Christie Mileage Markers

By: Angela O'Brian, Christie Elementary, Plano ISD

Our diverse campus is one of the largest in our district. We are a full Title 1 school with about 60% of our students economically disadvantaged and all students receive free breakfast every morning. Much of the resources at our school are focused on low-performing students; however, with new accountability guidelines including growth of achieving students, we realize the need to push all our students so that they can excel to the next level. Despite all the challenges and obstacles that lay before our kids, we hope to provide them... Read more

Health and Fitness Night

By: Ron Crawford, White Rock Elementary, Richardson ISD

The 3 rd Annual White Rock Elementary Health and Fitness Night was a great success! We had 19 vendors and 4 interactive performances. The theme this year was “Preventive Wellness” and the vendors reflected this theme. White Rock Elementary’s Wellness team hosted the event and planned out the details. Students had many incentives and prizes sponsored by the vendors, our PTA, and the Healthy Zone School grant.

Some of the highlights included:

Students making their own healthy snacks (21 Day Challenge/Medical City... Read more

Coy Miller Elementary Extreme Playground Makeover

By: Carrie Partain, Coy Miller Elementary, Frisco ISD

As our Healthy Zone School initiative, Miller Elementary took on a weekend community project to give our school playground and recess area an “Extreme Makeover”. By utilizing resources that were made possible by The Cooper Institute and United Way, we transformed our playground to a creative, interactive and educational space that provides enjoyment for our students during recess, physical education and after school programs. The teachers put together a unique design plan, then set up a community-wide event complete with staff,... Read more

Dr. Recess... So AMAZING!!!

By Jennifer James, Vaughn Elementary, Frisco ISD

Vaughn Elementary was so excited and pumped to have Dr. Recess come to our school on Monday, March 26th! Our students learned about recess games that promote healthy habits and an active lifestyle.

Dr. Curt Hinson, who is well-known as “Dr. Recess,” taught our Vaughn students new games that focus on keeping students active, working together in partners and as a team while having fun. His focus is on health, fitness, nutrition, and developmentally appropriate play for kids. Some of the ways that our students and school will... Read more

Staff Wellness and Family Fitness Fun

By Juli Krepps, Donny O’Dell Elementary, Celina ISD

At O’Dell Elementary, we have dedicated ourselves to not only improving the health and wellness of our students; our focus this year is to reach out to our staff and families as well as continue to reach our students. Our “ODE”, as I like to call it, is driven to bridge the gap of information and inspiration between our school and community. We have instituted a few weekly and monthly activities, which involve accountability as well as the continued focus of overall health (including physical, mental and social health).

... Read more

Super Specials Clubs

By Carrie Partain, Coy Miller Elementary, Frisco ISD

This year Miller Elementary School is offering a new program we call Super Specials Clubs! Super Specials Clubs is an opportunity for the AMP (art, music, pe) Team to provide extensions and enrichment to our students. Each area has developed a plan to incorporate activities where students will gain additional skills and knowledge that will facilitate whole child growth. Some of the clubs we designed based on student responses are Miller Movers (dance team), Jammin' Jumpers (jump rope club), Play 60 Challenge Team (fitness and... Read more

Making Fitness Fun and Convenient

By: Jason Weir, Ogle Elementary, Frisco ISD

As a new Healthy Zone School-In Training, it was important for us to help provide our teachers with opportunities to live a healthy lifestyle. We found one consistent factor was holding our teachers back from exercising on a regular basis. Our teachers had the will and the desire to exercise but often struggled to find a time in their schedules to consistently exercise due to the strenuous demands of work and outside life activities. Knowing this information, our wellness team collaborated on how we could address this issue... Read more

Let’s Get Moving

By Cheryl Derrington, Northwood Hills Elementary, Richardson ISD

As a new Healthy Zone School in Training, we used January 4, 2017 as our kick-off to a healthy new year with the theme “Let’s Get Moving!” Our activities on this date included “Wake Up and Walk Wednesday,” Zumba classes throughout the day, and a healthy lunch for our staff. Our goal this year is for both our staff members and our students to get moving and get healthy by increasing their healthy choices and activity level with friends in a fun, relaxed, environment.

We started the day with “Wake Up and Walk... Read more

Staff Volleyball Tournament

By Joey Cobb, Meadows Elementary, Plano ISD

The Meadows Elementary Staff Volleyball Tournament was created as a staff building activity to help improve and create awareness for staff health and wellness. The tournament is mandatory for all staff to participate in either as a player or a cheerleader. All staff signs up for a team consisting of eight players and eight cheerleaders and are assigned a color. The staff really goes all out with their team color by making uniforms and the staff signed up to cheer for the team comes up with cheers and a cute outfit with pom... Read more

Fall Field Day

By Jenny Nations, Ditto Elementary, Arlington ISD

This year’s goal for our fall field day was to create a school wide celebration of fitness. We used 20 different stations featuring our new equipment to reinforce the skills learned in class. Students traveled in small groups around to each station led by student leaders from our 5 th and 6 th grades. Each grade level (K-6) had a designated time to participate in these events. Total students participating was approximately 750. We invited parents to come enjoy watching their child participate. In previous years, we have had... Read more