ORGANIZING A FAMILY FITNESS NIGHT

written by John Strong, Niagara County Community College

This month I will be collaborating with my wife Kelly Strong who is an elementary physical educator at Charles A. Lindbergh Elementary School in Kenmore, NY. Kelly is in the middle of her 12th year of teaching at this lively school. In addition to her regular instructional duties in the classroom Kelly has contributed to the greater good of the school and its surrounding community by organizing and participating in a walking club which meets bi-weekly before school, serving on the health and wellness committee, and the Lindbergh Instructional Improvement Planning Committee.

Kelly assumed the role of spear-heading the largest grossing elementary school Jump Rope for Heart effort in Western New York when she began at Lindbergh, raising an average of $9000 annually for the American Heart Association for the past 14 years. The Kenmore Town of Tonawanda UFSD does a wonderful job of getting youngsters involved outside of school hours with play days including: after school volleyball, basketball, track and field, swimfest, and the ever popular gymnastics event. Kelly is responsible for the organizing and running of the gymnastics play day, and brings jubilant representatives from Lindbergh to the rest of these worthwhile events. Her students train for the events in an 'after-school gym' setting every Tuesday facilitated by Kelly for the better part of the year.

In addition to these duties Kelly has perpetuated a school initiative referred to as 'Fitness Night.' This will be the focus of this month's article. The main idea behind fitness night is for parents to come in and participate along with their children. They get a chance to learn some interesting facts about the Lindbergh physical education curriculum, and have an enjoyable evening with their child while physically active. Perhaps this is not an idea that is unique to Kelly’s school. Perhaps you have hosted one of these evenings yourself, or know another teacher near you who has. The purpose of this article is to detail the structure of the evening (in addition to some other potential add-ons) so that those of you out there that have passed on the opportunity to put together such an event may successfully execute one in the future.

Consider beginning with a theme. Lindbergh’s last event was a Scavenger Hunt. Themes can coincide with important cultural events (Black History Month, National Hispanic Heritage Month, etc.), the coming of an Olympic games, or perhaps just a major sporting event (World Series, Super Bowl, etc.). This of course is a partial list. The sky's the limit. Try to think of something that will appeal to your students enough to 'persuade' the parents in your district to want to come to the event.

Within this theme consider featuring some of the curriculum that you are currently teaching, along with some upcoming skills/activities. Lindbergh's last Fitness Night consisted of 25 stations that were to be experienced by students and parents together. Each time an activity was completed, the child placed a sticker next to that item on the scavenger list. Activities included everything from balancing, to hand-eye coordination based activities.

The activities are where I would like to add a twist that might pique the recreational interests of your families and entreat them to continue to participate after the fun of the evening has ended. At this point I will list many of Kelly’s activities in addition to their community counter-part (members of our surrounding community that is) that will represent extensions of the curriculum for both students and parents.

Cross the Chasm – in this activity parents and students will have to navigate the 30 ft. bouldering wall without touching the ground. In our area the Niagara Climbing Center is a great place for families to go, and experience both bouldering and top-roping in a recreational setting.

Snake Pit – for this activity parents will spot their children as they walk across the low balance beam without touching down on the floor which is populated with 'snake-type objects.'

Save the Baby – in this activity students and parents will take turns balancing a wooden egg on an out-stretched spoon while stepping only on poly spots strategically placed on the gym floor. For both of these activities a follow-up at a local gymnastics instruction facility (Flips or Stumpf's among others) could be a great potential outlet.

Circus Skills – to acquire the stamp for this group of stations, participants had to complete different juggling skills (criss-cross, 3 scarf juggle, etc.) with juggling scarves, throw a koosh ball in the air and clap multiple times and then successfully catch it, and balance a peacock feather on a body part (finger, elbow, or nose) for 10 seconds. There's actually a local juggling club by Kelly's school that would be a great place for families to follow-up on these activities.

Exercise Dice – participants were tasked to roll a home-made exercise die (which had push-ups, crunches, lunges, squats, mountain climbers, and jumping jacks on it) and then two regular dice for the number of repetitions they were to complete.

Beanie Baby Push-Ups – in this activity parents and children would challenge their core by alternating their favorite beanie babies from between their hands to the small of their backs, and then back again, while maintaining the traditional push-up position. These activities could clearly be followed up at an area fitness center that caters to families like the YMCA or the Tonawanda Aquatics Center.

Many recreational facilities, like the ones I’ve noted, can easily be persuaded into sending materials to a night like the one we’ve described; if not a real life representative! Teaming up with local recreational outlets is not only good for local businesses but great for families to see how easy it is to stay fit while having fun. In New York State we have three state standards. In addition to endeavoring to follow the National Standards, New York physical educators must implement the NYS Standards as well.

Standard 3 states: Students will understand and be able to manage their personal and community resources.

As such it makes plenty of sense for New York State physical educators to try to work something akin to Fitness Night into their year if not each season. The National Association for Sport and Physical Education (NASPE) 2011 Code of Conduct for p-12 physical education teachers Principle II reference these community practices this way:

Physical education professionals collaborate with school staff, parents and the community to provide a wide variety of physical activity opportunities for the entire school community.

Physical education professionals:

2.1 Serve as the physical activity expert within the school by contributing their expertise to school and community projects/activities.

2.2 Coordinate the school's comprehensive physical activity program to maximize students' understanding, application, and practice of the knowledge and skills learned in physical education.

2.3 Engage school staff and parents in roles that help and support implementation of a comprehensive school physical activity program.

2.4 Engage and partner with community members and agencies to share resources, thereby building collaborative services in support of all students.

2.5 Collaborate with school staff in support of the school-wide curriculum.

2.6 Identify opportunities to incorporate physical education and physical activity into school-wide initiatives, themes and events.

In light of these assertions, it makes plenty of sense for physical educators nation-wide to promote the type of evening detailed in this article. February is targeted by the American Heart Association as American Heart Month. Fitness night could be the doorway to more parents modeling and participating in better physical activity practices with their children. We're all well aware of the importance of following up activity with educated eating habits, so perhaps you could add a nutrition piece to the evening.

Kelly is considering partnering with the cafeteria to offer healthy food samples to families during the festivities, in addition to healthy dinner recipes which would include these foods. A healthy heart comes from healthy habits which in turn come from healthy households in supportive communities. Physical educators have the opportunity, perhaps the responsibility, to help bridge the gap of knowledge that exists in so many of our surrounding communities. Our hope is to provide a helping hand as one generation transitions to the next, and brings with it the practices that can make for a happier, healthier life. My wife and I wish you the best of luck in your endeavors and hope that you will join us in this pursuit.

Kelly Strong Biography: Physical Education Teacher at Charles A. Lindbergh Elementary since September 2000. Head Varsity Girls Volleyball Coach at Kenmore West High School since September 2000. Graduated Lancaster Central High School 1995. Graduated Canisius College BS Education (Physical Education) 1999. Graduated Walden University MS Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment 2004. kstrong@kenton.k12.ny.us

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