O'Neill Elementry School Wins Recess Rocks Contest 2011 In Two Divisions

The winning videos may be downloaded at http://recessrocks.com/results.php.

STUDENTS IN O’NEILL AND VALPARAISO NAMED WINNERS IN
NATIONAL RECESS ROCKS VIDEO CONTEST
Contest challenged children and teens across the country to
share ideas for preventing and reversing childhood obesity

CONNECTICUT (February 3, 2011) – A group of fifth-grade students and a sixth-grade student at O’Neill Elementary School in O’Neill, Neb., as well as a sixth-grade student in Valparaiso have been named winners in the national Recess Rocks video contest for their ideas for combating childhood obesity. The fifth-grade students at O’Neill Elementary, under the leadership of physical education teacher Kevin Morrow, placed first in the group category, while Emily Morrow, a sixth-grader at O’Neill Elementary placed second in the individual category and Drew Trembly of Valparaiso placed third. The contest is part of the nationwide Recess Rocks childhood obesity prevention campaign launched by Community Health Center, Inc. (CHC) in September 2010.

The video contest, which ran from September 8 to November 30, invited children and young teens in grades 2 through 8 across the U.S. to submit a two-minute video featuring a speech, song, dance or commercial that answers two questions: “How do you feel about the childhood obesity problem?” and “What can you do about it?”. Children could enter individually or as part of a group from a public or private school or youth-focused community organization or club. Entries were judged on overall impact, creativity, memorable content and delivery and a clear message on how the problem can be solved.

The students at O’Neill Elementary won $2,500 for their school, while Morrow won a Nintendo Wii and Wii Fit Plus and Trembly won a Flip Ultra Camcorder. A complete list of winners in the individual and group categories is available at RecessRocks.com.

“We decided to hold this contest, because few people were asking children and teenagers—those directly affected by the childhood obesity epidemic—for their ideas,” said Mark Masselli, CEO and president of Community Health Center, Inc. “As we suspected, they offered a wealth of creative solutions. Though the contest is over, we hope they will continue these conversations about preventing and reversing childhood obesity, voice their ideas and become leaders in their schools and communities who advocate for healthy changes.”

The fifth graders at O’Neill Elementary created a news segment about taking on the Healthier Habits Challenge to change a habit to make their families healthier. In their video, the students share the habits they and their families changed, including eating more fruits and vegetables, running three times each week and reducing soda intake.

Morrow created a news-like segment about PEPCO, the Physical Education Production Company at her school. This group of kids is working to improve fitness in its school through a student-led morning exercise group. Through interviews with students and a physical education teacher, Morrow shares the importance and benefits of exercise and shows how “putting the power of change in students’ hands makes them see the importance of being healthy.”

Trembly’s video featured a song he wrote with two classmates that included healthy tips such as drinking water, eating healthy, nutrient-rich food and exercising.

The second part of the Recess Rocks campaign was the national launch of a program that brings fun, creative movement to schools across the nation. Also called Recess Rocks, the program started in Connecticut to bring movement to sedentary winter recesses and into the classroom. Since then, it has evolved into a program that is used year-round to increase students’ activity levels and create life-long, healthy habits. Since the campaign launch, more than 230 schools in 26 states have requested a Recess Rocks implementation manual to learn more about beginning the program in their schools.

Visit RecessRocks.com to learn more about the Recess Rocks program, request a free program implementation manual or to get details on CHC’s many programs and interventions to prevent and reverse obesity.

About Community Health Center, Inc.
Since 1972, Community Health Center, Inc. has been one of the leading healthcare providers in the state of Connecticut, building a world-class primary health care system committed to caring for uninsured and underinsured populations. CHC is focused on improving health outcomes for its more than 130,000 patients as well as building healthy communities. Currently, CHC delivers service in 173 locations statewide, offering primary care in medical, dental and behavioral health services. For more information, visit chc1.com.

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Kevin Morrow: January 2011 Awards Month

PE Central Best Practice Awarded. $50 Gift Certificate to S&S Worldwide
http://ops.esu8.org/~kevinmorrow/coachmorrow/Podcasting_In_PE/Entries/2011/1/21_Scavenger_Hunt_II_2010_Math_Fun.html

Link to PE Central best practice.
http://www.pecentral.org/bp/indivBPDisplay.asp?ID=2448&votes=0

Recess Rocks individual contest winner: My before school/after school group called the Physical Education Production Company (PEPCO) which promote the importance of fitness in our school and community won a Wii and Wii Fit Plus game. Check out their winning work here!



Recess Rocks Group Entry 1st place winner $2500.00!!! My Fifth grade class participated in a Challenged Based Learning Unit. The name of the the challenge was the Healthier Habit Challenge. Students were challenged to take an unhealthy habit their families have and find a solution to replace or alter that habit with something healthier. Here is the winning video!!!


Nebraska Educational Technology Association. (NETA) I was the 2011 winner the ISTE Trek contest which Means a free trip to Philadelphia in June 2011 to attend the National Educational Technology Conference (ISTE) to further advance my knowledge and skill in the area of educational technology and its power to transform and engage me and my students!!!
http://ops.esu8.org/~kevinmorrow/coachmorrow/Movies/Entries/2011/2/1_NETA_ISTE_TREK_contest_winning_movie_Jan_2011.html

i Pod Touch Scavenger Hunt!

http://ops.esu8.org/~kevinmorrow/coachmorrow/Podcasting_In_PE/Entries/2011/1/19_Scavenger_Hunt_I_2010.html

Scavenger Hunt Math Fun using the iPod touch

Purpose: Incorporating Technology in PE
There were many skills practiced during this activity including: collaboration, communication, problem solving, math, and geography (knowing North, South, East, West) Students got a great aerobic workout running all over the school grounds trying to be the first team to collect all the hidden letters and unscramble them to spell the right word.
iPod touch, iPod nano, iPhones, or other mobile devices capable of playing digitally reproduced sound that you have recorded.

