, bean bags and jump ropes to playgrounds results in more active children. (Peaceful Playgrounds Research)

A study published in the January 2008 issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine further substantiates that claim. Researchers at the University of North Carolina School of Public Health examined environmental factors that encourage children to be active with greater intensity and for longer periods of time. The study reports that children play harder and longer when their child care centers provide portable play equipment (like balls, hula hoops, jump ropes and riding toys), more opportunities for active play and physical activity training and education for staff and students.

The study showed that children had more moderate and vigorous physical activity and fewer minutes of sedentary activity when their center had more portable play equipment, including balls, hoola hoops, jump ropes and riding toys, offered more opportunities for active play (inside and outside), and had physical activity training and education for staff and students. Stationary equipment, like climbing structures, swings and balance beams, were associated with lower intensity physical activity, researchers said, but are beneficial to other aspects of child development, such as motor and social skills.

Although previous research pointed to a link between physical activity and the child care center that children attend, there had been little data explaining which aspects of the child care environment actually promoted vigorous physical activity.

More on Loose equipment promotes physical activity in children.....

Can Physical Activity Avert Obesity in School-Aged Youth?

The CDC convened a panel of experts to evaluate the evidence for the beneficial effects of physical activity on a broad range of health outcomes and behaviors, including body fat content (adiposity) in school-aged youth, ages 6 to 18. The experts based their evaluation on more than 850 relevant scientific studies. Here we discuss only those findings related to overweight or obesity.

The panelists noted that comparing the findings among studies was somewhat difficult since the definitions of overweight and obesity in youth have varied over time and different studies focused on different indicators of adiposity. But there was agreement that both cross-sectional studies (studies of children of similar age at only one point in time) and longitudinal studies (studies in which a group of children are measured more than once over a period of time, usually months or years) provide evidence that youth of both sexes who are highly active are less fat than their less active counterparts. More specifically:

* In overweight children and teens, moderate intensity exercise that lasts 30 to 60 minutes three to seven days a week leads to a reduction in total body fat and visceral fat. (Visceral fat is located in the abdominal area and is generally regarded as more dangerous to health than total body fat).
* For normal weight boys and girls, more intensive and longer sessions of physical activity (greater than 80 minutes a day) are needed to reduce the body fat percentage or proportion of body weight that is fat weight.
* Although data on injury are scant, physical education and after-school programs designed to increase physical activity in children and youth are associated with an injury rate that is extremely low or nearly zero.
* There are many beneficial effects of physical activity including favorable effects on cardiovascular health, asthma, mental health, academic performance, memory, behavior, bone mineral and muscular strength and endurance.

The report, however, did not specify the level of physical activity that is clearly associated with maintaining normal adiposity, or body fatness, over time. Since adiposity varies greatly in school-aged youth and the patterns of fat accumulation differ in males and females as they grow and develop, "normal" means a level of adiposity that is appropriate for the child's age and gender. The report suggests that higher levels of moderate to vigorous physical activity, meaning 30 to 80 minutes a day three to seven days a week, may be needed to prevent obesity in youth. Vigorous activity is defined as activity performed at a level of intensity that causes sweating and breathing hard. A wide variety of aerobic activities are suitable, so the challenge for youth, as it is for adults, is to find activities that are enjoyable.

References for "Can Physical Activity Avert Obesity in School-Aged Youth?"

Kids eat more fruits, vegetables when schools offer salad bar

A new UCLA study has found that elementary schools can significantly increase the frequency of fruit and vegetable consumption among low-income students by providing a lunch salad bar.

The findings, published in the December issue of the international peer-reviewed journal Public Health Nutrition, show that the frequency of students' fruit and vegetable consumption increased significantly — from 2.97 to 4.09 times daily — after a salad bar was introduced. In addition, students' mean daily intake of energy, cholesterol, saturated fat and total fat declined considerably.

"One of the major contributing factors to the high rate of overweight children in the United States is that they do not consume the daily recommended servings of fruits and vegetables," said lead author Dr. Wendy Slusser, assistant professor of pediatrics at Mattel Children's Hospital UCLA and the UCLA School of Public Health. "Increasing the availability and accessibility to healthy foods is one way to impact children's diets. In turn, this sets up opportunities for kids to have repeated exposure to healthy food and positively impact their choices."

