In the Zone - Fall 2023: The health. moves. minds. Newsletter

In the Zone

Issue 10 / Fall 2023

Stock Up on Kindness … and PE Equipment

KRISTI BIERI

Physical Education Teacher, Odessa Upper Elementary School (Odessa, MO)

Ihave been doing fundraisers at my school for 23 years. For 18 of those years, I did Hoops for Heart through the American Heart Association. In spring 2019, Odessa Upper Elementary was one of the pilot schools for the health. moves. minds. FUNdraiser, and 2022-2023 was our fifth year of participation.

I started participating in health. moves. minds. because of the lessons (and there are a lot of them) and because I receive a lot more giveback to my school. I alternate each year between the option that gives our school the full 50% back and the option where we get 25% and our chosen charity gets the other 25%. So far, we have supported our local Police Canine Unit (helping them get a new dog) and our Parks and Recreation Department. We are looking to help multiple charities in our community over time.

I use the lessons throughout the school year. They are detailed and ready for a teacher

#1 TOP CHAMPION SCHOOL

Total Amount Raised: $12,717

Gopher Gift Card Received: $6,358.50

Best Year Yet Incentive VISA Gift Card: $100

Items Purchased With Gopher Gift Card: Outdoor Adventure Curriculum K-12; Rainbow PEmoji Balls; ACTION! Barrier Battle; GaGa Pit Balls; Go Rings Set; UltraPlay Basketballs. In addition, gifted over $1,500 to grade levels 3, 4, and 5 for alternative seating, brain break activities, and stand-up desks.

to use — and I am blown away with what they do for my school community. While it is primarily me and the school counselor that implement the actual lessons, our entire building uses the lessons and fundraiser theme in some way.

Last year’s health. moves. minds. theme was Amplify Kindness. Our art class made their own guitar and posters, and some of the teachers used the Emoji Rating Scale to build relationships with students by asking how they were doing and then talking later one-on-one if needed. Almost every hallway had bulletin boards using the theme. One class was learning math multiplication facts that translated into making a “Be Kind” quilt artwork board with those multiplication facts in them.

Throughout the school, students are learning to be mindful, kind and respectful because of health. moves. minds. Respectful listening is an important lesson that has carried over into classrooms because of the impact it had during assemblies. We celebrate our custodians, lunch attendants, and resource officers by making cards and posters showing appreciation. By spreading the lessons and theme throughout the school, we hope it carries over into the community.

The health. moves. minds.® FUNdraiser brings together the lessons, activities, and community-building ideas that help students live their best life.

You can share your success with your health. moves. minds. FUNdraiser — and shine a light on how it is bringing positive change to your school — by contributing to In the Zone! If interested, email sjumps@shapamerica.org.

During our health. moves. minds. FUNdraiser, I don't make it about the rewards or incentives. I emphasize that it is a community service project — we are building things up in our school and community. I like that the program is such an eye opener to students. For example, in the lesson From Here to There, each team doesn’t get the same equipment and some students don’t realize it until they are done because they are so focused on the activity. When the activity is over, we talk

Kristi Bieri, PE teacher at Odessa Upper Elementary, shows off her school’s Amplify Kindness mural.

For 2022-2023, Odessa Upper Elementary was one of three schools to receive the health. moves. minds.® FUNdraiser Top Champion School award.

fundraising blueprint

Superheroes Unite to Raise $2.5K+ With health. moves. minds.® Here’s How They Did It!

Mike Chamberlain | Physical Education Teacher

Why did I choose health. moves. minds.?

I teach in a building with banners from 2003 for Jump Rope For Heart. The history and tradition of Jump Rope For Heart is strong, so I was hesitant to try health. moves. minds., but I set up a meeting with Stephanie Jumps and communicated with my state representative Tom Roberts. After chatting with them, it honestly appeared again too good to be true. I felt there had to be a catch with getting 50% of the fundraising efforts back to the school, but I decided to go for it!

With our event, we ended up raising $2,870. Our school ended up receiving $717.50 back for our PE program and $717.50 went towards a charity of our choosing.

I decided the best way to increase buyin for our school would be to include the student council in the decision-making process as well as the advertising efforts. The student council chose the nonprofit from the list provided by me. As a school, we chose an organization called 360 Communities. This organization is also the group we were holding a canned food drive for during the same four-week period.

When did I host my event?

I chose to run our event along with our “I Love to Read” month 4-week celebration. Each week focused on a different superhero. As I think about next year, I plan to hold my event separately, during October/November. As much as I want our school to be successful in fundraising efforts for our physical education program, I also want us to make a big impact for the non-profit organization. I feel by late February/March, families have been requested to donate to many other fundraisers, so they may turn away.

After diving into the resources available through the SHAPE America health. moves. minds. site, I decided my theme would be around heroes. As a specialist team, we were already focusing on four character traits that were divided throughout the school year: Kindness, Respect, Responsibility, and Safety. I found some

character images available on Canva and gave them names: Captain Kindness, Mr. Responsible, Dr. Safety, and Respectra. I focused on one hero per week over a span of four weeks.

The lessons and activities I came up with were found/created after looking through the health. moves. minds. resources. Personally, I found the mini-lessons easier to blend into my unit without disrupting the students’ learning, as well as maintaining their interest in class.

health. moves. minds. Hero Week!

