Clague School
Fall 2009/2010 Clague Updates
Clague ended the 2008/2009 school year on a high note with the 3rd annual Fun 5K! Although the weather did not cooperate, the spirits were high and the watermelon and granola bars were plentiful. The students raised almost $3,000 for future Wellness activities at the school and the bravest of runners endured the cold weather and sheets of rain! Many thanks to the Huron cross country and crew teams for supporting the event and bringing their students to help with the race and demonstrate rowing! Many thanks also to the fabulous 5K committee that included the tireless efforts of Bruce Geffen, Julie Donnelly, Ellen Hopkins and Cindy Leaman.
The Clague Wellness Committee met for the first time this year on October 14 and developed a plan for increasing physical fitness opportunities activities this year. We decided to have seasonal events that capture the spirit of the season and inspire activity. Our first event will be the 1st annual Turkey Trot Estimation race. Planned for November 23, this advisory activity will ask students to predict their race time on a predetermined 1 mile course on school grounds. Students who are closest to their predicted times will win a turkey for Thanksgiving!
Our second event of the year will be a Winter Carnival in January. The carnival will take the place of our usual January fun night and will include outdoor activities such as sled pulling, snowball throwing (at a target) and an indoor version of hockey. Still in the planning stages, we hope to offer soups and hot chocolate instead of candy, pizza and pop!
When the weather warms and the snow melts, we will begin our spring bike to school promotion. The goal is to change habits and encourage more active ways (walking, biking, scootering) to get to school. This expands on the idea of International Walk to School day, a once a year event.
We will end the year in June with our 4th annual Fun 5K! It is never too early to hope for good weather.
Important Dates to Remember:
November 10: Project Healthy Schools Screening for 6th grade students
November 17: Project Healthy Schools Kick-off
January – March: Project Healthy Schools advisory activities
Clague Updates for Winter/Spring 2009
Wellness Team consisting of Cindy Leaman, Julie Donnelly, Ellen Hopkins, Bruce Geffen, Mary Ellen Wible, Jennifer Barber, Melanie Snook, Susan Aaronson and Clague Middle School students continued to meet on a regular basis
Wellness Team decided to focus on increasing opportunities for fun physical activity during advisories.
The concept of an all school Beach Volleyball Tournament was conceived and Jacquie Baird, PE teacher at Clague, spear headed the organization of the event.
All advisories participated in the tournament in the beautifully decorated upper gym that resembled a Carribean beach scene. Clague volleyball players were trained to referee games and UM Health Ambassadors who taught Project Healthy Schools activities helped with the event.
After MANY games in the upper gym, the 6th, 7th and 8th grade winning advisories played the teachers in the lower gym in front of a crowd of cheering classmates. All winning advisories were treated to a Smoothie party and received a trophy. Many thanks to Jacquie and the Wellness Team for their hard work in making this event a success! We look forward to Winter 2010 for more tournaments!
WINNERS:
6th grade - Mr. Gaynor’s Advisory
7th grade - Ms. Reiher’s Advisory
8th grade - Mr. Taylor’s Advisory
Clague’s 3rd Annual Fun 5K
The Wellness Team also initiated the planning of the third annual Clague Fun 5K.
The 5K took place on June 11 as a final send off for our 8th grade students. More than 600 students registered for the race, but the weather did not cooperate! Dedicated runners who braved the buckets of rain still participated and other students walked laps within the building. Many thanks to the following people and companies for ALL of their hard work to make this event possible:
Cindy Leaman and Judy Hayes- for your support and encouragement in planning the event
Julie Donnelly – for promotion within the school (and many other tasks) and the help of your husband and son on race day!
Ellen Hopkins – for organizing the high school coaches and athletes (and many other tasks) and providing your husband as the race day organizer!
Bruce Geffen – for connecting with Tortoise and Hare (and many other tasks) who provided many donations and items for the race!
Tortoise and Hare – for donations, race bibs, and training support
Elmos – for t-shirts
Arbor Springs – for their generous donations of water, water dispensers and cups
Jennifer Barber and Karen Yamada- for helping organize parents and food donations
Laura Hannaford, Cindy Midura and Peggi Sommers – for help with classroom lists, collecting forms and their patient support
Clague Parents – for helping on the day of the event, monitoring the race course in the pouring rain and providing generous amounts of watermelon, bananas, water and other necessities.