Kids eating more fruits and vegetables.....

Phone message motivates participants to get out and walk

BERKELEY, Calif. (AP) — Fitness research shows that when a computer talks the talk, even couch potatoes can be persuaded to walk the walk. Researchers at Stanford University, who studied sedentary people for a year, found that automated exercise reminder phone calls had about the same get-up-and-go power as calls from human counselors.

"The recording had a very nice, kind of cheerleader voice. It sounded very natural," said study participant Rita Horiguchi, who was initially disappointed to be assigned to get computer calls. "She would say things like, 'That's very good. I think you can go a little farther next week.' So I would do a little bit more.'"

Horiguchi was one of 218 adults over 55 in the San Francisco Bay area who took part in the study, known as Community Health Advice by Telephone, or CHAT. The goal was to get them out walking at a brisk pace for 30 minutes most days, or engage in some other medium-intense activity, for a total of about 150 minutes a week.

More on walking research.....

California kids shape up a little

California public school students are slightly trimmer and fitter than they were a year ago, but many still are unable to meet the state's basic level of fitness, according to figures released Thursday by the state Department of Education. And students in Los Angeles, especially high school students, were significantly less fit than the state average.

About 60% of students in fifth, seventh and ninth grades statewide passed an aerobic fitness test, up roughly 3% from last year. Nearly a third of the students passed all of the six criteria that the state uses to determine fitness.

But aerobic fitness rates were significantly lower for ninth-graders than for younger children, and nearly a third of all students failed the "body composition" test, which measures fat.

More on CA fitness scores....

Tax-credit gifts give boost to Peoria schools

Charles Kelly
The Arizona Republic

Your tax-credit donation can aid students in the Peoria Unified School District in many ways.

Rae Conelley, principal at Alta Loma Elementary School, can list a variety of them.

"We have used tax-credit money for so many opportunities that we might never have had," Conelley said. "The money that our patrons donate to us through the Arizona Tax Credit system has been used for programs that keep our children participating and interested in school."

Seventh-graders and their after-school mentors are using a program called Jump Start for Math, the physical-education department has a new softball- pitching machine and the after-school tutoring program has new books and supplies, all purchased with tax-credit funds. If a child can't afford to attend a class field trip, tax-credit money can be used to help him or her take part.

Students at Alta Loma also have been exposed to various arts opportunities through tax-credit-funded programs. They were able to bring in artist-in-residence Sara Yeager to help the after-school Drama Club present Danny, King of the Basement and to invite musician Dr. Jesse Maguire to perform the national anthem for the Alta Loma Patriotic Presentation last year.

"This year, we are hoping to purchase materials for the Peaceful Playground so that students can stay active wheen they are outside and have something safe to do," Conelley said.

Arizona tax law allows an individual taxpayer a tax credit of up to $200 or a married couple filing a joint return a credit of up to $400. The donor is able to get the exact amount back from the state when filing a return.

All the donated funds go directly to the school and program selected by the contributor. Or a contributor can decide to direct the donation to schools with the greatest need.

Expert Offers Gift Tips Sure to 'Move' Children

There are a number of gift ideas to get sedentary children of all age active, says a Purdue University childhood fitness expert.

"The key is to find gifts that also motivate the entire family to move," says Carole DeHaven, a continuing lecturer in the Department of Health and Kinesiology. "Parents are the gatekeepers for healthy living. By providing activities that children enjoy, along with healthy food choices, we can help reverse the number of children who are overweight or obese."

"If the trend is not reversed, then obese children grow up to be obese adolescents who grow in to obese adults."

Gift ideas that promote activity include:

- Bicycles, sleds, skates, in-line skates, scooters, snowboards. Be sure to provide the necessary safety
gear.
- Cup stacking and timing pad, ladder games such as Ladder Golf, washoos, Bocce Ball.
- Consider community resources. For example, give a coupon to meet a child every Tuesday for a walk in the park, or give passes to the zoo or an ice skating rink.

