Practical Implications
Purpose
The practical implication step is a very important step when creating and applying a plan to improve children’s overall health. Presenting a physical plan, intended for the whole campus, the administration is the first team members you want to come on board with the plan. Increasing physical activity for all youth is a serious and large concern we have. The purpose of proposing and implementing the physical activity pyramid at Pendergast Elementary School is to bring awareness of how simple it is to incorporate physical activity in everyday life.
Administration
A strong presentation presented for the school’s principal and assistant principal about the current student academic data will grasp their attention. To support and improve the school’s rating of a C, we will present statistics on how physical activity can improve children’s academic scores (Woolsey, 2014). A technology presentation will be presented to the administration team to inform them of the benefits of using the physical activity pyramid. Included in the presentation data will be presented of the most current Arizona Report Cards for AIMS. For example, students scored 70% in Reading, 48% in Math, 38% in Science, and 36% in Writing (Arizona Department of Education, 2014).
Wellness Community
Increasing community involvement is important for administration, teachers, and the school campus morale. Within the practicum proposal, we will express our suggestions on how to incorporate community involvement when implementing the physical activity pyramid. To involve the community and families with the physical activity pyramid will help support and motive the children to lead a happy, healthy, and productive lifestyle.
Charts and Design
We suggest a physical activity pyramid poster to be displayed in every classroom on campus. This will provide a consistent message across the whole campus for all students and adults. Every Friday, all grade levels will participate in “Fitness Friday” to replace their recess. This will promote specific activities children can do on their own, at home, that will support the physical activity pyramid. Some activities students could participate at home could be Just Dance from YouTube or directly from the game, jumping jacks during commercials, and walking the dog around the block.
Recognition
According to National Center for Biological Information they suggest children and teens should fulfill sixty minutes of physical activity each day. They have found within their research that children who are physically active have positive outcomes with their academic achievement. (Katz, 2010). This information would support our proposal of the positive outcome students will benefit from consistent physical activity.
Timeline
Currently every Wednesday is an early release for students and the afternoons are utilized for teacher professional development. Every Wednesday, we can demonstrate during this time physical activity breaks for all staff. This would teach teachers how to use physical activity breaks with their students and provide time to give adults a brain break during the length of the meeting. We will encourage teachers to utilize these activity breaks in their own classroom for their students and we can reflect the next professional development the success on physical activity breaks.