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School Wellness Weekly
February 11, 2022
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Starting next Monday, February 14 through Friday, February 18, the DOE highlights Respect for All Week—a time for public schools across the City to celebrate our students’ unique identities, and help students, staff, and communities gain a better understanding of diversity.
The Office of School Wellness Programs is committed to providing our students with high-quality, inclusive Health and Physical Education rooted in culturally responsive-sustaining education. Our deep commitment to equity and inclusion is a part of this work—a roadmap for how we support schools not only during this special week, but throughout the year. This comprehensive, year-round approach means we strive to ensure students’ unique identities are embraced during instruction, helping them feel celebrated and empowered to stay healthy.
Health Education and Physical Education—as core academic subjects—are deeply connected to social-emotional learning competencies and help build a student body equipped with the skills they need to promote respect, embrace diversity, and foster community building.
Read below for opportunities and resources to help support inclusive Health and Physical Education and build healthy and safe schools. Stay tuned to next week’s issue where we will highlight J.H.S 202 Robert H. Goddard in Queens, a school that is embracing Respect for All Week with themes scheduled for each day that focus on celebrating and embracing their students’ unique identities and cultures.
Need ideas for your school? Check out their schedule for Respect for All Week!
Photo credit: New York City Department of Education, Office of School Wellness Programs
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Missed this week’s Teacher-Leader Edition of School Wellness Weekly?
Check out the issue (opens in new window) where we highlight the latest PE and Health Education professional learning opportunities—including an opportunity for K-12 educators to get free access to Nearpod—and upcoming Online Professional Learning Communities. Update your profile information if you are a teacher, educator, coach, or principal and want to receive timely and concise updates. Additional details are in the issue.
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Dove Self-Esteem Project’s Confident Me! Steps Grades 6-9 Health Teachers Can Take to Help Build Safe, Supportive Schools
Photo credit: Cairn Guidance
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Health Education and Physical Education |
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Incorporate PE—and SEL—into Your Respect for All Week Plans
Download the free Crosswalk (opens in new window) for SHAPE America and CASEL Social Emotional Competencies. This resource aligns National Standards, Grade Level Outcomes for K-12 and CASEL’s SEL competencies to identify where SEL competencies are applicable in teaching PE.
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Additional Health Ed Resources for Respect for All Week
Use the following lesson plans and resources during Respect for All Week—and throughout the year—to help create safe, supportive, and inclusive in-person or remote classroom environments. These resources (and more) are available in the Health Education Instructional toolkits for grades K-12 on the Health Education page (opens in new window) of our Professional Learning Catalog:
Elementary School
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GLSEN Ready, Set, Respect! Elementary Toolkit (opens in new window): Provides a set of tools that will help educators prepare to teach about respect and includes lesson plans that can help teachers seize teachable moments. The lessons focus on name-calling, bullying and bias, LGBT-inclusive family diversity and gender roles and diversity and are designed to be used as either standalone lessons or as part of a school-wide anti-bias or bullying prevention program.
Middle School
High School
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Log in to the DOE’s TeachHub (opens in new window)
- Go to the Health Education section for grades 9-12 Sexual Health folder
- Find materials in the Understanding Self-Identity folder
All Grades
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Building the Wellness Community |
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Harnessing the Power of Healthy, Nutritious Eating in NYC Public Schools: Vegan Fridays!
Building on the success of Meatless Mondays—first introduced in 2019— and the more recent Meatless Fridays, Vegan Fridays emphasizes the importance of healthy and nutritious eating to all our students by featuring a vegan dish as the primary menu item. Vegan options are currently offered in all schools daily, and milk is available as an option with every meal. Students will continue to have non-vegan options available to them on Fridays. Additional options include peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, hummus, and pretzels. Check out the flyer (opens in new window) and visit the School Food page (opens in new window) on the DOE website for more information on school meals.
School Wellness Council Opportunity: New York Farm to School Institute
Wellness Council Champions and school staff interested in creating successful Farm to School programs and connecting with farmers can join an informational webinar (opens in new window) and Q&A session on Thursday, February 17, 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m.
The New York Farm to School Institute is a year-long professional development opportunity for food service staff, educators, administrators, and community partners in New York schools to develop and refine their Farm to School programs, and to help bring more New York grown food into the cafeteria and classroom. Schools become alumni members of a NY Farm to School Institute Network—continuing to share best practices and resources with others championing farm to school for years to come. Applications for the 2022-2023 Institute are due by March 18. Learn more by visiting the New York Farm to School Institute (opens in new window) or email finys@farmland.org (opens in email window).
Summer Job Opportunity for High School Students: Become a NYC Lifeguard
NYC Parks is recruiting lifeguards for New York City’s beaches and pools this summer and will hold Lifeguard Qualifying Tests this weekend and next week at multiple locations in Manhattan. Lifeguards work five to six days each week and first-year lifeguards earn a minimum of $16 an hour, for a weekly salary of about $800. To qualify, individuals must be at least 16 years of age by the start of employment. Lifeguards have the chance to:
- Develop job skills
- Become part of a team
- Earn NYC Lifeguard certification, and learn CPR, first-aid, and rescue techniques
- Practice swimming
Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month Virtual Event: Tis The Season For Healthy Digital Love
In recognition of February as Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month, join an in-depth look at the way technology plays a role in the lives of young people during a virtual event (opens in new window) on Tuesday, February 15, 2:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. (perfect timing during Respect for All Week). Presenters from the One Love Foundation (opens in new window), the New York State Office to Prevent Domestic Violence, Cornell University/Cornell Tech Social Media Lab, and the Mayor's Office to End Domestic and Gender-Based Violence will talk about how educators and trusted adults can better support young people around:
- casual romantic relationships
- dating
- centering safety
- intervening in a productive way
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