Nebraska Healthy Schools

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Nebraska Healthy Schools

• Conference
• Norris Public schools
• October 21,2010

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Employee Wellness

• Alice Jane Behrens

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Employee Wellness Means

• Moral
• Role Modeling
• Some Examples.

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Research Shows..
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Teacher Wellbeing

• The teachers ability to make sense of life and
  feel that there is a genuine purpose.
• The teachers desire to become a fuller and more
  rounded person.
• The teachers ability to recognize, express and
  understand emotions in both themselves and
  others.
• The teachers ability to empathize with others
  both on the staff team and within the student
  community.
• The teachers energy levels and resistance to
  illness.

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Survey

• This short survey is designed to determine staff
  members interests, while at the same time giving
  staff a chance to better understand the concept
  of a wellness program. This information will be
  used to plan health and wellness activities. All
  responses will be kept anonymous.

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Competitive Foods

• Lori Robinson RN

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What are we competing with?
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Why are they important?

• Trends are moving toward prohibiting low nutrient
  density foods
• Overfed and undernourished children
• Students will consume healthier foods if they are
  offered
• Overweight kids come with a cost
• Showing investment in student wellness

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Healthy Celebrations

• Benefits
• Healthy Kids Learn Better
• Provides Consistent Messages
• Promotes a Healthy School Environment
• Creates Excitement about Nutrition
• Protects Children with Food Allergies or other
  health conditions
• http//www.mdpta.org/documents/Healthy_Celebration
  s.pdf

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Healthy Fundraising

• Selling things other than non-nutrient dense
  foods
• Selling Healthy Food items
• School Promotional items
• Events that Support Academics
• Community Service
• http//www.californiaprojectlean.org/docuserfiles/
  /Ideas20for20healthy20fundraising20fact20shee
  t.pdf

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Physical Activity Learning ?Achievement

• Brian HermelBracht
• Article
• Raising Achievement using brain Breaks

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Activity Breaks

• 10 at 10 and 10 at 2
• These breaks are designed to bring activity into
  the classroom.
• Research indicates that children score higher
  test and are able to stay focused longer when
  brain breaks are incorporated into the
  curriculum.
• The article attached goes into detail about the
  direct benefits and 25 easy ways to incorporate
  activity into the classroom. Some of the
  suggestions are as simple has having students
  spell their spelling words in the air using their
  finger, elbow, or even nose.

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Raising achievement using brain breaks

• Children and adults learn more effectively when
  the information they receive is chunked and given
  little and often.
• Expecting anyone to learn for hours at a time
  without a break is unreasonable which is why
  brain breaks are the talk of the town.
• A desk gym approach to learning is now to be
  taken seriously to take off the pounds and to
  keep the brain active and alert.

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Educational Kinesiology

• Enhanced learning through movement increases the
  oxygen in the blood stream and leads to improved
  concentration and can enhance children's
  readiness for learning.
• Structured movements consciously activate the
  whole mind body system, stimulating
  nervous-system activity equally in all parts of
  the brain.

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• Brain breaks are moments to step outside of
  curriculum subject lessons and divert the mind
  into a new context allowing it to
• breathe
• relax
• recharge
• refocus
• Breaks energize, enthuse and re-ignite tired or
  busy minds. Regular brain breaks are a major
  feature of accelerated learning allowing children
  to experience stress-free enjoyable activities.

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Uses for Brain Breaks

• alleviate anxiety
• improve physical fitness
• improve fine and large motor movement
• develop co-ordination and laterality
• to locate inappropriate behaviors
• to connect to learning