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 •“Physical education class is the only curriculum that teaches kids how to learn and keeps them healthy at the same time.”  (Lori Smith)

•“We know that regular exercise is good for the body, and now we know that exercise is also good for the brain” (Schiller, Start Smart! Building Brain Power in the Early Years.)

•. “Physical Activity is good not only for the heart, but also for the brain, feeding it glucose and oxygen, and increasing nerve connections, all of which makes it easier for children of all ages to learn.  Numerous studies show that children who exercise do better in school.”  Newsweek, 2/19/96.

.•  Praag (1999) conducted studies that suggest running and other aerobic activity promotes brain cell regeneration and growth.

. •   98% of learning is through the body.  Therefore, the more physically fit the body, the better the learning.

.  Lack of physical activity is as much a detriment to our health as smoking.

.  Children cannot learn if they are not healthy!

. The American Heart Association lists lack of physical activity as a risk factor for heart disease, the nation’s #1 killer.
 
 

Brain Food and Feeling Good

* Certain spinning activities led to alertness, attention, and relaxation in the classroom.  (Clarke, 1980)

* The brain is made up of 85% water.  After 45 minutes, the area of the brain responsible for problem solving starts to dehydrate.

 “Children who do not get enough water may appear bored, listless, and drowsy” (Schiller)

* Dopamine is a neurotransmitter associated with mood and movement.  It helps carry information.  Exercise is the best way to stimulate dopamine production.  Exercise helps the body produce the “feel-good” hormones called endorphins.  When kids feel good, they will do better academically.  PE provides an excellent format for the release of stress because elevating the heart rate stirs up endorphins and serotonin which are natural relievers of stress.

* Physical activity naturally reduces stress and levels of emotions.

* Raising the heart rate oxygenates the brain and feeds it glucose.

* Diet and exercise balances neurotransmitters like serotonin, endorhins, and dopamine.

* “Laughter increases white blood cell activity and changes the chemical balance of the blood.  Laughter reduces stress, and low stress enhances the brain’s receptivity to learning.” (Schiller)

Memory and Learning:

* “There is evidence that listening to music can boost memory, attention, motivation, and learning.  It can also lower stress, activate both sides of the brain, and increase spatial temporal reasoning.” (Schiller)
* “I hear and I forget.  I see and I remember.  I do and I understand!”  Confusius

 Students retain….
 10% of what they read
 20% of what they hear
 30% of what they see
 50% of what they see and hear
 70% of what they say
 90% of what they say and do

Facts
 

**Children engaged in daily physical education showed superior motor fitness, academic performance and attitude toward school as compared to their counterparts who do not participate in daily physical education.  (Pollatschek and Hagen 1996)

**Aerobic activity not only increases blood flow to the brain, but also speeds recall and reasoning skills.  (Etnier, et al 1999)

**In a study of more than 500 Canadian children, Olsen and Martens (1994) found that students who spent an extra hour each day in physical education class performed better on exams than less active children.

**The brain learns best when more of the five senses are involved.  Color, sounds, music, smells, manipulatives, and navigating space are better remembered.  PE provides more of these elements than any other discipline.  Learning environments filled with enriched sensory input enhances cognition.

** The brain never stops learning, but it does forget and learning only occurs if the information or input is perceived important by the human.

** Emotion drives attention and learning.  The student has to be emotionally attached to the learning.  Therefore, the teacher must be aware of the emotional states of the students.  In PE this means providing activities that take the different skill levels of the learner in mind to provide success for all students on their level.

**The brain seeks patterns.  Information that is arranged in patterns is more easily processed, retained and retrieved.  We have familiar patterns that we have identified such as alphabet, signatures, etc.  Math concepts are based on patterns.  Locomotor movements are built on patterns.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Memory is retrieved better when learned through movement. (Jensen, The Learning Brain)
Movement

Movement facilitates cognition!  Movement is the foundation for learning!  Kids who physically active learn better.

Every movement is a sensory-motor event, linked to the intimate understanding of our physical world.

Many scientists find it hard to believe that the area of the brain responsible for movement is also responsible for higher thinking.

A person may sit quietly to think, but to remember a thought, an action must be used to anchor it.

