Resources for School-Based Physical Activity Programs

During the 2010 Missouri FCCLA Fall Leadership Conference, Missouri members and advisors heard from a variety of experts on the topics of personal finance, careers, and physical fitness/nutrition. Brad Hall, from the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, spoke to the groups about resources available to schools that could be used with FCCLA Student Body projects. We thought it would be a good idea to share those resources with you. Let us know if your schools utilizes these resources, or if you have additional resources to share.


Adult CDC BMI Calculator - This calculator provides BMI and the corresponding BMI weight status category. Use this calculator for adults, 20 years old and older.

Child and Teen BMI Percentile - This calculator provides BMI and the corresponding BMI-for-age percentile on a CDC BMI-for-age growth chart. Use this calculator for children and teens, aged 2 through 19 years old.

Ready Set Fit - Ready, Set, FIT! is a school-based educational program that teaches third and fourth graders about the importance of fitness. Through a partnership between the American Academy of Family Physicians’ fitness initiative, Americans In Motion - Healthy Interventions (AIM-HI) and Scholastic, Ready, Set, FIT! offers in-class lessons and take-home activities aimed at encouraging kids to be active, eat smart and feel good.

Fuel Up to Play 60 - Fuel Up to Play 60 uses the power of collaboration to help make everyone at the school healthier by fueling up with nutrient-rich foods and being active for 60 minutes or more a day. With Fuel Up to Play 60, adults and students work together to choose and implement school-improving changes that best meet the school's wellness goals. Along the way, students become empowered to make healthy decisions, take action for change and encourage their friends to do the same.Fuel Up to Play 60 was launched by National Dairy Council® (NDC) and the National Football League (NFL). The U.S. Department of Agriculture has joined the effort to provide youth with concrete opportunities to improve healthy eating and physical activity.

PE for Life - PE4life is a  regionally-focused non-profit organization with national reach and is dedicated to developing a country of active and healthy children and youth by increasing access to quality physical education.  PE4life promotes making physical activity fun and interactive to engage all students. PE4life partners with community, business, and school leaders to facilitate systemic change in the perception and delivery of physical education with the desire to improve the health and wellness of children through quality physical education. PE4life offers professional development and support to educators and administrators who desire to create positive change in their schools and communities.

CATCH (Coordinated Approach To Child Health) is an evidence-based, coordinated school health program designed to promote physical activity and healthy food choices, and prevent tobacco use in children from preschool through grade 8. The program is currently being implemented in over 7,500 schools and after-school programs across the United States and Canada.

Spark PE - SPARK is a research-based, public health organization of San Diego State University Research Foundation (disseminated by School Specialty, Inc.) dedicated to creating, implementing, and evaluating programs that promote lifelong wellness.  SPARK strives to improve the health of children, adolescents, and adults by disseminating evidence-based Physical Education, After School, Early Childhood, and Coordinated School Health programs to teachers and recreation leaders serving Pre-K through 12th grade students.

Farm to School - Farm to School connects schools (K-12) and local farms with the objectives of serving healthy meals in school cafeterias, improving student nutrition, providing agriculture, health and nutrition education opportunities, and supporting local and regional farmers.


ShowMe Smokefree and Smokebusters - Project Smokebusters is a three-year program dedicated to promoting healthy, tobacco-free environments by decreasing exposure to second hand smoke and reducing tobacco initiation and use among youth through policy change.  Smokebusters focuses on helping youth build skills in the areas of decision-making, problem solving, and advocacy. These skills are the foundation for developing self-esteem, which helps youth take responsibility for their own health and for the health of their communities.

Missouri Coordinated School Health Coalition - The Missouri Coordinated School Health Coalition (MCSHC) is a collaborative of organizations and individuals whose primary responsibility is to assist schools in their student health and wellness initiatives. The coalition does this by promoting the use of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) coordinated school health model. This model focuses on improving students’ health and their capacity to learn through families, schools, and communities working together. The model consists of eight interactive components that develop and emphasize health-related knowledge, skills, attitudes, and behaviors. Schools work within the family and community structure to ensure optimal health and wellness for children.

