SPARK - School Specialty. Physical Education & Wellness

This component of the SPARK CSHI is one of the most challenging to impact. A school or agency has clearly defined physical boundaries, and definitive control over what is displayed, said, and done there between the hours of 7am and 3pm, Monday through Friday.

Even if that environment is doing everything right to support healthy behaviors among students and staff, everyone will spend far more time at home and in the community then they will on campus. Therefore, it is critical that a school wellness committee think beyond their school borders, and actively solicit parent involvement, and engage community resources and services.

Community: Community changes may take a long time to come to fruition, and therefore, may be categorized as long-term goals. Examples include submitting and passing legislation requiring new construction projects to build wide sidewalks and safe bike lanes. Or, community changes may be short-term goals, such as serving fruit and non-fat yogurt instead of doughnuts and danish at the next Rotary Club breakfast meeting to honor the "Student of the Month."

Family: Parents can advocate for a neighborhood park or better lighting along the routes to school -- those are surely worthy, long-term goals. And short-term goals are plentiful, such as paying closer attention to the food placed in their child's lunch bag tomorrow.

The bottom line -- there are numerous ways to facilitate positive change, today, next week, and even in the years to come. The best way to begin the process is by bringing all the stakeholders together and planning an integrated school, parent, and community approach.

SPARK's Role: SPARK CSHI will help move the process along by bringing healthful lessons learned at school, home to mom and dad. 

For example, the SPARK Physical Education Programs include "Home Plays" (like homework) which are activity and/or nutrition lessons for children to teach their parents and family.

Click here to visit the SPARK Physical Education section.

In the SPARK Early Childhood Program, parents are included in the teacher workshops and learn how to engage their young children in developmentally appropriate movement at home.

Click Here to visit the SPARK Early Childhood section.

The SPARK After School Program teaches children games, dances, and skills they can do away from school, on the weekends, in open space and even in their rooms.

Click Here to visit the SPARK After School section. 

To have access to this section of our website (coming spring 2010) you'll need a user name and password, as it's only available to our SPARK Family.

It's easy to become a SPARK Family member; simply purchase one of our SPARK products or programs. For more information, Click Here.