 Children that miss the crawling stage may reveal negative signs later in their lives.  Crawling activates both sides of the brain.

Research indicates that students that spend more time physically active perform better on tests.

 As teachers, we now know the importance of integrating movement in our classrooms!
 

Crossing the Midline

**Cross Lateralization strengthens neural connections, increases dendritic branching, and anchors learning (Dennison)

**Cross Lateralization ? improves reading mechanics, helps with symbolic recognition for decoding language, increases nerve connections, helps with peripheral vision.

**Neural Pathways Lesson by Jean Blaydes ? When you cross your midline your brain begins to make new connections and it starts talking to itself to concentrate better.  A neuron fires on the right side of your brain and begins to try to connect to a neuron on the left side by creating a new road between them, kind of like a road grader that clears the way for a new road.  It’s the same road that the neurons will travel when you do math, reading or spelling and each time you cross your midline, the road is paved and made bigger and better ? first a one lane road, then a two lane street, then a highway, and then a freeway with lots of traffic ? all of this is highlighted in PE class.  Learning is defined as the connections of neurons.  By the way, the better you feed your brain the faster and better the road construction will be and the better the connections and therefore, the smarter the brain becomes.
Resources:  Jean Blaydes, Richardson, TX ? jblaydesPE@aol.com.
 
 

From the Office of the Surgeon General:
*Weight may overtake smoking as top cause of preventable deaths. ? too much food can act as a  poison and makes our bodies less efficient for moving and less efficient in circulating necessary nutrients (oxygen, blood, glucose etc)
*Obesity has become an epidemic across USA = BMI is over 30
*Check out these websites for more info on BMI ? www.nhlbi.nih.gov/guidelines/obesity/bmi_tbl.htm or www.cdc.gov/growthcharts
*300,000 people a year die from illnesses directly related to being overweight (chronic disease, heart disease, stroke, colon cancer, diabetes, & osteoporosis).
*60% of adults are overweight or obese

Causes:Many factors ? People eat more calories (super-size with junk food) than they work off.  High sugar diets (juice/pop).  Busy lifestyles alter exercise patterns, eating on the run, priorities have changed with lifestyle demands, people are uneducated about the effect exercise & nutrition has on health.  The use of technology!

Solutions:   *Maintain a healthy active lifestyle forever! ? Exercise everyday!  (10 min-45 min??)
*Expend more energy than we take in!  (You are what you eat!  If you can live with it tomorrow, eat it!)
  *Eat what you like, but take smaller portions!
*Don’t use genetics as an excuse to stay the same…use it as a motivator to create a healthy active lifestyle change.

Iowa Health:  Dr. Hensley/UNI
 1998 20% of Iowans are sufficiently active.  (5 or more x’s per week/30 min. or more)
   60% of Iowans reported living sedentary lifestyles.
   27% adult Iowans report no leisure-time physical activity.
   Iowa ranks 38th in prevalence of PA among citzens.
  1997 ? 45% of all deaths in Iowa were from Cariovascular disease!

Shape of the Nation Report:
*Children are 13% children 6-11 are over weight & 14% 12-19 were overweight.
*Almost half of our young people aged 12-21 and more than one third of high school students do not participate in regular vigorous Physical Activity!
*Fewer than 1-4 children get 20 minutes of vigorous activity every day of the week

Iowa Report on Youth:
* Physical Test scores are average
* Iowa boys and girls are slightly heavier and possess more fatness than national samples
* Depending on the age 5-18% of Iowa youth report being completely sedentary.
* For both boys and girls, physical activity steadily declines with age.
* Less than 10% of Iowa youth in grades 9-12 report attending PE classes 5 days a week, compared to 29% nationally.

•Surgeon General recommends that schools must provide daily PE for every grade.  Federal Government appropriated $5 million last year and now will appropriate $50 million to improve PE across the Nation.

•“Physical Education is the only curriculum that can teach children how to learn and keep children healthy at the same time!”

•All educators are responsible for the three domains:  Psychomotor, Affective and Cognitive  Integration for all areas will help our children become better learners.  What are you doing to promote all three domains????

