Schoolwide Physical Activity: A Comprehensive Guide to Designing and Conducting Programs

Audience: Reference for K-12 PE and classroom teachers, directors, principals, and administrators overseeing physical activity programs and wellness policy compliance. Text for college PE majors and elementary classroom education majors. Also a reference for community youth program leaders.

Physical activity doesn’t have to be confined to physical education class. Many schools are discovering the benefits of incorporating physical activity throughout the day. In fact, schools increasingly need to do so as requirements for weekly minutes of physical activity expand beyond the time available for physical education class.

With Schoolwide Physical Activity: A Comprehensive Guide to Designing and Conducting Programs, K-12 classroom teachers and administrators will learn how to design and conduct activity programs that not only meet wellness policy requirements and goals but also motivate and encourage all students to be physically active.

The premise of this innovative guide is that physical activity in schools is not the sole responsibility of the PE teacher. It is the responsibility of all administrators and teachers—and is most successful when it is integrated throughout the curriculum.

To that end, Schoolwide Physical Activity highlights the role of elementary classroom teachers in providing opportunities for physical activity, and it offers an array of tools and programs for teachers to incorporate in their classrooms. At the secondary level, the book creates a vision of a good physical activity program and then shows secondary teachers and administrators how to achieve that vision. Through this text, teachers and administrators receive

• a blueprint for building a comprehensive and coordinated K-12 physical activity program;

• ready-to-use activities and forms; and

• program ideas that address both the needs and desires of all children, not just the small percentage who gravitate toward physical activity.

Schoolwide Physical Activity comes with a CD-ROM that contains all the printable activities, forms, and tools from the book and over 200 activities for classroom teachers, inclusive transitional activities, integrated lessons, and simple games and dances. The comprehensive guide includes a Web site with an instructor guide, presentation package, and test package.

This resource will help teachers and administrators see their roles and responsibilities in a new light and gain stakeholder support for wellness and activity programs, and it will assist in coordinating efforts among all involved in providing students with safe and appropriate programs that will transform their schools into more active places for learning.