Active School Day

Stability Balls: King Elementary School

Get Fit Itasca purchased stability balls to replace chairs in a 4th and 5th grade classroom in King Elementary. The students love them, and they have the added bonus of encouraging good posture and incorporating both balance and core strength.

Mission:

Active School Day is a Healthy Northland strategy that Get Fit Itasca has been working on within the Deer River, Greenway, Grand Rapids/Bigfork, and Nashwauk-Keewatin school districts. The focus of active school day is to make sure that students aren't only active in physical education classes, but throughout the day. A sedentary lifestyle is one of the factors contributing to preventable disease. Listed below are some exciting things that have happened since Get Fit Itasca's partnership with these districts.

Energizers:

Energizers are a resource that has been made available to all of the schools in the community. They are short (roughly 10 minute) activities that allow teachers to incorporate physical activity into their every day lessons. Many teachers in the area understand the link between activity and brain development, and are utilizing this resource to keep their students moving throughout the day.

Active School Day Pilot Study: Nashwauk-Keewatin

In the 2013/2014 school year, Nashwauk Keewatin was awarded a grant that allowed them to test out a tool called "Fitnessgram" to assess their students physical fitness levels. Fitnessgram is a partner of NFL's "Play 60". This tool includes a variety of tests whose outcomes are used to assess each individual's fitness, and make recommendations when possible. You can read more about Fitnessgram on their website: fitnessgram.net

All-Year Physical Education: Deer River High School

Previous to Get Fit Itasca's involvement with the area schools, Deer River only offered physical education class for one semester of each school year for grades 7-9. We were able to connect the gym teacher with resources to make his curriculum adaptable for the entire school year. Nashwauk-Keewatin is now trying to implement a similar model.