Huron’ s Crew and Cross Country Teams/Coaches – for sharing information about your programs with the Clague students.
Clague students raised $3,000 to support future Healthy Initiatives at the school! Congratulations on a job well done! Next year we will hope for a sunny day!!
Other Updates
In addition to classroom activities during the 6th grade advisory period, Project Healthy School’s staff also promoted milk and healthy snacks with a milk mustache campaign in the cafeteria and fresh fruit smoothies. The students loved both!
In 2009/2010 parents and students can look forward to another year of Project Healthy Schools activities taught by UM Health Ambassadors in the 6th grade advisory classrooms. We will also be offering free heart healthy screenings to all incoming 6th graders. A consent form will be mailed with the registration packet in August.
Clague’s Enough Club
Under the direction of Joey Fikuchi, the Enough! club at Clague has blossomed! The club, which boosts a membership of 25-30 6th, 7th and 8th grade students, meets on a regular basis to brainstorm ideas about raising community awareness for issues that face the world. This year, the Enough! club hopes to raise $5,000 for a fresh water well in their adopted village in the Kono District of Sierra Leone. Students made and sold bracelets and scarves, hosted bake sales, organized candy grams, participated in a Vow of Silence, sold Justo Coffee (fair trade coffee) at a musical event for parents, participated in a ‘walk to Sierra Leone’ and concluded the year with a ‘donate a dollar’ day! At last count, the club was very close to raising their goal of $5,000! Congratulations on a fantastic job Joey and students!
Farm Fresh Fridays (and Wednesdays, too!)
Although the spring growing season was behind due to the chilly weather, we managed to offer one farm fresh item in June – locally grown Asparagus! It was a big hit at the schools, although some students refused to eat the “furry tip”.
We look forward to two months of farm fresh items in the fall. Our calendar is booked with melons, peaches, berries, cucumbers and other delicious produce that we will offer to students on Wednesday’s and Friday’s in September and October. Look for announcements in the fall enotes.
Big House Big Heart Run
Mark your calendars for the 3rd annual Big House Big Heart (BHBH) run on October 4! This fun family event consists of a 1 mile fun run and both 5K and 10K races. The best part of the event – other than family fun exercise – is that the race ends in UM’s Football Stadium! The BGBH run is a fundraiser for many fantastic charities in the area including the Cardiovascular Center and Project Healthy Schools. If you are interested in helping promote the race to Clague students and families, please contact Susan Aaronson for more information susaaaro@umich.eduJune, 2009
Lots happened this spring! Check back in July for more details.
February, 2009
Project Healthy Schools (PHS) is in full swing this winter at Clague. After an exciting kick-off in early November and two alternative PE classes conducted by our PHS staff in late November and early December, the students are finally in the middle of the 10 interactive advisory activities.
Each PHS activity is taught by one of our University Health Ambassadors. These energetic young men and women are full time students in various programs including nursing, medical school, public health and an undergraduate Sociology class. Most Clague students have participated in 5 activities including:
-an introduction to our 5 goals and a break out session that includs brainstorming “kid friendly” ways to “sell” their goal. Imagine 6th grade boys developing their own dance video or 6ht grade girls actively and enthusiastically performing a skit for their advisory.
-a quick review of the new food guide pyramid, MyPyramid, and a taste test of the Balanced Choice menu served in the cafeteria. We determined if the Balanced Choice was healthy, colorful, nutrient rich, tasty and appealing.
-categorizing multiple beverages into healthy vs. unhealthy groups and determining what makes a beverage “healthy.” Students were surprised to see that a can of regular soda contains 10 teaspoons of sugar!
-determining resting heart rates, then predicting which exercise activity would increase heart rates the most. Students walked, skipped and ran in place and throughout the room then counted their pulses and plotted them on a bar graph.
-making a colorful and nutritious fruit and vegetable salsa, then of course eating it! The students love this activity. Ask your child to make their own salsa at home.
