School Wellness Weekly

12.15.17


Winding Down 2017, Welcoming Winter
As you wind down the first half of the school year, and embrace the holiday season, consider carving out time during Winter Recess to prepare new lesson plans and activities to keep your students, teachers, and school communities active and healthy in 2018. This issue is jam-packed with opportunities to help you start off the new year with robust health and physical education instruction in safe and sustainable ways.

Along with colder temperatures, holiday parties, and downtime with family and friends, winter can bring sedentary days, lots of snacks, and big meals. Motivate your students to choose healthier foods with ideas for healthy active parties and healthy snacks from Action for Healthy Kids. Students and families can stay active at home during the break by taking on a fun and energizing 12 Days of Fitness challenge. To keep screen (and sofa) time in check, read How Plugged-in Families Can Have a Device-Free(ish) Holiday .

School Wellness Weekly will be on hiatus until mid-January 2018, when we’ll return to meet your back-from-break needs. Happy and healthy holidays from the Office of School Wellness Programs!

Special Opportunity

Free NYC High School Health and Physical Education Conference
The Office of School Wellness Programs is partnering with the NYS Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance (AHPERD) to host a Health and Physical Education Conference for high school teachers on 1/29 at Progress High School for Professional Careers (14K474). Open to all NYC DOE public high school teachers. Featured speakers include Dr. Dean Kriellaars, a noted authority on physical literacy from the University of Manitoba, Canada; and Karen B.K. Chan, an expert on sex education and emotional literacy. Register today . Interested in presenting? Apply now . 
Physical Education
Secondary PE Basics I: Lesson Planning to Incorporate Fitness and Assessment (formerly Physical Best Specialist Certification Workshop). Grades 6-12 physical education teachers can register here for the 12/21 session in Queens. 

Secondary PE Teachers with Weight Rooms: Learn Skills and Strategies for Safe Physical Education Instruction
Join Bigger Faster Stronger (BFS) for a full-day session to learn the skills and strategies to design safe physical education instruction in a weight room or fitness center. Learn proper lifting and spotting techniques, dynamic warm-ups, body-weight exercises that develop functional strength and balance, and more. See available dates below and start prepping for 2018:

Manhattan, Fri. 1.26.18: register on Eventbrite
Queens, Mon. 2.5.18: register on Eventbrite
Queens, Tue. 2.6.18: register on Eventbrite
Queens, Wed. 2.7.18: register on Eventbrite
Queens, Thur. 2.8.18: register on Eventbrite
Brooklyn, Mon. 3.5.18: register on Eventbrite
Brooklyn, Tue. 3.6.18: register on Eventbrite
Brooklyn, Wed. 3.14.18: register on Eventbrite
Brooklyn, Thur. 6.7.18: register on Eventbrite

NYC FITNESSGRAM Reminders
All PE teachers: As you complete the required NYC FITNESSGRAM student assessments this year, remember the following important information:

  • Deadline: You must enter and validate your students’ scores by April 27, 2018.
  • Student reports: Registered NYC FITNESSGRAM users can print student reports from the NYC FITNESSGRAM web application as soon as students' scores are validated. Let parents and legal guardians know that they can also view and print students' reports via their NYC Schools Account.
  • FAQs, Videos, and Tech Support: Access how-to information, including how to print student reports, on the NYC FITNESSGRAM page of the Wellness Tech Support platform. 
  • Training: Teachers must complete PE Basics I: Lesson Planning to Incorporate Fitness and Assessment (formerly Physical Best Curriculum Workshop) in order to become a registered NYC FITNESSGRAM user and gain access to the NYC FITNESSGRAM portal. See our 2017-18 Professional Learning Catalog for upcoming dates for elementary and secondary teachers.
Health Education
Condom Availability Program (CAP) Training. High school staff who will coordinate and support a CAP for the first time, and those who have not received training in CAP since 2013 can register here for the 1/11 session in Queens.  
Teachers and Leaders
K-12 PE Teachers: Get Personalized Instructional Support with PE Coaching
Limited space is still open in the Winter cycle of PE Coaching sessions. Work one-on-one with an experienced PE Instructional Coach from the Office of School Wellness Programs for 4 to 6 weeks to develop custom pedagogical strategies and goals that suit your needs and those of your school. Apply now; we will do our best to accommodate all applicants. Sessions must be completed no later than 2/2 . Questions? Email PEWorks@schools.nyc.gov . 
Building the Wellness Community
Using Grants to Create Healthier School Environments: Shout-Out to The Neighborhood School
When it comes to making schools healthier places to be, School Wellness Councils can have a big impact – just ask Jenny Ulloa, School Wellness Council chair at The Neighborhood School in Manhattan (01M363), who helped the school win an Action for Healthy Kids (AFHK) Game On Grant for 2017-18. On 11/9, with support from AFHK and sponsor GoGoSqueez, volunteers from the school community installed a climbing wall in the gym, painted a walking/jogging track in the courtyard, constructed a new scooter rack, and transformed the cafeteria with a fresh coat of paint during Every Kid Healthy Day of Service. Contact Mike Gulino at AFHK to find out how your school can get involved. ( Photo above: Every Kid Healthy Day of Service, 01M363, November 9, 2017. Photo courtesy: AFHK )

2017-18 School Wellness Calendars Still Available
Last chance to order this year’s Wellness calendars, featuring students’ winning designs from the 2017 School Wellness Poster Contest! Submit your order for up to 50 calendars here by 12/22 ; schools have priority. Allow 2 weeks for delivery.

Tai Chi for Kids Training for Teachers
Tai Chi for Kids is offering a grant for up to eight schools to receive one full day of free teacher professional development with founder Cari Shurman in late January. The program builds teachers’ capacity to incorporate physical activity into the school day in new and engaging ways. Schools are responsible for the cost of DVD sets. (School Wellness Council grant schools can use their grant funding for this.). Email Cari Shurman for more information.

December is HIV Awareness Month: Share Testing and Prevention Information
Getting tested is a vital step in HIV prevention, but according to the 2015 Youth Risk Behavior Survey , less than half (41.6%) of NYC youth who reported being currently sexually active reported that they had ever been tested for HIV. Ensure your students know where to find a local youth-friendly testing clinic by sharing the Teens in NYC booklet and the NYC Health Map . Yearly lessons on HIV/AIDS (following the NYC DOE's HIV/AIDS Curriculum ) are required for all NYC students in grades K-12. For guidance on these lessons and other health education instruction, contact healthed@schools.nyc.gov .

NYC Excellence in School Wellness Award Application Now Open
The NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene's Excellence in School Wellness Award recognizes elementary schools for their efforts to create a healthy school environment that helps promote student health and improve academic achievement. All NYCDOE elementary schools are eligible to apply by 3/1 . Visit the Healthy Schools page for more information; contact healthyschools@health.nyc.gov with questions.