Chapter Spotlight: Troy Buchanan High School

This week's chapter spotlight is submitted by Alexa Faries, Vice President of National Programs.  Thanks Alexa!

Troy Buchanan High School FCCLA has a busy next few months in store for its members! Between bottle recycling and upcoming community service projects, TBHS FCCLA has a busy Program of Work to keep them involved. Their chapter meetings are held once a month during school in the gymnasium where much is to be discussed. This chapter has eleven chapter officers, ranging from president to activities coordinator!

Some of their community service projects include Bottle Recycling, Parents Night Out, Bunco Night, Adopt a Soldier, Bell Ringing, Gingerbread Houses for Lydia’s House Charity, and much more! Parents Night Out is a semiannual event where FCCLA members baby-sit children of the community. Parents donate money or items to support the chapter’s chosen charity. At Bunco Night, teams will play bunco to raise money for Children’s Miracle Network. Some of these proceeds will go to make blankets and care packages for the children.

Some of their other projects include the Annual Parade amd Picnic. as well as the Back to School Bash. For the local Homecoming parade, FCCLA hands out balloons then go to the park for a barbeque and some get-to-know-you activities. The Back to School Bash gives FCCLA opportunities for membership recruitment! Through games to learn about FCCLA, potential members can get a feel on what FCCLA is all about!

The year is just beginning and this chapter has a lot underway! Keep up the good work Troy Buchanan High School FCCLA!

Join us on 10/25/10 for the #ChefJeff Tweet Chat!

On Monday, October 25, 2010,  at 1:00 p.m. Central Time, Missouri FCCLA is joining with ACTE for its first Tweet Chat on culinary education and careers with guest Chef Jeff Henderson.  Chef Jeff - author, creator of the Chef Jeff Project TV Show that prepares at-risk youth to work in high-quality kitchens, and former executive chef at the Bellagio - will answer your questions about culinary education and preparing students for culinary careers.  All family and consumer sciences, culinary instructors, and other interested educators or administrators are invited to participate!

What is a Tweet Chat and how do I participate?

A Tweet (or Twitter) chat is an online, real-time guided conversation about a particular topic. Each week, various educational chats take place on Twitter, with the most well-known being #edchat. These chats use hashtags which makes it easier for people to identify and participate.

The hashtag for this chat is #chefjeff.

To participate, create a free Twitter account. If possible, create the account and practice a bit. If participating from school, verify that Twitter, or a service such as TweetDeck or HootSuite, is not blocked. You can also participate by using Twitter or services on a mobile phone. Be sure to follow Chef Jeff  (@chefjeffspeaks), ACTE (@actecareertech), and Missouri FCCLA(@mofccla).

• Before the chat begins, log in to Twitter (or open your TweetDeck or HootSuite page)
•  If using the Twitter homepage, enter #chefjeff into the Search field on the right sidebar. If using TweetDeck, set up a search for #chefjeff. The real-time stream of tweets organized by #chefjeff should appear. When someone adds this hashtag to their tweet, it will appear on the page. When we all use it, the conversation really gets going!
•  Ask questions, ending tweets with #chefjeff to be part of the dialogue!

Attending the Missouri FCCLA Fall Leadership Conference?

 We’ll help you set up your Twitter account and walk you through the process.

See you on the 25th for the #chefjeff chat!

Printable PDF Flyer



Chapter Spotlight: Region 11 Regional Meeting

This post submitted by Andrea Mason, Vice President of STAR Events.  Instead of the regular chapter spotlight, Andrea gives us an update on the recent Region 11 Regional Meeting.

Region 11 had their regional meeting in Joplin at Missouri Southern State University, on Tuesday October 12th.  During the planning meetings the regional officers decided to have a regional service project to help Life Choices in Joplin. They had members attending the meeting bring a baby item.  They collected 420 items, plus some money taht was given to the Tri-County Pregnancy Center in Aurora.  Life Choices was there at the meeting and thanked the region for doing such a great job for the donation and really appreciated the help.

