Cloverdale students learn good health habits through iFit

Children have a wonderful way of learning from each other. Some call it peer pressure. Some call it friends sharing with friends.

Through the iFit Program, the administration and staff of Cloverdale Elementary School hope to use peer-to-peer instruction to help students learn good habits that will contribute to a healthier lifestyle. Members of the school’s LinC (Learning in Collaboration) Program have spent part of this spring working on a brochure that gives advice on living healthy. These students will also produce podcasts on the school’s Web site, http://www.CloverdaleRocks.com, to help students, their parents and the community at large learn to live a healthy life through subtle changes.

Through a United Health Care HEROES grant of $1,000, three ipods will be purchased to help with the project. Mark Miranda, director of Marketing/Account Management, delivered the funds to the school last Thursday.

“United Health Care is all about helping people live healthy lives,” Miranda said. “This is a great opportunity to help students learn more about how education, physical fitness and nutrition impact their daily lives.”

The iFit Program is a marriage of two trains of thought - good nutrition and physical fitness. The educational element ties the two together.

“We started this program in February,” said Joyce McMillen, physical education instructor at Cloverdale. “For three weeks, we really stressed the importance of healthy eating at recess. If they ate healthy foods, they got a star.”

At the end of the three-week period, the class with the best performance was honored. Mrs. Williams’ kindergarten class won that honor.

Eating healthy is only part of the equation. Getting the proper amount of physical activity daily is also important.

“In this part of the program, we compared the fall and spring fitness scores,” Ms. McMillen continued. “The overall winner for this was Mrs. Swann’s second-grade class.”

While the competitions peaked the interest of the students, Ms. McMillen says the educational portion of the program will enable the students to make lasting changes.

“We really need to do the iFit Program because of the obesity and lack of exercise that children face today,” Ms. McMillen said. “Physical fitness is important. The overall well-being of the individual is important. We need to teach them life skills that will carry on through life. They can then teach them to their own children in the future.”

Teresa Wall, LinC instructor, provided information through a news release on what her students had produced for the iFit Program.

One of their projects was the creation of a brochure that she notes “will be distributed to Cloverdale students and placed in areas that children frequent, such as pediatrician waiting rooms, Boys and Girls Clubs and other locations.”

She also noted the LinC students “are developing lessons to teach to lower-grade students to encourage incorporating healthy activities into daily living. These lessons fall under the title, Small Changes, Big Results and Tips for Healthy Parts: Body, Mind and Soul.”

Two of the LinC students who took part in the production of the brochure explained why the program is important for all students.

“I did the ‘You Are What You Eat’ topic in the brochure,” said Katie Young, a fourth-grade student at Cloverdale. “If you eat unhealthy food, like candy, you will be unhealthy. If you eat good food, you will be healthy.”

Her portion of the brochure states: “Eat healthy and as naturally as possible. You are what you eat! If you eat junk food, you can be unhealthy and that’s not good. If you eat fruits and other healthy foods, you will be healthy and that’s good!”

Good nutrition, Young says, is just the beginning.

“I’ve also learned that, if you sleep, it will make you healthy,” Young said. “If you don’t go to sleep early, around 8 p.m., you won’t do well the next day.”

Casey Gilgar, also in the fourth grade, had this to say in the brochure: “Never ever stop inspiring yourself and others! Think positively. Say nice things or just smile. Learn and teach something good every day.”

He puts that good attitude to practice.
“I want people to start eating healthy,” Gilgar said. “One way I do that is by entertaining them. I tell jokes.”

He hopes his positive attitude and message will make an impact, not only on his peers, but with adults as well.

With the aid of the United Health Care HEROES grant, the LinC students hope to get the word out to the Cloverdale student body, their community, and around the world through http://www.CloverdaleRocks.com. Ms. Wall’s LinC students will soon put their talents to the test. As she noted, they will “write and produce podcasts to be aired on http://www.CloverdaleRocks. com that provide tips for living a healthy life with small changes. It is our goal to have a ‘Tip of the Day’ so that kids from all over the world will get in the habit of tuning into each day.”