I created a scavenger hunt for my PE students called Math Fun. I created 7 clues with corresponding "treasure spots" where I left 7 markers each with a letter on them in every spot. Students worked in teams of 2-4 and used iPods to listen to 7 different pre-recorded audio tracks where I described a math problem and directions to where each "treasure" was hidden. (GarageBand was used to record the scavenger hunt clues ahead of time and iTunes was used to sync the scavenger hunt to the iPods.) When teams found all 7 "treasures" their final task was to unscramble the letters into the key word.

There were many skills practiced during this activity including: collaboration, communication, problem solving, math, geography(knowing North, South, East, West) Students got a great aerobic workout running all over the school grounds trying to be the first team to get all 7 letters and unscramble them to spell the right word. All teams were given something for their efforts, winning teams were rewarded with small prizes. Students were engaged and extremely excited about this activity. The use of the iPod touch brought a high level of excitement to our digital native students of today.

Students with disabilities were paired with other students to participate in the activity.

You are only limited to your imagination when it comes to creating clues to best fit your school grounds or surrounding area. Public parks and play grounds would be great places to create activities such as this.

Be sure students are aware of their directions, North, South, East, West. Be sure they are given a crash course in the use of the device you will give them to listen to the clues to the scavenger hunt on. Remind students not to take a clue from a hiding place if they have not solved the clue. They will get mixed up as to which clues they have listened to and which ones they have not. For example if one team sees another team find a clue and they chose to just "pick it up" they will not be sure which clue it was on the description of clues located on the i pod touches.

Best Practice Published On PE Central

Scavenger Hunt: Math Fun Elementary PE Using i Pod Touch!


http://www.pecentral.org/bp/indivBPDisplay.asp?ID=2448&votes=0

Professional Growth November 2010

On November 15, 16, I attended my third NAHPERD conference. My first NAHPERD conference I attended with the hopes of learning something new to bring back to my Elementary Physical Education classes. The second NAHPERD conference I attended I decided I had some things I thought other physical education teachers around the state might be interested in learning about, so I submitted a proposal to present. To my surprise my proposal was accepted and I presented on how I am using technology in my PE classes. I received many positive comments on the material I presented, so I am continuing with my quest to implement and encourage other educators around the world to incorporate technology into their PE curriculum's. I am a huge supporter of using Mac products and would have a tremendously hard time conducting my PE classes without the use of my Mac, which has become attached to my hip. My third NAHPERD conference found me serving on the board of directors in the sports and PE division, as well presenting another session on the uses of technology in Physical Education, specifically the uses of Garage Band and how it can be used easily to make podcasts. I use podcasts in my PE curriculum almost on a weekly basis. The power of podcasting has served as a great organization tool, management tool, and an engagement tool for me as a teacher, as well as to my students who learn and think naturally through technology. I know great things will continue to happen as I continue to learn more and more about different ways to incorporate technology into my curriculum.

5B Healthy Habit Challenge

I recently completed my first round of CBL in one of my Physical education classes. This was the first round of 5 and overall I felt like it was successful. The concept of challenge based learning worked very well with my schedule. I have always felt the need to teach more real world health concepts in my PE classes due to sedentary life styles of children today, and the obesity epidemic our country is facing, but with 30 minute classes and only meeting 2 or 3 days a week it is very difficult. The structure of CBL, with students directing their own learning and me acting as a facilitator allowed students to pick a health or fitness topic of their choice and use the CBL format to guide their learning. Students seemed engaged and excited about the topics they chose to implement for themselves and their families. The challenges I am implementing are schedule to last 4 weeks each and it is my hope that students and their families will continue to implement their changes even after the challenge is over. The utopia of CBL is to bring about real lasting change. See more about this CBL Project at: http://ops.esu8.org/~kevinmorrow/Healthy_Habits_Challenge/Healthy_Habits_Challenge.html

Student Blog Post about 5B Healthy Habit Challenge

Question: Tell me something you have learned the last four weeks about the healthy habit you and your family are trying to change. Write at least 2 0r 3 good sentences!

Shayne said...I have learned that you don't need pop every day.I have also learned that you should eat fruit instead of candy bars. I would like to carry this habit for the rest of this year.

Blair said...I have learned that it is not that hard to eat a healthy meal at home. I dont need to have fast food once or twice a week. Over the last 4 weeks we have only eaten out once or twice. Instead we have eaten healthy food.

Jared said....I have learned that you don't need video games every day. I have also learned that instead of video games you should get active with friends or family. I hope my family and I can keep this up for a long time.

Haley said...Mr.Morrow I haved learned that if you don't eat out a lot you will get skinner because of the grease in the food. I have also learned that if you eat more fruits and vegetables it keeps you healther. When you excrise it helps your muscles. My project is going great I think this is a great project to choose. Can't wait until next P.E day.

Abbie Flower said....I think that this is a good project to work on.I will do this for the rest of the year.

See more about Challenge Based Learning: http://ops.esu8.org/~kevinmorrow/Healthy_Habits_Challenge/Healthy_Habits_Challenge.html

More PE podcasting

http://uaphed.pbworks.com/Podcasts Check out Helena Baert's undergrad pre-service PE teachers from the University of Arkansas as they created podcasts using examples created by me.