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School to Community Connection |
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Issue 106 Healthy Students = Student Success Starting in kindergarten and continuing through all grades, Healdsburg’s public schools focus not only on the academic and social needs of the students, but also their physical well-being and fitness. Students at Healdsburg Elementary and Foss Creek schools have been benefiting from the My Body is Healthy Program since it was founded in 1989 with funding from the Healdsburg Rotary Club. The program has since merged with the Alliance Medical Center and is solely funded by grants and donations. Maureen Miller now administers the My Body is Healthy Program, visiting classrooms to teach students and writing grant applications to keep this wonderful program in place. Ms. Miller focuses on teaching the students through age appropriate “hands on” activities about the basic components of their bodies (heart, lungs, muscles, bones) and how to keep them healthy with proper foods, exercise and staying away from smoking. A favorite for many students is when she brings in a real lamb heart, lung and trachea that are still connected together for students to touch (with gloved hands) and to explore. They are able to see and to better understand how these body parts work together—how the heart pumps the blood, how the lungs inflate with air down the trachea and into the two lungs. Another activity that really impresses the students is having them count out and pile up sugar cubes in front of different popular beverages to see how much sugar is in these juices, sodas and energy drinks. The students have assignments where they read and compare food labels, find and analyze ads for alcoholic beverages and cigarettes and learn about the body’s immune system. New this year is “Catch Your Cough” where students are taught the importance of covering a cough with your arm, a tissue, the collar of your shirt—whatever! -- to reduce the spread of germs through the air. At the lower grades there is a unit on hygiene; at the middle grade levels the students keep “healthy habits charts” about what they eat, how much exercise they are getting to get their heart and breathing rates up and how often they brush and floss their teeth. In 6th grade, they simulate first aid scenarios and practice how to respond to them. On of the more unusual activities is the pig lung display—the smoker vs. the non smoker. Ms. Miller uses pig lungs to demonstrate the difference between the lung of a smoker vs. that of a nonsmoker (no, pigs do not smoke—she gets these from an educational supplier!). The students are able to see the difference in the effectiveness of the lungs, as well as just how gross the smoker’s lung is. To contact Ms. Miller, call 431-3362 or e-mail her at mmiller@husd.com. Donations to keep the program in the schools can be made to Alliance Medical Center-MBIH or through the Healdsburg Education Foundation-MBIH. At Healdsburg Junior High, Physical Education teachers Jeremy Russotti and Julie Stockly offer a full academic and physical education curriculum covering nutrition, stress relief, the muscular system and the five components of health and fitness: cardiovascular health, body composition, muscular strength and endurance, flexibility and bone health. There is a classroom component with homework that has students talking about healthy eating and exercise. And, there are the sports units with both traditional (such as softball, basketball) and nontraditional activities (such as Orienteering, Frisbee, and multicultural dance). Mr. Russotti and Ms. Stockly take pride that across 7th and 8th grade, there are no repeated sports units. To check out the HJH program, visit online at www.hjh.husd.com and select Student Resources:Homework:Mr. Russotti:Physical Education. The teachers can be reached at HJH at 431-3410 or by e-mail at jrussotti@husd.com or jstockly@husd.com. At Healdsburg High School, Physical Education teachers Jenean Bingham, Mark Domenichelli and Pete Sullivan focus on keeping students moving. According to Athletic Director Bingham, as teenagers grow older many decrease their overall physical activity level—they start driving, get jobs that may keep them out of sports, or they spend more time “hanging” with friends. To combat this general tendency of decreased activity, the high school PE teachers offer rotating 6 week sports units over the required two years of high school PE. As much as possible, the teachers strive to avoid “repeats” for students that enroll in PE two years straight. Each unit starts with an introduction to the sport and its vocabulary. Right now, the two units being taught are floor hockey (ice hockey in the gym—no ice!) and badminton. They also have Fitness twice per week focusing on core body strength training (abdominals and balance), “old fashioned” calisthenics and running for fitness and endurance. This is particularly important for freshmen preparing for the State Physical Fitness Test in April of each year. For more information about high school athletics, you may contact Athletic Director Jenean Bingham at 431-3420 or by e-mail at jbingham@husd.com. By Julie Conklin
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