Talk about "hands-on" learning. School gardens continue to spread across the U.S. and now even preschoolers are getting into the action at University City Childcare Center in St Louis, Missouri.

The garden bed — about 110 feet long and a few feet high — has become the latest "classroom" at the center, a place where children as young as 1 and 2 spend part of their day learning how to grow their own food.

More on Growing Minds.

Peaceful Playgrounds news video from Oklahoma City, OK. 6 schools were added to the Peaceful Playgrounds family of schools for the fall thanks to the funding of the Schools for Healthy Lifestyles Grant. Story covered by Kokh Fox News. Click on the link below to view the short video.
http://www.peacefulplaygrounds.com/

Trailer for children's book, The Recess Queen by Alexis O'Neill, illustrated by Laura Huliska-Beith, published by Scholastic Press. Mean Jean was recess queen, and nobody said any different.

Mrs. Obama harvested the first crop of fruits and vegetables from the The White House by establishing an organic garden on the South Lawn not long after moving to Washington.

Surrounded by participating elementary school children, Obama spoke about her pride in the project, and the immense value of the lessons learned. “We can continue to make the connection between what we eat and how we feel, and how healthy we are,” she said, before encourag…

How about this for a summer motto, "No child left inside"?

No Child Left Inside urges families in Connecticut to get out and get active in nature. The Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection has started this initiative to revive interest in their state parks and other natural attractions. Parents and children are encouraged to get outside together and be active while enjoying nature.

Although this initiative is unique to Conn…

Do you think school playgrounds should be open after hours for public use? Does your community need more practice space for youth sports teams? Would you like to take your child/grandchild to the local school playground instead of across town to a public park?

If you support this type of change check out the new website and information on Joint Use Agreements where community agencies and schools share their facilities. Newsletter sign up for J…

A new study suggests that kids who exercise aren’t only in better physical shape; they’re happier, too.

Canadian researcher Mark Holder and colleagues asked 375 children, ages 8-12, about what they did for fun, paying special attention to the amount of time the kids said they spent in “active” leisure activities—physical activities such as sports and exercise—or “passive” activities, such as watching TV, talking on the phone, or playing on the co…

Indoor playgrounds are growing. It seems odd just when we're hearing more and more research about the importance of children playing outside.

A study by Oliver Pergams of the University of Illinois-Chicago and Patricia Zaradic of the Environmental Leadership Program finds that park visits and applications to hunt, camp and fish in US National parks have decreased between 18 and 25 percent in the last twenty years.

It only takes listening to a…

If you're part of a team writing a new school board policy or researching background information for the development of a school board policy on health related items you may want to take a look at the newly announced National School Board Association's web-based resource of Promising District Practices and policies database.

The website features a searchable database of local school district
successes in developing, implementing, and eval…

The Saucony Run For Good Program encourages active and healthy lifestyles in children, and offers grants to communities and non-profit organizations that initiate and support running and fitness programs for kids. Maximum award: varies. Eligibility: 501(c)3 youth organizations with programs that increase participation in running to positively impact the lives of participants.

Deadline: June 13, 2009.

http://www.sauconyrunforgood.com/

An article in the NY Times entitled:The 3 R’s? A Fourth Is Crucial, Too: Recess suggests that, "The best way to improve children’s performance in the classroom may be to take them out of it." This comes as no surprise to my blog readers but we can't hear it enough right?

The NY Times article cited the study published last month in the journal Pediatrics which looked at the links between recess and classroom behavior in children ag…

The Lowe's Toolbox for Education grant program provides parent groups with financial tools to help improve their children's schools. Grant awards of up to $5,000 support school improvement projects at public schools nationwide. Since 2006, through Toolbox for Education, the Lowe's Charitable and Educational Foundation has donated nearly $10 million to more than 2,000 K-12 schools, benefitting over one million schoolchildren.

The Sprin…

Current educational practice and policy focus overwhelmingly on academic achievement, but this is only one element of student learning and development. A child is more than a grade on a test. Given what we now know about learning and development, we can do better and we can do more.

Sign the ASCD Whole Child petition to tell your state board of education that they must do more to educate the whole child. Because when we can do more, then we shoul…

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…

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
…

A national running campaign in China requires that all students K-16 run daily at school (Elementary -1 K, Middle School 1.5K, and High School -College 2K). It's all in the name of health and will continue from September 08 through the end of April 09.

It seems China's Minister of Education and teachers felt that childhood obesity and health concerns made the mandate necessary. However, some parents and students felt the running mand…

Healthy Youth for a Healthy Future
The U.S. Surgeon General’s Childhood Overweight and Obesity Prevention Initiative has three main goals that will be emphasized on October 6 for Child Health Day. Check out their website for additional information and resources.
Help kids stay active! Encourage healthy eating habits!Promote healthy choices!

Peaceful Playgrounds walking program called "We Count" provides a curriculum o…

The CDC has released a new School Health Education Resource site which provides easy access to a wealthy of health information including physical activity and nutrition resources from the CDC's Health and Human Services Centers. The database provides links to potentially valuable resources for educators.

At the beginning of each school year it is important to point out some of the available documents that will assist teachers in providing a quality education for students. One such document is the recently released Physical Education K-12 Model Content Standards for Public Schools. According to State Superintendent of Schools, Jack O'Connell, "physical education significantly contributes to students' well-being; therefore, it is …