As a celebration of the work our students did through learning with our Fantastic Four Character Heroes, I held a “Hero Week.” I invited every student in every class to invite someone they value greatly to their PE class period.

What started off as an idea quickly became an event that long-time veteran teachers in the building were raving about as the best thing our school has ever done. Since my students receive PE once per week, in total we had over 360 guests visit from Monday to Friday in the 6 classes per day.

article excerpt is printed with permission from GOPHER. The full article can be viewed on the GOPHER PE Blog

Diamond Path Elementary School of International Studies, Apple Valley, MN

The theme of Diamond Path Elementary’s health. moves. minds. event centered around the Fantastic Four Character Heroes.

During the health. moves. minds. Hero Week, students invited someone they value greatly to their PE class period.

state spotlights

The health. moves. minds.® FUNdraiser provides flexibility in how you fundraise. You can choose to receive all the giveback funds back to your school or share a portion of those giveback funds with a 501(c)(3) charity your school has a passion for!

In this issue, we’re shining a spotlight on PE teachers Bo Phillips in Illinois and Kelsey Cook in Kentucky. Both share the fundraising options they chose and much more!

Bo Phillips

Salt Creek Elementary School

Elk Grove Village, IL

I had done another fundraiser for about 15 years and decided to try the health. moves. minds.

FUNdraiser last year because I had heard a lot about it from other schools and had seen a lot of positive feedback on social media. Everyone said it was a unique fundraiser and you could put your own spin on it. What was more important was that the program benefits all my students, not just those who do the fundraising. That got me hook, line and sinker. I decided to hold the fundraiser over three weeks leading up to our spring break in March, focusing each week on a different aspect of the fundraiser name: Week 1 was health; Week 2 was moves; and Week 3 was minds. Along with the provided fundraiser incentives, I offered incentives for my students to keep it fun and engaging. In all, we raised $1,685 and received a Gopher gift card for $842.50!

If I had to tell someone why they should participate, it would be because you are impacting your students and community in a whole different way — and there’s great support from SHAPE America and other PE teachers that have participated in the health. moves. minds. FUNdraiser in the past that can help you.

Kelsey Cook Briarwood Elementary School Bowling Green, KY

I lead fundraisers at my school because I want to find ways to get more back for my kids — to give them the opportunity to have the PE equipment and resources they deserve. Having funds to get new PE equipment is a challenge for many PE teachers with the limits of their program budgets. Finding ways to get new equipment and experiences is important because it affects kids’ overall health and their future lifestyle. At Briarwood Elementary I have a budget of $400, which is more than some schools that have $100 or less for the year. At our school we have over 700 kids, so realizing that our budget provides less than $1 per student for resources in my class inspires me to fundraise. As a result of participating in the health. moves. minds. FUNdraiser last year, I was able to supplement my budget by receiving a $1,547 Gopher gift card.

What makes this fundraiser so appealing is that I didn’t have to stop supporting a charity our school has a passion for. Along with our gift card we were able to support the American Heart Association last year and give them $1,547 too. The lessons within the health. moves. minds. FUNdraiser tie in with giving back and teach students about leadership.

NEW FUNDRAISING REWARDS

Thanks to our national partner, Gopher, students can earn these exciting rewards when they raise funds online or offline!

$25 Rainbow SoftTail

$100 Rainbow SkyBlazer Foam Disc

$50 Limited Edition T-shirt

$200 Rainbow SofTek Soccer Ball

Rewards are cumulative. Color shown not guaranteed. T-shirts are pre-shrunk. If any item becomes unavailable, SHAPE America reserves the right to offer an alternative item of equal value. These rewards meet the requirements, where applicable, of the Consumer Products Safety Improvement Act and other product safety regulations.

about the fact that one team had to finish with fewer items to help them and how that relates to students who all come to school, that not everyone has the same resources to help them do things they need to. We talk about what those items in the activity might represent, like not having enough food or sleep.

Raising donations during the fundraiser period (which lasts about four weeks at my school) is a game changer for my school. My equipment closet is now busting at the seams, so I’ve started gifting classroom teachers with a portion of the funds I get back. This year, I gave each neighborhood (grade level) $1,500 so they could get alternative seating, brain break activities, and stand-up desks. By doing this fundraiser, we are getting things we don’t have a budget for and wouldn’t normally have the chance to purchase.

I like to make it FUN when we are fundraising. I ask the students what school incentives they would like to see (beyond the four rewards they can get from SHAPE America). It’s important to get the students’ feedback about what they want the fundraiser to look like and what they think we need.

Last year we had a dunk tank, students could have their picture taken in front of the Amplify Kindness Wall, and we gave away a guitar (because of the musical theme). The parent of the winning student shared that he is really trying to learn to play, so this may be a new musician who may not have tried it without our

fundraiser. I also let the top fundraising student take the Gopher catalog home and bring back suggestions on what PE equipment to order with the funds we received back to our school.

If there is one thing I would tell a school to encourage them to participate in the health. moves. minds. FUNdraiser, it’s this: The program is really a great way to help your PE program, help a charity if you choose to, and change the environment in your school.

PE Teacher Kristi Bieri (far left), Assistant Principal Amanda Smith (second from left), Principal Chris Doering (far right), and top fundraising students.