- Money to pay for their participation in organized sports, such as local youth programs for sports, gymnastics or ballet.
- Books that promote physical activity, such as "Angelina's Ballet Class."
- Pedometers for the whole family. Challenge family members to see who can log the most footsteps in a day.
- Jump ropes, tumbling mats, balls, pogo sticks or Hula-Hoops.
- Interactive videogames that require movement such as Smart Cycle Physical Learning Arcade System and DDR: Dance Revolution.
- Active board games like Twister, Toss Across, Hopper Bounce Balls or virtual reality games where children dance or participate in aerobic football.
- Tunnels and playhouses, such as Crawl N' Play.
- Favorite music that energizes children, such as hip-hop varieties or Disney or Jock Jams.
- New workout gear, such as shoes and clothing, as well as skip-it, exercise balls, playing balls and weights.
- Books by Klutz teach children how to juggle, learn rhymes with tinkling sticks and Chinese jump ropes. Books about favorite athletes.

"The best present parents can give is their time," says DeHaven, who works with physicians to teach children about physical activity. "When adults give themselves as part of the gift it also encourages that child to participate in the activity.

More on gifts to encourage kids to move.......

American Academy of Pediatrics: Make Play a Priority

A clinical report from the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends counteracting increased stress with more play, “which is essential to development because it contributes to the cognitive, physical, social, and emotional well-being of children and youth.” Although play for children might seem intuitive, it is clear Americans must make play a priority in children’s lives.

While doctors are recommending that children spend more time playing, some schools are taking that time away. Currently, 2.2 million to 4.2 million first- through fifth-graders do not get any recess during their school day, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.

Schools are eliminating recess for several reasons. Some schools fear liability from injuries on the playground or lack the funding to pay for playground monitors. Barbara Carlozzi, an assistant professor at OSU and a certified school counselor, said that some schools are taking away recess to give teachers more time to prepare students for standardized tests. Carlozzi said schools are seeing increased pressure to perform on standardized tests and cover state-mandated curriculum.

“This huge pressure to test well is at the expense of other activities,” Carlozzi said.

Smile at the Bully Button

High-tech "bully buttons" are being installed in some Australian schools so students can alert educators and trigger video cameras to record such incidents. "If students are confronted with footage then there can be very little denial, but it also gives us a clearer perspective of what happened because kids often remember their part but don't have an overall perspective," said Thomas Carr College deputy principal Vera Treloar.

More on Bully Buttons....

US Adults Adding Fitness to Routines

More US adults are making fitness a habit, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The percentage of adults reporting regular exercise or physical activity jumped nearly 9% from 2001 to 2005, the CDC says. The findings come from telephone surveys of more than 205,000 adults in 2001 and more than 356,000 adults in 2005. Participants answered questions about how often and how long they got moderate or vigorous physical activity. Moderate physical activities included walking, biking, and gardening; Vigorous physical activities included running and aerobics. In 2005, nearly half of the men — 49.7% — and almost as many women — 46.7% — met those benchmarks.

New Jersey Legislator to Propose Statewide Mandatory Daily Recess

A group of concerned parents met with state Assemblyman Joseph Malone (R-Ocean, Monmouth, Burlington, Mercer) in his office in Jackson on Nov. 21 to discuss the idea of making student recess mandatory in all New Jersey school districts.

During the meeting Malone presented the parents with a proposed bill that would establish a task force to examine the issue of school recess.

Malone asked the parents to review the bill he said he would propose in the Legislature.

The bill would establish a task force on public school student recess. It states that "it will be the duty of the task force to examine current data, research, programs, and initiatives related to the physical, social, emotional, and intellectual benefits achieved by young students as a result of participation in school recess; identify effective strategies for schools that promote lifelong health and prepare children and youth for physically active lifestyles; examine the extent to which recess is provided to students in school districts across the state of New Jersey; and develop recommendations on the advisability of mandating daily recess in all school districts."

The final outcome of the task force would be to issue a report on its findings to the governor and the Legislature recommending a Statewide Mandatory Daily Recess Requirement.

More on mandatory recess