Right to Recess Campaign Toolkit
Despite mounting evidence that kids need an outlet to blow off steam, learn to interact with others and get the exercise they need, nearly 40 percent of American elementary schools have either eliminated or are considering eliminating recess. Sept.

Peaceful Playgrounds Comprehensive Package Introduced The new Comprehensive Program Kit Package is everything you need to create and implement a Peaceful Playground at y…
The 2009 year was another successful and satisfying year at Peaceful Playgrounds. In the final two days of 2009 we will share a quick overview highlighting some of our activities and services.

Ten Tips to Getting Your Grant Funded. A grant is a monetary award given by a government agency, foundation, corporation, or other entity to another body in order to plan, implement or operate a particular program or fund a particular project. Learn how …
I just finished reading a blog entitled, "Don't know much about history" written by Joanne Jacobs. She is also the author of a book called, Our School.

In honor of Joanne's blog, I'll write about the history of basketball. Do you think that's what she had in mind?

Basketball was invented in 1891 by physical education teacher James Naismith at Springfield College in Springfield, Massachusetts. The assignment "to in…
The new Physical Education Framework for California Public Schools is out and I've attached the pdf link to download it. If you are interested in a hard copy of the document you can order it from the California Publications and Sales Office Catalog.

I am pleased that I had the opportunity to work with a group of great professionals in writing the PE Framework.
Happy Holidays. One of my favorite Christmas songs was recorded by Peter, Paul and Mary and I share it with you here today. May you light a candle this Christmas Day.

Christmas Dinner.

Christmas Dinner



(Noel Paul Stookey)

And it came to pass on a Christmas evening
While all the doors were shuttered tight
Outside standing, a lonely boy-child
Cold and shivering in the night.

On the street every window
Save but one was gleaming bright
And to this window wa…
While childhood obesity rates increase, opportunities for students to be active have decreased. Kids are less active than ever. This not only affects their health, but also their performance in class. Physical activity programs are linked to stronger academic achievement, increased concentration and improved math, reading and writing test scores.

Peaceful Playgrounds partnered with the Alliance for Healthier Generation to offer Alliance Schools f…
A new study in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine finds that the majority of the nation’s Head Start programs report doing more to support healthy eating and physical activity than is required by existing federal regulations. Head Start is the nation’s largest federally funded early childhood education program, serving one million low-income preschool students, 30 percent of whom are obese or overweight.

Study findings.

Perhaps its…
Jan, one of the Peaceful Playgrounds Grant Writers found this heart warming video about good sportsmanship.

A true story well-worth watching and passing along.....................
http://www.responsibilityproject.com/films/player/the-home-run/

Ck out more "responsibility" films from Liberty Mutual.
A new Northwestern University study suggests that American parents should ease up on antibacterial soap and perhaps allow their little ones a romp or two in the mud --- or at least a much better acquaintance with everyday germs.

The research suggests that inflammatory systems may need a higher level of exposure to common everyday bacteria and microbes to guide their development. "In other words, inflammatory networks may need the same type o…
"[Classroom management] is probably one of the things that's least understandable and most complex about teaching. This is the hardest skill to master."

-- Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, The Los Angeles Times, December 14, 2009.



Check out this week's LA Times article on : Controlling a classroom isn't as easy as ABC
A new study has found that the greater the cardiovascular fitness, the higher the cognitive scores at age 18.

Further, "The study found that having better cardiovascular health as a teenager was linked to not only higher scores on intelligence tests, but more education and a higher income years down the road."

The study appears in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Early Edition.
One of the recommendations that the Commission to Prevent Childhood Obesity presented to the Governor and the New Hampshire Department of Education is reinstate the Physical Education and Health Coordinator at the state level.

Click here for the additional recommendations from the commission.
Here's a heart warming story in light of the season.

This is an article about a good man. This is not about a rich man or a famous man or a man given to social airs.......

All Jack Anderson asked was that you paid him respect and pay attention. Jack like many coaches and educators realized early on that his influence would be far reaching. He was one of those teachers who understood,

No written word, no spoken plea,

Can tell the kids what they…
By Tammy Marashlian
Signal Staff Writer
tmarashlian@the-signal.com
661-259-1234 x525
Posted: Dec. 12, 2009 8:14 p.m.
POSTED Dec. 13, 2009 4:55 a.m.

Hardly any kids were playing tether ball. There were no lines for handball.

