Getting Our Students Active

I am excited about the level of activity that I see each day at our school.  Students are actively engaged in a variety of activities that get them moving and having fun.  Our school marathon program is proving to be very popular with our students.  I see students running laps around our school at recess and lunch in addition to our regular school-wide run days.  We have also added a new fitness/fun circuit for our playground.  Have a look at the map of the course shown on the window of the staff room.

The importance of these activities and getting our students moving has always been important to me, but was reinforced in a conversation I had with Peter Mason of Speakwell (www.speakwell.com).  This is an organization that started with Dr. Martin Collis of the University of Victoria and involves getting people active through the use of pedometers.  Peter was reminding about the obesity and diabetes statistics in our country that are directly attributable to lack of activity.  Peter wears a pedometer every day as he works toward his 10 000 steps.  What was amazing is that he has now gone over 700 consecutive days meeting a minimum of 10 000 steps per day.  It is a commitment to a healthy lifestyle that doesn't have to involve sports activities or days at the gym.  It is a mindset, a way of looking at health care as preventative, and choosing to be active.  It made me think that as we continue to implement our Daily Physical Activity mandate of 30 minutes per day, the use of pedometers may be a great way to instill in our students' minds that fitness is an everyday commitment.