•Children cannot learn if they are not healthy!  What good will it do to have kids with good grade points and great ACT scores if they will have a heart attack by age 25 or 30.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Presenter:  Lori Smith

 Thank you for participating in my presentation during your class!  Please feel free to contact me about any of the activities presented in this session.  I hope you have fun integrating these activities into your units.  Keep your kids moving and learning at the same time to ensure we have the best thinkers and healthiest kids for the future!

Here is some information you have requested:

The Learning Station ? 1-800-789-9990 (Tony Chestnut, Green Eggs and Ham and more!) Or visit their website:  www.learningstationmusic.com

Greg & Steve Collection ? 1-800-444-4287 (ABC Rock and many more educational songs)  Or visit their website: www.youngheart@creativeteaching.com

Jim Gill ? He has developed a lot of early childhood music-lower elementary music.  Although we did not use his music in our presentation, you may enjoy using some of his songs.  Some of his songs were used in my professional Video series from Championship Productions in the Aquatics video.
 Jim Gill Music, INC.
 P.O. Box 2263
 Oak Park, IL  60303
 (703)763-9864
 Website:  Jimgillmusic@mac.com

Gopher Sports ? They can help you with any equipment needs.  www.gophersport.com
Call 800-533-0446  -- Some of the equipment I used in the presentation was purchased from their company.  You will see more if you purchase any of my videos.

Speed Stacks ? You can purchase your cup stacks from them and begin to teach children hand-eye coordination activities!!!   www.speedstacks.com
Speed Stacks
14 Inverness Drive E D-112
Englewood, CO  80112
1-877-GOT-CUPS

Championship Books and Video Productions ? You can purchase any of Lori’s 8 videos just released to the Nation at the end of April.  www.champOnline.com or info@champonline.com  The videos feature Price Lab students in action demonstrating a wide variety of activities that involve integration activities featured in this presentation.  In addition, you can purchase videos about rhythms, maximum participation and success, modified games aquatics and more!!

Technology in the classroom:  Heart Rate Monitors=www.polarusa.com  or 1-800-918-5043
Pedometers=www.walk4life.com or 888-422-1806.  or www.digiwalker.com (yellow ones)
 
 

Presenters:  Lori Smith , Price Lab School/UNI
“Active Learning, Movement & Integration Activities”
 

Partner Find
 Students move in general space.  When the music stops each student must find a partner.  Students will find three different partners during the activity.  You can have them do a number of different movements:  march in place partner, a criss/cross hand slap partner, a give me “10” partner, a right hand start partner, a jumping jack partner.  This activity is good for movement and for creating partners for classroom activities.

Smart Movers
 The students start by standing on a dot facing a partner.  Half of the class will have flash cards and the other class will not having anything.  When the music starts the students perform locomotors on their half of the class.  When the music stops, the students face a partner on the dot.  The students with the flash cards show their partner and their partner must solve what is shown.  Flash cards can be math problems, shapes, numbers, letters, counting, animal shapes etc.  When the music starts again the students move.  Repeat and let the opposite side hold the cards.

Magic Dice
 Have the students in partner formation.  They can work on throwing/tossing and catching skills while working on counting and math problems.  The students roll one die (dice).  Whatever number they roll, that is the number they will catch and toss.  On partner self-tosses while the other partner rolls the die.  You can have students add numbers to each rolled number or they can subtract or do any math problem to add challenges.  Children can count by two’s or in Spanish when tossing and catching.

Roll ‘em
 Each child will have one die (dice) and they will be in partner formation.  Each child will roll their die.  The partner group will add their numbers together and then they will each go to a note card and pencil/crayon scattered in the room and write out a math equation that equals the numbers added together.  For example:  If one rolls a 2 and I roll a 4 our numbers together equal 6.  I may write 5 + 1 = 6 and one might write 10 ? 4 = 6 on another card.

Tony Chestnut ? The Learning Station
This song helps students understand homophones.  Listen to the song and point or move body parts.  To = touch your toes, ny = touch your knees, Chest = touch your chest, nut = touch your head, Knows = touch your nose, I = point to your eyes, love = cross arms over your chest, you = point to a partner, Sister = fluff your hair, Eileen ? point the eye and lean over with balancing, Neil = kneel down on one knee, Pat = pat your knees, Bob = stand and bob up and down, Russel = run in place etc.
 