Music was blasting pop and dance tunes, but during a recent lunch period, the blacktop playground at Rosedell Elementary School was nearly empty.

The nearly 650 students were spending their lunch racing around the school’s grassy …
Children & Nature resources
Compiled by:
Amy Pertschuk
Managing Director
Children & Nature Network
avery@hookedonnature.org.


Links To Families & Nature Resources

Children & Nature Network
www.childrenandnature.org

Hooked on Nature
www.hookedonnature.org

Nature Circles
www.naturecircles.org

Nature Rocks
www.naturerocks.org

Passport to Adventure—REI
www.rei.com/passport

Green Spoken Here—ACA
www.campparents.org/nature

NWF's Green Hour
www.greenhou…
Play England has released a new report called, "Play for Change." It is a review of play, policy and practice in England. Play for a change, by Stuart Lester and Wendy Russell of the University of Gloucestershire, is published in three formats: a 270-page full research report, a 60-page summary, and a 4-page introductory briefing paper.

A copy of the report can be downloaded for free from the Play England website.

Interested in more inf…
If you are writing grants and need health and fitness statistics then check out the Play Think blog by J.R. Atwood. His post on Data Mining: We've got your numbers cites two such data banks.

playthink

Exercising the mind and the body-J.R. Atwood

* Kidsdata.org offers a tremendous amount of data from all counties, cities, and school districts in California related to the health and well-being of children. Bonus: all information on the site…
To: Peaceful Playgrounds
This is the first year that we have used the Peaceful Playground program at my school (Mountain View School, East Longmeadow, MA). It is going very well, however, as the snow finally starts to fly we find ourselves struggling to know how to keep the program running as the fields become off limits for children who are not dressed appropriately and the playground gets more crowded and covered in snow and ice.

Do you have…
In the December issue of Educational Leadership you'll find a great article on physiologically why we over-eat. It is called, "Finding Our Way Back to Healthy Eating: A Conversation with David A. Kessler."

Kessler points out that "forty or 50 years ago, the U.S. food industry shifted from food that was locally grown to a highly interdependent food distribution network that had many advantages in terms of cost and food safety. …
NASPE provides many resources for principals and other school administrators including tools to observe and evaluate physical education programs and teachers, analyze the physical education curriculum at their school/school district, research their state’s physical education standards and strengthen school policies regarding physical education/physical activity. NASPE also provides a set of suggested job interview questions for prospective physi…
Toys, Play and Young Children Action Guide is now available and FREE for downloading.

This new guide is just in time for Christmas and give you pointers for choosing "Toys of Value" and "Toys and Toy Trending to Avoid." The guide also includes ideas for creating a Shoe Box Gift around different themes and suggestions for what you might include in the shoe box.

According to their website, "TRUCE is a national group of ed…
Larry Sanger, the co-founder of Wikipedia, has launched a new educational venture for teachers, parent, and students aged 3-18 years-old. It's called WatchKnow.org. Billed as “YouTube meets Wikipedia,” WatchKnow has so far organized more than 11,000 of the nearly 7 million education-related videos available on the Internet.

WatchKnow is both a resource for users and also a non-profit, online community that encourages everyone to collect, c…
From Whitter Daily News
By Tracy Garcia, Staff Writer
Posted: 10/25/2009

"It's something I read about on the Internet and it grabbed my eye," said Principal Marla Duncan, who said the 575-student campus had been fundraising for years to get new playground equipment.

"But we raised money not knowing how expensive (the equipment) is, along with the installation," she said.

"And since we couldn't afford to put more equi…
FORECAST OF FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES UNDER THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION DISCRETIONARY GRANT PROGRAMS FOR FISCAL YEAR (FY) 2009

(As of November 20, 2009)

This document lists virtually all programs and competitions under which the Department (we) has invited or expects to invite applications for new awards and provides actual or estimated deadline dates for the transmittal of applications under these programs. The lists are in the form of charts -- orga…
Link to December Play Nice Newsletter. This month's newsletter provides information on:
1. The importance of Preschool Play,
2. Service Learning Project on Peaceful Playgrounds,
3. Guidelines for Healthy Preschoolers,
4. A guide to Talking About Food and Physical Activity,
5. A Move It! School Kit,
6. The debate over chocolate milk in schools, and an
7. Article on how one Washington district brought Peaceful Playgrounds to all 10 district sch…