Health and Wellness: Intersection of School Health, Food Service, and Physical Education

Our school system is looking to coordinate its wellness programs more in the days ahead. I've read about schools that create teams that include food service, physical education, and the health professionals.

How might this work?

First, the team of these wellness professionals would need time to talk on a regular basis. I can imagine a health and wellness Professional Learning Community (PLC) that meets regularly to discuss the overall health and wellness of a learning community. This PLC focus might include the following:

• school signage
• acquisition of grants
• professional learning
• integrated activities
• assessment of school needs and follow-up response
• parent-teacher-student initiatives
• related service learning
• connection and intersection with related community organizations.

Next, this team would report their findings, efforts, and vision to all staff, and perhaps integrate their work further into specialist and classroom activities including recess and special events. 

Creating vibrant teams within schools and then giving them time to work their magic is essential to the learning and teaching possible. These dynamic teams rid school staff of the hindrance that isolation creates and instead invigorate promise and possibility. We have so much potential in this regard. 

Program Strengths: A Holistic Lens

This morning as I think about our overall teaching/learning program for fifth graders, I realize that there are many wonderful components, components that could be replicated to teach children well elsewhere.

I've noted the elements below:

Art Class
Each week our students are taught by an art teacher who has devoted 30 years to her craft. She is also a professional artist. Her creativity is amazing and allows students to learn in invigorating, multi-modal, hands-on ways. They paint, work with clay, weave, draw, build, and more. She regularly integrates the stories of fine artists, and the school is filled with students' wonderful, thought provoking, colorful design and creation.

Music and Instrumental Classes
Our students all have at least two music classes a week. The first is a general music class where they sing, play instruments, compose, learn about musicians and composers, and more. The next is a more targeted 30-minute music workshop or instrumental lessons. Most students also participate in the weekly band and strings ensembles too.

Fifth Grade Play
At fifth grade students get an extra artistic benefit by participating in the fifth grade play. The play includes every fifth grader. They tell a story with words, acting, singing, dancing, and playing instruments. It's an amazing collaborative event.

Technology
Our schools are filled with computers, and for an average of 30 minutes a week students attend technology class. There they learn a lot about digital citizenship and learn to use countless tech programs and products as they created interdisciplinary projects. Students also use technology often in the classroom time.

Library
Our school has a wonderful library and librarian. Students have library classes for an average of 30 minutes a week. There they learn all kinds of library, research, writing, and reading skills. They also have almost limitless opportunity to visit the library and take out wonderful books.

Physical Education and Wellness
Once a week students attend physical education classes where they learn all kinds of physical fitness and wellness skills. They play many sports games and even include the arts as they participate in dance classes.

Recess
Our school has a great, big, green grassy playground where students love everyday. We have a good amount of recess. Our school sits nicely on the playground so it's accessible to teachers when needed. At times, students will have impromptu, short recesses just to move and play as a energizing transition. The community recently voted to update playground equipment too which all the children are looking forward to.

Math Study
Students engage in multiple math lessons including hands-on, tech, paper/pencil, collaborative, and projects. Students' overall math learning and success has been on the rise.

Reading and Writing
Students read and write a lot! There's been tremendous efforts to build these programs and there's been wonderful growth. As I always say, So many students love to read and almost every fifth grader is reading at a wonderful level.

STEAM
Our school system has been supporting a move towards more STEAM study. Every grade level is incorporating three or more STEAM projects this year. STEAM centers are beginning to develop at every grade-level.

Science and Social Studies
Every grade level engages in a number of interdisciplinary, engaging science and social studies projects. Most of those project include wonderful field studies, visiting experts, and other special events.

School Garden, Courtyard, and Composting
The Town's green team and committed parents and educators continue to develop our school gardent and composing efforts. Recently they moved the garden to a location where students can more readily engage with it.

Friendly, Welcoming Environment
Our school is generally a happy and welcoming environment. Efforts to buy more student-friendly, ergonomic furniture has helped to make our classrooms "homes away from home" which are comfortable for teaching and learning.

School Nurse
We have a very caring school nurse that looks out for students' needs daily and spends considerable time on prevention too.

Service Learning Program
We have a strong service learning program which builds tremendous empathy, collaboration, contribution, and interdisciplinary learning/teaching.

PLC and RTI
These constructs have helped to build greater teaching/learning collaboration and targeted response.

Local Foundation Support: Innovation
We have a local foundation that supports innovation in our schools.

After school and Before School Program
There's an after school and before school program at our school which is a great support for working parents. The program is playful and enriching. There are also a number of fee-based special programs offered such as STEAM workshops, foreign language, and drama. There are scholarships available for students who may not have the funds to attend.

Local Sports Leagues and Lessons
Although this is not part of the official elementary school program, there are countless sports leagues and lessons available in the area. Again scholarships are available if money is an issue.

Professional Learning
All teachers are welcome to take a few days each year for professional learning. Typically those events are supported through systemwide funding.

We have a lot at our school and I don't write this to boast, but to say that every school needs to have these essential programs to teach well. Of course there's room for growth and change to make the programming and results even better, but we can't forget how much we have in place at this time.

A lot of this wonderful programming and structure is due to substantial community support and investment in children and schools. I believe it's within our ability as a population to provide similar student-friendly programming for children everywhere.

MCAS Tomorrow

Tomorrow marks our first MCAS Science day. Our lead science research and study colleague on the team has done a lot to prepare these students. The rest of us have supported this study too. We anticipate that students will bring their best effort tomorrow.