Also, during the meeting, the following chapters were recognized:

• Largest Chapter - Greenfield High School
• Most Improved Chapter - Southwest High School
• Most Members Present  - Lockwood High School

Along with the award the National STAR Event participants were recognized.  Retired Greenfield advisor Renee Meents was awarded the Distinguished Membership Award, and the Fairview Christain Church in Carthage received the Honorary Membership Award.

Region 11 had Justin Lookadoo as their keynote speaker and kept the crowd busy with laughter.  He gave a great presentation over relationships and even said he had a good time speaking.  Thanks to all the members, advisors, and officers for making this meeting a great success!

Pass the Apples....and Other 21st Century Skills

Those of you who know me, know that I come from a farming background, which includes a family orchard.  (I guess if you didn't know that before, you do now...)  When I see something about an apple, it catches my eye.  So, when I saw the "An Apple a Day" video that was made for Health Teacher, well, it got me on both the "apple" level and the "educator" level.  There was no other choice than to click on it.  I'm glad I did, and I think you will enjoy this, too.  Click play, and then join me again after you've had a chance to watch.  Go ahead, I'll wait.



Did you like that as much as I did?  Sure, I wish there was a specific shout out to family and consumer sciences education, because I know FCS educators are working hard to help students learn about healthy choices, nutrition, fitness, and lifetime wellness.  Many of you who read this blog teach health education in your schools.  You are on the front lines of this issue.  Are you treating health education as an essential skill?  A 21st century skill?  "The future belongs to the healthy youth" line in this poem pretty much sums that up - the future doesn't mean much if we're not healthy to enjoy it.

What are your FCCLA chapter members doing to help their peers develop healthy habits?  Are they implementing Student Body projects?  Are they addressing their own health habits through Power of One?  Is this on their radar?  Or is this only something for health class?

At the Missouri Access FCCLA Fall Leadership Conference, health education and the Student Body program will be part of the agenda for the students signed up for the Chapters in Action conference track.  When those chapters leave the conference, they should each have worked on a plan to implement a Student Body  project in their school or community. 

I'd love to hear what your school, department, or FCCLA chapter is doing in this area.  We look forward to your comments!

Capitol Leadership and DC Community Service

The second day of Capitol Leadership started off with a nutritious breakfast and a leadership challenge activity. Then we wrote down our personal best leadership experience and shared with other officers. By evaluating our leadership experience we are able to shape ourselves to be better leaders.

What is the number one fear of teens? Public speaking is something that has made people nervous for many centuries. We had the opportunity to overcome our fears and participate in impromptu speaking. Throughout the day we networked with fellow FCCLA state officers. By asking questions about how their state runs FCCLA, we were able to gain social skills and bring back new ideas to our state.

After filling up on tacos former FCCLA officer Andrew Schantz gave us advice on the must see spots while we are in Washington, DC. Next we prepped for Capitol Hill and learned how to address our legislator with FCCLA matters. We outlined topics from financial education all the way to environment issues. ACTE gave a presentation that helped us better understand how our government works and how a bill is passed.

After a long day of workshops and trainings the Missouri members participated in community service. We went down to the DC Central Kitchen to help prepare food for the community. Our jobs involved chopping eggplant, peeling potatoes and slicing onions. For dinner we dined at Buca di Beppo and enjoyed reminiscing on everything we have learned so far. Before we headed back to the hotel we did our own night time tour of the memorials and monuments.

Capital Leadership so far has been a blast and we can’t wait to talk to our legislators about everything that FCCLA has to offer.

We're Here! Capitol Leadership, Washington, DC

This week, Missouri FCCLA state officers will be blogging from Washington, DC as they experience "Capitol Leadership."

Capitol Leadership: Washington, DC Day 1

Capitol Leadership started off with a bang on October 10, 2010.  Missouri FCCLA officers Cara Gooch, Courtney Kirby, Alexa Faries, Emily Blackburn,  Regional 2 officer Caleb Hearon, and advisors Tricia Seibert, Kim Voss, and Kristy Christy flew out from Kansas City or St. Louis early this morning, and met at the Washington Dulles Airport.  We were really excited to begin our DC adventure as we took a shuttle to the beautiful Omni Shoreham Hotel. With our stomachs empty we walked down to Chipotle and got some food.  Stomachs full and ready to go we registered and started on our leadership training!

