Issue link: http://educator.cta.org/i/2864
Student Kyle Casteneda practices CPR techniques under the direction of Fillmore school nurse Martha Romero. Inset: Theresa Marvel, a health teacher at Fillmore High School and president of FUTA, uses an anatomical model to show how CPR works. Lunchtime meal brought by parents to Ventura student. some cases, standards have been linked with more than one sport with accompa- nying lesson plans. “This year I will be collaborating with other teachers to do the same for seventh- and eighth-graders, and also for English learners,” says Barletto. “To my knowledge this has not been done before.” Students are largely inactive Students are much less adept at physi- cal skills than previous generations, says Claudia Wilde, a PE specialist at Amy Blanc Elementary School in Fairfield. “They don’t know how to jump rope, throw a ball, do the long jump, or even play hopscotch — all things kids once normally did. And not only are they unfit, they don’t know how to play. Kids are so used to adults telling them how to play and organizing activities for them that they don’t know how to use their imagina- tion and run around.” To compensate for a lack of normal That’s a Fact A recent study, which involved more than 500,000 adolescents at middle and high schools in California, found that students who attend a school near a fast-food restaurant: > Have a higher chance of being overweight and obese than students who attend schools that are not near a fast-food restaurant. > Eat fewer servings of fruits and vegetables, and drink more soda than students at schools that are not located near fast-food restaurants. The study also found that fast-food restaurants tend to be clustered near schools. Th e study was conducted by Brennan Davis of Azusa Pacifi c University and recently appeared in the American Journal of Public Health. physical activity, her students run a half mile every time they have PE, and on Wednesdays they run a mile. “I tell them they may hate running now, but they’ll thank me in 20 years if their arteries haven’t hardened up.” In Fillmore, a small, rural town south of Santa Barbara, students literally hit the ground running as soon as the bell rings at 8 a.m. The impressive exercise, which is not a part of PE, involves about 150 stu- dents at San Cayetano Elementary School and lasts for 20 minutes. Fillmore Unified Teachers Association (FUTA) members say it gets the blood flowing, gets the wig- gles out and allows students to focus bet- ter on academics. “It keeps me up and awake for class,” says fourth-grader Monique Gonzalez. “Before, I was very sleepy.” “We all know that it gets students to fo- cus better in the classroom,” says Kristin Dewey, a San Cayetano teacher. “There’s a definite health benefit, and they are get- ting faster, too. I think it helps with their confidence. When students feel good about themselves, they do better in school.” Time for a new approach FUTA members realized the need for change after they compared notes and