Researchers reported on Monday that a growing trend of curbing free time at school may lead to unruly classrooms and rob youngsters of needed exercise and an important chance to socialize. The study published in Pediatrics, the journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics said, "The available research suggests that recess may play an important role in the learning, social development, and health of children in elementary school."

Schoo…

Eat Right Montana is a coalition that promotes healthy eating and an active lifestyle. According to their website, " You may use this information for any educational, noncommercial purposes - with credit given to Eat Right Montana".

Check out their monthly newsletters for download at: http://www.eatrightmontana.org/eatrighthealthyfamilies.htm

Great content in a "easy-to-use" format.

Is physical education a necessity? These's one agency that has a strong opinion on the matter. The military. With the nation at war the nation's fitness effects national security. The current situation is dire.

The Associated Press last week reported concerns over the number of overweight military applicants. The Defense Department told the AP over 47,000 recruits flunked induction physicals during the last four years.

How bad is the …

The schools held food tastings, planted edible gardens, amped up physical education classes and moved recess to before lunch. The result? "It's working," said Sutin, deputy secretary for programs at the Department of Health. She was speaking about the community effort to reduce childhood obesity in Las Cruces, NM and specifically Coplee Elementary.

Their big pet project was the Healthy Kids program. Their slogan: "Building a f…

Health Games Research, a national program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, encourages applicants to submit groundbreaking research ideas that will test behavioral health theories of game design, learning, attitude change, and skill development when applied to digital interactive games intended to improve players' physical activity and/or self-care. Proposals are due on April 8, 2009. Visit http://www.healthgamesresearch.org/ for the fu…

Deadline: Feb 24, 2009

Program Area: Childhood Obesity

Purpose:
Healthy Eating Research is a national program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF). The program supports research on environmental and policy strategies with strong potential to promote healthy eating among children to prevent childhood obesity, especially among low-income and racial/ethnic populations at highest risk for obesity. Findings will advance RWJF's efforts to re…

Are you writing a PEP Grant? Check out our writing resources that are available for download and listed below. Also consider attending one of the Peaceful Playgrounds PEP Grant Writing Webinars.

1. Physical Education for Progress Grant - PEP Grant Info

2. PEP Narrative for Peaceful Playgrounds Program -

3. Peaceful Playgrounds Program Flyer pepflyer2009.pdf

4. PEP Narrative for including Peaceful Playgrounds, Fundamental Movement and We Cou…

Type: Federal
Source: U.S Dept. of Education
Program:Carol M. White Physical Education Program
CFDA Number:84.215F
Eligibility:(a) LEAs, including charter schools that are considered LEAs under State law, and CBOs, including faith-based organizations provided that they meet the applicable statutory and regulatory requirements.
(b) The Secretary limits eligibility under this discretionary grant competition to LEAs or CBOs that do not currently hav…

Peaceful Playgrounds

Marana Elementary School implemented Peaceful Playgrounds last week. "Teachers and monitors immediately saw the whole tenor of the playground change from one of chaos to calm, with almost a total student involvement in the games," according to the story on the front page of the Marana News.

"The purpose is to get the kids out to play and have fun while learning rules like playing fair, and you can't say y…

Have you missed any of our recently posted Peaceful Playgrounds featured articles. Topics include bullying, physical activity, nutrition, discipline, recess before lunch to name a few. Click on the links below for the complete articles.

Bullying Prevention: Life Lessons on Good and Evil


School Recess before Lunch

Countdown to Good Health: 5-4-3-2-1 Go

Playground Liability: Accident or Injury

Schoolwide Discipline: What Works?

Recess is on the Upswing

…

Peaceful Playgrounds is hiring a grant writer. Prior experience in writing Federal Grants is preferred. Experience with the PEP grant process a plus.

Applicants should send a current resume and a listing of successful grant applications. Apply to Melinda@peacefulplaygrounds.com Please do not call prior to sending resume. Open until filled.

Learning to play "differently" was the goal of the new playground in Tucson last week. Manana Elementary School installed a new Peaceful Playground complete with 13 new game markings designed to reduce injuries, get students physically active and reduce bullying.

Colorful lines, letters, numbers and shapes blanket the courts — all used in a variety of games, including bowling, dodge ball and a multi-use circle.

Research shows that the …

Healthy Eating Research, a national program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), supports research on environmental and policy strategies with strong potential to promote healthy eating among children to prevent childhood obesity, especially among low-income and racial/ethnic populations at highest risk for obesity. The program has issued two new calls for proposals.

Healthy Eating Research: Building Evidence to Prevent Childhood Obesity
…

One-third of the children in West Virginia elementary schools did not receive the amount of physical education required by law last year, according to the state Board of Education. WV law requires 90 minutes of physical education a week for elementary school students. It is estimated that 30% of students and schools did not meet that requirement according to a report submitted to the State School Board.

Administrators at some schools that have …

There's something that's supposed to keep children from fighting on the playground, reduce playground injuries, and a lot more.

What is this miracle?

Marana's Twin Peaks Elementary School is trying it, a program called Peaceful Playgrounds according to the news coverage from KOLD Channel 9 Tucson, Az.

What began with some paint, ropes, hoops and balls ended with students problem solving, gaining new skills and learning a thing or two…

Playgrounds are the perfect laboratory for life lessons. As educators, we are called to insert “life lessons” into schooling. It struck me that we have an opportunity each day to teach the lesson of good action vs. evil action in school bullying situations. Bullying in schools is one of the most prevalent problems facing schools today. Yet bullying intervention programs have largely failed and it is fair to say, miserably.

Yet the opportunity to…

Some of the most sought after grants available to physical educators are the Department of Education Federal PEP Grants. This program provides grants to initiate, expand, and improve physical education programs for K-12 students in order to help them make progress toward meeting state standards for physical education. PEP grants have a maximum $500,000 per year funding ceiling or a 1.5M cap for three years.

Peaceful Playgrounds has successfully…

Why not teach children playground games and rules by showing the new Peaceful Playgrounds DVD games during inclement recess when kids are trapped indoors? Take the opportunity to make good use of time which will result in both teachers and students learning how to play many of the exciting and constructive playground games in the DVD set.

Navigate easy-to-use menus to select instruction for game demonstration of over 25 games actually filmed …

Recess Before Lunch: 5 Steps to Success-
Wednesday, January 14, 2009 -10:00 AM PST-Free registration

How You Can Have a Peaceful Playground-
Friday, January 9, 2009 - 10:00 AM PST - Free registration
Wednesday, January 21, 2009 - 12:00 PM PST - Free registration

Grant Writing for Beginners
Friday, January 23, 2009 - 10:00 AM PST - Free registration

Writing a Successful PEP Grant
Thursday, January 22, 2009-11:00 AM PST- Free registration
Thursday, January…

Physical Education for Progress (PEP Grant) Requests for Proposals are set to be released by the Department of Education on Jan. 15, 2009. Peaceful Playgrounds will post the application and related information on this blog and on our website grants page as soon as it is available. As usual it will be a short timeline for writing the grant as they are due on March 6, 2009.

Don't forget to visit our Grants webpage for resources and informatio…