Activities will resume after mid-winter break. Students are also engaged in a friendly tracking competition. They track their fruit and vegetable choices at lunch, beverages at lunch and exercise minutes for a 3 week period. We calculate advisory winners – the winning classroom is treated to a smoothie party and each student in the winning classroom will receive a pedometer. All students who meet the basic requirements of 1 fruit and/or vegetable at lunch for 5 days, one healthy beverage (water, 100% juice and/or low fat milk) for 5 days and at least 30minutes of exercise will have their name entered into a drawing for prizes that include an iPod shuffle and Border’s gift cards.
8th Grade Research
8th grade students who participated in the research aspect of our program will be screened in late spring. PHS is still collecting the consents for these students, so if you still need to turn in your consent, please do soon. Consents were mailed home and also copied into report cards. Consents should be returned with your child and given to Peggy Sommers. in the green house office. These 8th graders will continue to be screened throughout high school. If you have questions, contact Susan Aaronson susaaaro@umich.edu
Bulletin Board and Cafeteria Updates
We recently conducted a Veggie Election in the cafeteria. All students voted on their favorite vegetables from Farm Fresh Fridays in the fall. Overall, potatoes and corn were the favorites. Results will be posted on the cafeteria PHS bulletin board. March is National Nutrition month and we will promotes milk through a milk mustache campaign in the cafeteria.
Health Team Updates
The Clague health team has met three times. We are currently focusing on an advisory beach volleyball tournament and introducing brain breaks into classrooms. We will begin planning our 3rd annual fun 5K scheduled for late May or early June.
Free the Children’s Enough Club
Joey Fukuchi, Clague’s choir and drama teacher is the leader of Enough! This club sponsored by Project Healthy Schools and the Atkins Foundation promotes leadership and social awareness if youth, through healthy habits. Approximately 25 students participated in a day long workshop with a Leadership Facilitator, Stefanie Tan, from Free the Children. This workshop encouraged the students to learn more about global and local social issues, brainstorm ideas to raise money and awareness at Clague about such issues and also taught them how to learn to lead peers. All 6th graders heard Stefanie Tan’s wonderful assembly speech about building schools, funding water projects and alternative income programs in developing countries. Clague’s club will focus their efforts on Sierra Leone.
PHS and Performance Network
PHS has a new partner – Performance Network Children’s Theatre Program. Jamie and Jordan, a new play, appropriate for elementary school audiences was performed on February 14. This play focuses on two best friends, born on the same day in the same town who both love baseball! Circumstances cause them to choose different “health” paths which affect all aspects of their lives. If you would like to book this play for your elementary school contact Susan Aaronson susaaaro@umich.edu
January, 2009
PHS and Performance Network
PHS has a new partner – Performance Network Children’s Theatre Program. Jamie and Jordan, a new play, appropriate for elementary school audiences was performed on February 14. This play focuses on two best friends, born on the same day in the same town who both love baseball! Circumstances cause them to choose different “health” paths which affect all aspects of their lives. If you would like to book this play for your elementary school contact Susan Aaronson susaaaro@umich.edu
Project Healthy Schools is happy to be back at Clague for a fourth year! We’re working with the sixth graders and the whole school to create a healthier school environment emphasizing our goals:
- Eat more fruits and vegetables
- Try to get 150 minutes of physical activity each week
- Eat less fast and fatty food
- Make better beverage choices
- Spend less mindless time in front of a computer or TV screen
Updates:
PHS Health Ambassadors began teaching during the second week of January in your child’s sixth grade advisory. Our Health Ambassadors consist of seven parents and six students from the University of Michigan. Our current U-M students are in the Medical School, School of Public Health and also are taking an undergraduate class in Sociology.
Activities taught:
Activity 1: Overview of the program and physical activity
Students will be able to describe PHS goals and objectives, learn that the minimum goal for weekly physical activity is 150 minutes and describe the three types of physical activity (aerobic, strength training and flexibility). Students will also begin tracking a weeks' worth of physical activity as they compete in a friendly competition against other advisories at the school.
Activity 2: MyPyramid!
By the end of the lesson, students will be able to recognize MyPyramid and identify healthier and less healthy food choices in each category. This week students continue to use their Tracker form and track fruits and vegetables consumed at lunch.
