Fall Family Fitness Night with Changed Reflection

INTERDISCIPLINARY; HEALTH & PHYSICAL EDUCATION; VISUAL ARTS; LANGUAGE
ARTS; SCIENCE; COMPUTER LITERACY; CONSUMER, FAMILY & LIFE SKILLS
Fall Family Fitness Night with Changed Reflection
By:
Cori McNichols
Sue Russell
School:
Lake Riviera Middle School,
Brick, NJ
Grade Levels: Seventh Grade
Academic Focus/Core
Curriculum Standards:
The Arts(Visual and
Performing) 1.2, 1.3
Comprehensive Health and
Physical Education 2.1, 2.2, 2.5,
2.6
Language Arts Literacy 3.1, 3.2,
3.3, 3.4, 3.5
Science 5.2, 5.5
Computer Literacy 8.1
Consumer, Family & Life Skills
9.2 A, B, C, D
Core Ethical Values:
Responsibility, civicmindedness,
teamwork,
cooperation, service to others
Project Description:
In keeping with the school’s year-long emphasis on developing a
healthy life style, the school hosts a fall and spring “Family Fitness
Night.” Students are responsible for creating nutritional guides and
brochures displaying the positive effects of walking/running
exercise, and designing the invitations to the neighboring senior
citizen communities. This year’s emphasis was on improving reflection
on the part of the student participants, expanding the preparation
and attendance to include more community members, staff and
students, and to develop additional community connections.
Target Audience: Brick community, including senior citizens,
students, family members and staff.
Timeline:
The introductory Fair takes place one evening in fall; with a
counterpart in the spring. Class preparation is two weeks.
Project Scheduling: During class time.
Equipment Needed:
20 Steps; water bottles; t-shirts; radios / sound system; washcloths;
pilates mats; materials for brochures; free passes to the gym
Academic Focus:
At the Fitness Fair, volunteer professional instructors do the
training at five stations: Step Dance; Kickboxing; Pilates; Yoga.
Students are responsible for the publicity, the invitations,
researching and then constructing guides and brochures, and serving
as ambassadors, guiding the attendees from station to station.
The Arts and Computer Literacy: Each class designs brochures for
participants explaining the positive effects of the particular
exercise. Students develop skills in researching, designing and laying
out informative brochures utilizing Microsoft Word Publisher.
Students will write and produce an advertisement that will be filmed
and aired on the local television station BTV20. This will be aired in
conjunction with Brick Township’s Wellness Initiative.
Health & Physical Education: Students develop awareness of the
correlation between exercise and good health and put the
information into practice.
Language Arts Literacy. Students exhibit skill in writing (brochures,
invitations); reading (instructions and health material), speaking and

Hurdles Encountered:
Hurdles: Scheduling difficulties
Solution: Agreement between
administration, community on
available dates.
Celebration: Actual Fair
serves as a celebration.
Recognition: Local media
coverage highlights the work of
the students. Local television
BTV20 will advertise with
student created commercial
relating to BTSD’s Wellness
Initiative
Key Findings: Students are so
spurred by the Fair that many
continue their volunteerism in
the Relay for Life.
listening (serving as Ambassadors), and media literacy (designing
brochures).
Science: Students learn the physiology of body systems and the
beneficial results of systematic exercise and balanced nutrition.
Consumer, Family & Life Skills. Students learn to work
cooperatively in organizing the Fair and exhibit self-management &
problem-solving skills.
Character Education: Students develop habits of good citizenship in
promoting healthy lifestyles for all and performing a community
service. Students develop responsibility by acting as ambassadors
for the evening ensuring participants are well informed and are
escorted to the proper activities / location. Students are given the
opportunity to model positive leadership skills for the community
members in attendance by exhibiting the core ethical values.
Educational Strategies:
Performance-based Education: The Fair involves students working
together to produce an important community service to combat the
present problem of childhood obesity.
Cooperative Learning: Students collaborate in all phases.
Interdisciplinary Approach: A capsule summary of the assignments
shows the multiple disciplines involved. Cross-discipline teaching
takes place during class periods.
Personal Growth Outcomes: Changes in reflection exercise
showed increasing perception of the effect of the project on both
participants and target audience.
Parent, Community and Volunteer Involvement:
Representatives from Ocean County Department of Health and local
health-related businesses serve as instructors and provide
educational information. PTA assists. Various local businesses attend
and set-up tables with valuable information. Included are
chiropractors, Natural Health Food Stores and fitness experts.
Reflection Activities:
Night of: Staple/attach index cards to raffle tickets that will be
used by parents to write out one thing they learned/experienced
that night that was surprising, new, educational, etc. Must turn in
index card to turn in raffle (will have two boxes side by side).
For students: Students receive a stack of the index cards to look at
for the next day/week in class and use them to reflect on their
participation and the effect of their effort. Students will write
reflection papers that describe what they have learned through the
creation of the project and how they felt in receiving the cards as
examples of what their efforts produced.
Means of Assessment:
Rubric for participation grade; Focus group of student interviews.