Tomorrow will include lots of play practice as well. I have to plug in my phone so I can capture their beautiful voices as they practice. Once again our masterful music teacher has found a place for every one of the 68 fifth graders to shine which is incredible.

Building our Naturalist Program

The naturalist study continues. I'm seeing how it all fits together as one expert after another comes in and shares their knowledge and experience with us. I'm carefully charting this work so that I can build on it with my team next year. I also want to find ways to use the data and information with regard to the math program.

Reaching Out to Local Environmental Organizations
Several years ago in an attempt to deepen field studies, I reached out to a large number of environmental organizations. Massachusetts Audubon's Drumlin Farm Education Director, Robin Stuart, reached back. Since that time Robin and I have worked together to design a large number of learning experiences. Each year we build on the experiences of the past year to make it better. Robin also invited our school to be part of their SUASCO grant, a grant funded by Nyanza that engages students in the study of the SUASCO Watershed

Wayland Public Schools Foundation Grant (WPSF) and PTO
During the summer I worked with my colleagues to write a grant to fund materials to enrich our study. WPSF funded a number of naturalist exploration materials including magnifying lenses, tanks, nets, and fake scat. The PTO further supported this effort by paying for environmental experts to come to teach the students and teachers as well as more materials such as tank pumps, tubing, and buckets.

Science Research and Study
All year my colleagues embedded multiple reading/writing activities to build science vocabulary and knowledge. They helped students develop a strong content foundation related to all science standards. Further during their K-4 years students engaged in a large number of interdisciplinary science learning activities.

Spadefoot Tadpoles
Getting involved with Drumlin Farm's project to introduce the spadefoot toads into their habitat in Lincoln, Massachusetts created a lot of excitement in the class. The little tadpoles are swimming in the tanks. Students enjoy watching them metamorphosize.

Nature Guide Training
Robin Stuart taught high school students, a parent, and teachers from both the elementary school and high school how to guide young children through the watershed area. She shared a terrific presentation and prepared us well for upcoming nature explorations during an early morning class.

Naturalist Classroom: River Habitats
A Drumlin Farm naturalist and teacher came to the room to introduce students to the wetland/river habitat and watershed. Students explored buckets of river water that were filled with macroinvertebrates. They also observed and learned about a duck and turtle.

Composting Experts
Composting experts from Transition Framingham reviewed the energy cycle from sun to producers to consumers and then decomposers with students as they introduced the children to composting. This fit in beautifully with our standards and our school garden program. Students began learning in the classroom and then moved outside to view our school's composting bins and process too.

Grassroots Wildlife Conservation
Today a wonderful expert from Grassroots Wildlife Conservation, Emilie Schuler, came to school to teach students all about the woodfrog and spadefoot toad. She told the story of each animal's habitat, life cycle, and challenges. She gave context with regard to what it means to study animals and how our work with the spadefoot toads is important work. Emilie was a wonderful teacher and storyteller.

Roots and Shoots
Wayland's own Anne Flaherty came in to tell students about her work with Roots and Shoots. She has a TedTalk that explains this work. Later at recess, a couple of students came up to me to tell me that they wanted to start their own Roots and Shoots club so clearly Anne made a BIG impact.

Local Nature Hike
High school students and parents will lead students on a nature walk. During the walk students will look for examples of all that they've been learning about.

STEAM Projects
Our grade level STEAM projects including building biodomes, cleaning up an oil spill, and filtering water all match this work wonderfully. Students will complete these projects soon, projects that we'll connect to the past classes.

Living Systems Talk
Wayland Green Team member, Wayland Transition Founder, and activist, Dr. Kaat Vander Straeten spoke to students about living systems, environmental activism/responsibility, and the interconnectedness of all living things.

NASA Engineer
We had an unexpected visit from a NASA engineer who furthered the discussion of living systems and elegant design with regard to space station tools for survival and exploration.

Drumlin Farm and Great Meadows Field Trip
The study will culminate with a short stop at Drumlin Farm to release our spadefoot toads if all goes well, and then a visit to Great Meadows in Concord, Massachusetts where students will venture on an "Amazing Adventure" to discover and learn about the nature all around them in this SUASCO watershed natural preserve.

I wanted to get all these activities down on one page so I can build on the experience in the year to come. As a team we'll see how we can continue to finance the expert visits and further embed our standards into this study.

Students love being apart of real learning, learning that is meaningful, inspiring, and helpful to others. This thread is a keeper, one I will continue to think about. In the meantime, if you have ideas about how to enrich this study, please let me know.

Do All Educators Have to Teach the Same?

That's a common question and issue in schools. Many teachers are told to do the same thing at the same time, while in truth doing the same thing at the same time might not be a great match for an educator's skill set, experience, or potential, and even more importantly, it might not be the best way to teach sets of children who vary in countless ways.

This one-size-fits-all teaching menu is a source of frustration for many educators who want to develop their craft. For example, I spend a lot of time reading about teaching, and I want to try out all the great new ideas I research, and when I'm told I can't do it because a brand new teacher down the hall isn't doing it, that dilutes what I am able to do. I was that brand new teacher once, and I know that he or she needs to do what's best for their students as well as their professional work and learning curve. Instead, I think we should let every educator teach in ways that maximize their potential

With regard to same-size-approach teaching, I am a fan of a list of guiding standards because those standards serve as the backbone to a program. Same standards used as a guide give us some commonality and structure and are a good source to begin with. Then I believe we need to embed those standards in meaningful teaching and learning. This is one reason why I remain a fan of the Common Core Standards as a guiding set of standards to work from as we teach and learn.

What do you think about this common dilemma in education? I want to know.