Activity 3: More MyPyramid
Students analyze menus from the school cafeteria and are able to determine if the meals contain food from all five food groups, and categorize combination foods into MyPyramid food groups. The last week of “tracking” is introduced and students will track healthy beverages (water, 100 percent juice and lowfat milk).
Activity 4: Get the Beat
Students learn how to find their heart rate and identify aerobic activity as a way to strengthen their heart. Health Ambassadors show the students a five-pound model of muscle and fat, and comparisons are made. Students choose different activities to perform during a two-minute period of time, then record their heart rates in response to the activity. Tracking forms are collected and winners will be determined.
Free the Children/Life in Action Update
If your child is a member of the Student Council or perhaps enrolled in one of Mrs. Beaupre’s or Mrs. Greishaber’s classes, you might have heard of a new initiative at Clague Middle School called Life in Action. Life in Action is a partnership of Free the Children, Project Healthy Schools and the Robert C. and Veronica Atkins Foundation. Life in Action delivers innovative and unique youth training on healthy active living, combining inspirational peer leadership and mentoring. Through Free the Children’s network of more than one million youth, Life In Action uniquely connects youth in North America with youth in developing countries through leadership education and the power of choices.
On Wednesday, February 7, members of the Student Council, under the direction of Jennifer Quint and Kim Jackson, were treated to a day-long workshop from Long Le, an energetic motivational speaker from Toronto, who took the students through a series of mind-opening activities. Students learned about inequality in education for children throughout the world, with a particular focus on child labor in developing countries. The students were encouraged to verbalize inequalities that they perceive in their own world or frustrations viewed from a middle school perspective. We heard statements such as “I wish that kids came to school to learn and not socialize,” ”I wish others judged you on who you were and not what you looked like” and “I wish that there were not starving children in the world.”
Long then taught the students how to give a brief speech and coached them on how to be persuasive and effective speakers. Each student gave a 30 second speech and was critiqued in a positive way by Long and the other students.
Long showed parts of a documentary about the founder of Free the Children, Craig Kielburger, who at the age of 12 took on the issue of child labor by embarking on a journey to Asia to document abusive situations. He led a spirited game of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, quizzing students on their knowledge of good nutrition, physical exercise and world issues.
Long then concluded the day with the students verbalizing “I will” statements, such as “I will volunteer more,” “I will change the world,” “I will make a difference" and “I will be nicer to my little sibling.” For those of us in attendance, it was an amazing day full of hope for what these students can do in the future. Look for great ideas to germinate from the Student Council in the next few weeks.
For more information about Free the Children and Life In Action, visit their Web sites.
Throughout the remainder of February and into March, the Health Ambassadors will complete the 10 Project Healthy School activities in the sixth grade advisories. More updates next month!
Earlier this year:
During the last week of November, we taught yoga and Pilates to the sixth graders in their PE classes. Small groups of students rotated through our stations, learning moves such as the cobra, downward dog, tree pose and the plank! The students ended the session with a corpse pose focusing on concentrating their energy into relaxation – not an easy task for 11 year olds! We are looking forward to circuit training in PE next week, when we share strength training exercises using stability balls, medicine balls, and elastic bands and loops. The students always love to learn these new activities and find them challenging.
The upcoming holidays and ever-present cold and gloom in the winter months in Michigan make it difficult to realize our fitness and nutrition goals. Most Americans gain one to two pounds during the holiday season (not the five to ten that is usually reported). The problem is that we tend to never take off these one-two pounds, and over the course of 10 years the pounds add up! Counteract the usual gluttony by planning outdoor walks looking for wildlife or stars on a clear evening. Take your family to one of the fitness facilities in town (YMCA, Washtenaw County Recreation Center or one of the University's facilities) and shoot some hoops, enjoy sledding, then walking back up of those hills – talk about a calorie burner! Try a new winter sport like snowshoeing, cross country skiing or downhill skiing!
Halloween was an exciting day at Clague Middle School! Not only were the students excited about the evening festivities but the sixth graders were treated to an exciting kick-off assembly for Project Healthy Schools and Life in Action. The Project Healthy Schools kick-off began with inspirational talks from University of Michigan and Eastern Michigan University athletes. Students learned about the five goals of our program, then participated in a lively, energy-pumped dance with our fitness instructor. Mr. Hoeflinger dressed up like a carrot and looked fantastic!