Crossing the Midline challenges
• to strengthen the brain to think longer
• One finger points out and the other thumb points up. Switch
• Nose and ear challenge
• Partner slap challenges ? Students face a partner with hands extended palms up about waist high and slap out a beat.  Partner #1 starts by gently slapping his/her right hand into right hand of partner #2 and then the left hand into the left hand of their partner.  Count by 1’s, 2’s etc.  Variations:  spell each others names, think of a 5-6 letter word but don’t ell your partner what it is and try to figure out what your partner spells at the same time, say the alphabet.

Arrow Movements
• On construction paper or regular paper, draw a series of arrows pointing in different directions (up, down, left, & right)
• make a pointer out of two hand, following the arrows and point your hands in the direction they point.  Do this in order and in an even rhythm and always come back to the middle of the body with a clap.
• Start a jumping pattern, jump, bounce, jump, bounce, like jumping a long rope.  Keeping the pattern, use your pointer to follow the arrow sequence.
• Without a jump, try to point opposite of the arrow.
• With a jump, point opposite of the arrow.
• With a jump, use both hands to point with the arrow.

Paper Plate Aerobics
Equipment: Music and Paper Plates that have identify movements
How to play: Place all of the paper plates upside down in scattered formation.  When the music starts, the students pick up a paper plate and read it.  After they read the plate, they set the plate face down and perform the movement or action on the plate.  When the music stops they should stand next to a new paper plate and repeat.  Suggestions to put on your plates:  walk, run, hop, jump, skip, gallop, leap, slide, jumping jacks, walk in a circle, square, spiral, triangle or walk backwards, expressive faces like happy, sad and mad, scissors jump, or skier jump.

Trading Spaces
Students start by drawing a card.  Each card has a color written on it.  When the child identifies the color, he/she must go to a star that matches that color.  Under the star, the student will find a math or counting flash card.  When the student “solves the problem”, he/she will do that many jumping jacks on that star (personal space).  After the jumping jacks, the student must get another card located somewhere in the room in order to “trade for a new space”.  Students can trade cards with other students to find their next “math problem”.

Run for the money—Spread the money cards out on the floor.  Have four teams around the play area.  One at a time one person runs to the middle to retrieve a card back to team.  When the game is done, the class will count the money cards.  Develop challenges for the kids to move!  March in place, scissors jump, skip in place

Jumping Bingo ? Have a Bingo Card prepared for every child.  Hide the blue papers under cones or poly spots.  On “go” each child should lift solve the math problem, do that many jumps and then mark their cards.  Go until a student gets a bingo!

Number Rally Reporters ? Have the students perform a skill (throwing/catching, kicking, scarf tossing).  One student goes to find a math problem or counting problem on the outer edge of the play area.  That student must report back to the partner and that will determine how many skills the partners will complete.  Take turns reporting the numbers.

Animal Planet ? Spread different colored stars on the floor.  Put cone (space ships) on the floor and animal bean bags under the cones.  When the music starts, children peek under the cone and help the animals find their planet.  Planets match the same color star.  The astronauts put the animals back in the spaceship so they have oxygen.

Letter find ? Spread cones all over the play area with a letter.  When the music starts, have the students choose a station (letters, sequences, words, colors).  When the student finds a letter, they do a skill to find the letter.  When they choose a word, they must spell the word with the skill.  When they find a color, they must dribble around all of the colors.  When they find a sequence card, they must discover which letter is missing and then dribble to the letter.

ABC Rock ? Each student has a bean bag.  When the music starts, have the students toss and catch an object on the “repeat” portion of the song.

Count Bounce ? Greg and Steve song ? learning numbers through the body.  Have the students lay on the ground.  When the music calls out a number, each student must make the shape of the number using his/her body.  Great activity to use as a cool down or culminating activity.

Cup Stacking
This activity teaches children to use both hands.  Cup stacking can promote hand-eye coordination, ambidexterity, quickness and concentration.  All of these skills are useful in developing fine motor skills for drawing and writing.  In the demonstration, you learned how to stack 3 cups.  We also did activities using dice ? numbers and odd/even concepts!  Opposites using follow the leader!  Add and subtract using odd/even ? spread out math cards ? students solve the problem and find a stack