As our first team leadership activity we had to build the tallest tower with water cups, popsicle sticks, and a roll of masking tape. Next we talked about professionalism and how you should dress when representing FCCLA. Then we went to an etiquette dinner sponsored by The Art Institutes. We got the chance to practice our etiquette skills and meet more people. After dinner we went back and split up into four groups. We came up with ideas on how to market FCCLA and make it a known brand. Also we wrote down SMART Goals for ourselves and the state of Missouri. SMART Goals are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Timely. Missouri got the opportunity to put their communication skills to the test. We had to get a task down without talking to one another. The point of the activity is that you need to have good communication and listening skills to get a task completed. Lastly we talked about leaders in life and what they have done that makes them such a good leader.

           

Even though our first day in this beautiful city of Washington, DC is coming to an end; we have been able to look at different types of leadership skills and see how we should represent FCCLA. Look out for more information on what we are learning about while in Washington, DC.  

What's an Unconference? What's #EdCampKC?

About a year ago, I started seeing the term "unconference" show up in many of the blogs I read as well as in the stream of tweets on Twitter.  As a person who spends quite a bit of time planning and implementing conferences, I definitely felt I needed to find out about "unconferences."  Put simply, an "unconference" is a gathering of professionals, in this case educators, who meet to dialog about issues of importance to them.  Unconferences are free (as far as I have seen) and don't have set session topics determined ahead of time.  They are what the attendees make out of them.  Unconference attendees "vote with their feet" and go to whatever sessions (which are determined that morning and are more discussions than presentations) meet their needs that day.

Late this summer, my friend Kyle Pace started talking about hosting an unconference "EdCamp" in the Kansas City area.  I was all set to participate and attend, but when the date was finalized, it was in conflict with the National FCCLA Cluster Meeting in St. Louis, which I will be attending (along with many other teachers and their students).  Two things I really want to be part of, held at the same time, on separate sides of the state.  (Can you hear me sighing over this one?)

EdCamp events are being held all across the United States in places like Philadelphia, New York City, Tuscon, and now, Kansas City.  (You can see a list of the many EdCamp locations at the EdCamp wiki.) 

If you're going to the FCCLA Cluster Meeting in St. Louis -- that's great and I will see you there!  But if you're not, and you are interested in meeting educators from across the Midwest at this free event - you should consider attending EdCampKC.  Given that this event takes place on a Saturday, and that nearly all of the attendees are likely coming at their own expense from all over, you know that these people are dedicated to not only education, but to learning and improvement.  I have a feeling you won't be disappointed. 

EdCamp KC - November 6, 2010

University of Central Missouri Summit Center, Lee's Summit, MO

http://edcampkc.wikispaces.com/

Cost:  Free

EdCampKC from Josh Allen on Vimeo.


Those attending EdCampKC and who are on Twitter will want to follow the #EdCampKC hashtag, and you can even follow a list of those attending.  The backchannel promises to be a great learning tool for those of us who can't attend in person.  I'll definitely be checking out the backchannel tweets while I'm in St. Louis!   (If any family and consumer sciences teachers do attend EdCampKC, I'd love to hear about your experience, so please contact me after the event and let me know how you liked it.)

Chapter Spotlight: West Plains FCCLA

By: Chelsea Cloven, Missouri FCCLA Vice President of STAR Events

This week’s Chapter Spotlight is West Plains High School, in Region 9.  Starting off this school year the chapter did a “Membership Round Up” to increase membership for the chapter. At the end of the first week there was a BBQ for all the members that had joined during their lunch period. So far, West Plains Senior FCCLA has increased their membership by more than twenty percent!

The chapter recently traveled to Mountain Grove for Regional Officer Training and Regional Meeting. After Officer Training the chapter visited the local recycling center to find out ways to help our school and community to go green. They also bought chapter t-shirts made out of recycled fibers.

