In October of 2005, The Ministry of Education announced that students in grades one to eight would be required to take part in at least twenty minutes a day of moderate to vigorous activity. This initiative was part of the government of Ontario’s plan for Healthy Schools, and requires that teachers incorporate physical activity into their instructional time. Daily Physical Activity (DPA) is essential to a student’s growth and development can take place in the classroom, the school yard, or the gym for example.
Obesity rates are on the rise amongst young children and having the opportunity to move around throughout the day will not only encourage students to maintain a healthy lifestyle, but it also enhances their overall well being. Studies also show that daily physical activity will also help students focus in class and can contribute to academic performance and achievement. On top of this, incorporating daily physical activity into the classroom is a wonderful technique for teachers to use in their classroom management strategies. Incorporating DPA into a student’s day has a very positive impact on a student’s health and attitude and we believe that teachers, parents, and the community must come together to ensure that students are receiving the required daily physical activity.
Having just completed our practicums, we have all noticed how it can be difficult to incorporate the required twenty minutes a day of daily physical activity into instructional time. We are all very passionate about fitness and physical activity, and our goal is to create a weekly blog about DPA which can be used as a resource for our fellow teacher candidates, parents, students and teachers. This blog will be a welcoming and open forum and we hope you love it as much as we do!
No comments:
Post a Comment