Members participating in an energizer during Regional Meeting

Recently West Plains FCCLA has been busy selling and planning future fund raisers. Their first fundraiser was selling cookie dough.  They also created a homecoming float for the Zizzer Homecoming Parade. The theme of the float was “Zizzerify those Lakers, Cookin Up A Deadly Strike.” Later this month the chapter is hosting a scavenger hunt that is open to FCCLA members and people from the community.

Best of luck West Plains High School!

The Chemistry of Sourdough

Once again, ByteSize Science and the American Chemical Society have produced a great video that can be used to help explain how science is part of cooking and baking.  This 10-minute video should give opportunity to discuss not only some science principles, but also food science and culinary careers, as well as manufacturing techniques.   

Your students may never look at sourdough bread again in the same way!



The Chemistry of Sourdough from ACS Pressroom on Vimeo.

Career Day with Brunswick FCCLA

Brunswick High School Career Day

By Rodger L., Brunswick HS student

September 15th Career Day took place at Brunswick R-II High School. There were 12 speakers that brought messages to the students of Brunswick, Northwestern, Keytesville and Hale Schools. Participants listened to each speaker for 23 minutes. The activities lasted all day. Listed below is some of the wisdom and thoughts brought to everyone by the speakers.

• Chris Hughes, County Sherriff, brought to us the duties of the sheriff, what takes place in his everyday job, some specifics about arrests being made, and what he likes and dislikes about his job. I personally enjoyed how he takes his job seriously, but that he doesn’t mind joking around too.
• Jeanette Frock from the Sew Sweet Quilt Shop talked about how she decided to open her shop and what she had to do to open it.
• Bill Jackson, from AgriServices of Brunswick LLC brought to us how he got started in the business, as well as about his previous job at Monsanto before AgriServices was born. In addition to that, he told us when applying for a job, how important a firm handshake, and proper dress are.
• Larry McCurry, the owner of the Brookfield, Carrollton, and Lexington McDonalds,  told us about the jobs available in the McDonalds Corporation. He also informed us about how much the salary of the different positions is, how he started out, worked his way up in McDonalds, and how he got to where he is today.
• Blake Riley, Pharmacist from Hometown Pharmacy in Carrollton, explained about the pharmacy field, how hard the schooling is to get into, and how there is only one pharmacy school in the state of Missouri. He also told some of the things that his job involves. Interacting with people and being precise were two of the qualities that he stressed.
• Dr. Tom Jones and Richie Bigham both from the UMKC Dental School told us about the dental field and what it has to offer. Also discussed were some facts about dental health, and how it affects other areas of your body.
• Clay Creech and Chris Checher, both conservation agents from Chariton County shared information about their jobs, and how they act as law enforcement just like deputies and sheriffs. They also told us what areas in college that you can major in to become a conservation agent, and how they worked their way up in the field.
• Chuck Riley, Carrollton ASC Office Manager, stressed the importance of college and how it will affect your job choice and opportunities in life. He also stressed the ability to be independent, be a hard worker, and to make good grades in college.
• Reggie Simms from Simms Tax Services in Brunswick told us about the everyday life of an accountant, and when the busiest time of the year for him is; January to April of every year. Points that were stressed were being accurate, working hard, putting in long hours, and knowing how to do math quickly and efficiently to expedite work.

All in all, Career Day at Brunswick High School turned out to be a success. A special thanks goes out to our Family and Consumer Sciences teacher and FCCLA Advisor, Beth Warren, who planned the event and made everything happen and run smoothly.

Chapter Spotlight: West County FCCLA

Submitted by Megan Fleeman, Missouri FCCLA 1st Vice President

The West County R-IV High School FCCLA has been very busy already this school year!  To start the year off, the chapter gave away free ice cream the Wednesday before the first meeting in order to encourage the student body to come and get more information about FCCLA. The chapter also decided that they would choose a member of the month. This member is chosen by their participation and leadership throughout the school and community.

To benefit the community, the chapter has sponsored the Leadwood class reunions. The chapter has also given a presentation to the school board to thank them for sponsoring some of the FCCLA members as they attended the National Leadership Conference in Chicago this past summer.

Way to go West County High School!  Keep up the great work.