In the Zone Issue 11 / Winter 2024
Physical Activity, Life Skills, and More PE Funds JULI NEACE Health and Physical Education Teacher, Highlands Middle School (Fort Thomas, KY)
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was excited when SHAPE America offered the health. moves. minds.® FUNdraiser opportunity because it provided another avenue to not only raise funds for health and physical education but also connect with the students and community through the provided lessons. (I had participated in Jump Rope For Heart for seven years.) Our second year implementing the health. moves. minds. FUNdraiser (2022-2023) was a huge success! I learned from the previous year that it not only brings students together but also empowers them to take ownership of their actions. The students focus on the good stuff — the life lessons — and learn about kindness and gratitude. Combining that with the fact that we are raising funds for our school and creating
#2 TOP CHAMPION SCHOOL For 2022-2023, Highlands Middle School was one of three schools to receive the health. moves. minds.® FUNdraiser Top Champion School award. Total Amount Raised:
Gopher Gift Card Received:
Best Year Yet Incentive VISA Gift Card:
$9,570
$5,263.50
$25
Items Purchased With Gopher Gift Card: 9 Square in the Air; Scooters; Equipment for Outside; Golf Equipment
unforgettable moments along the way makes the journey with health. moves. minds. priceless. I absolutely love the health. moves. minds. FUNdraiser because it aligns with the goals of the physical education program and deepens relationships within the school and community. By focusing on building character and teaching students to be kind and grateful, we realize that we can accomplish more when we work together. I adore the moments we have together to do this. Students understand the importance of our focus and can use the knowledge to advocate for health. Students are able to explain to teachers why it is crucial to take brain breaks, how physical activity impacts the brain, and how it benefits them in the classroom — it’s amazing.
Fundraiser Planning and Benefits
Students at Highlands Middle School selected 9 Square in the Air equipment as one of the items to purchase with the funds raised through health. moves. minds.
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.
It is important for our school to have our health. moves. minds. FUNdraiser on the school calendar so everyone knows when it is. We had our fundraiser for two weeks during March Madness. The last day included a walk to school event with “chalk the walk,” which created positive vibes as students walked to school. Families were encouraged to “chalk” on driveways, so as students walked to school they could see the messages. This gave them a fun way to experience physical activity in their celebration. Teachers added to the enthusiasm by meeting students along the way or greeting them with a high five as they arrived at school. It was a great way to celebrate a successful event. The health. moves. minds. FUNdraiser impacts our school in so many ways. It provides us with additional funding for our health and physical education program, promotes the well-being of our students and staff, and offers an opportunity to teach the students the importance of kindness, gratitude, mindfulness, and essential life skills such as teamwork, advocacy, and goal setting. (continued on page 4)
Learn more and register at healthmovesminds.org
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fundraising blueprint Simle Middle School Raises $3,000 with health. moves. minds.® Event. Here’s How! Leah Wheeling | Physical Education Teacher Simle Middle School, Bismarck, ND
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e select the month of March and the March Madness theme to extra emphasize and promote the importance and need for quality physical education. During this unit is when the fundraising opportunities and a few extra events take place. We engage with our community and families almost weekly throughout the year, so by the time we get to the fundraising, we have already built a quality trusting relationship.
Fundraising Details & Kickoff The health. moves. minds./March Madness Unit usually lasts approximately two weeks and coincides with our high school state tournament season. Other factors include our two-day spring break, potential Easter schedule, and when afterschool gym space is most available for additional evening tournaments. Our kickoff is usually a quick 20-minute assembly in the gym. I explain the various events, fundraising incentives, and we conclude with a little jumping jack challenge. Take a look at my PowerPoint slides!
Fundraising Ideas Each year we’ve continued to add different incentives based on what our students want! That part is important.
• Selling PE
T-Shirts: We have When the school reaches the fundraising goal, created shirts PE teacher Leah Wheeling lets the student with the highest donation total cut off her ponytail each year that (minimum 10 inches plus 1 inch per $1,000 promote physical raised). This year’s total was 13 inches! education. Students respond to this instant gratification. I preorder 200 shirts, and students that bring in $10 get a new shirt they can wear instead of their regular grey PE shirt.
• Penny Wars: We tried penny wars one year, and that was
successful. In the future, we will be trying to push more for online fundraising.
Supporting the Fundraiser Through PE
• Duct Tape the Teacher to the Wall: The “duct tape a teacher
During this two-week period of promoting quality physical education, we take time to review all the activities we have done throughout the year. We do this through many small-sided stations. Examples: Catch 5 with the football, Frisbee toss, basketball shooting station etc. This review unit usually encompasses three to five classes, and the students love getting to repeat all their favorite activities.
• Visually Display Funds Raised: I keep a thermometer of
to the wall” was a huge hit, and we will continue that event. It was a $1 a piece of tape. We raised approximately $175 in about 30 minutes. the funds we have raised each day so students can stay motivated and see their progress.
• After-School Events: After-school tournaments will round out our week. These tournaments are free for students. Ultimate Football, NitroBall, and 3v3 basketball. We’ll be offering all events for free but will be offering PE shirts for sale!
The Event Wrap Up Approximately a week after, we host an assembly to complete any remaining incentives, celebrate a successful event, watch a highlight video with pictures from the event, and create/sign thank you cards for all our sponsors and teachers that made the event successful. Here’s an example of our one-page thank you letter!
A ”duct tape the teacher to the wall” incentive keeps the momentum going during the school’s health. moves. minds. FUNdraiser.
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This article excerpt is printed with permission from Gopher. The full article can be viewed on the GOPHER PE Blog.
Learn more and register at healthmovesminds.org
he 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 educators Brandy Lynch in Missouri and Sasha Taylor in Ohio. Both share the fundraising options they chose and much more!
Brandy Lynch, Ph.D. University of Central Missouri Warrensburg, MO Total Raised: $2,060.72
Bell Creek Intermediate Bellbrook, OH Total Raised: $9,000
ohio
state spotlights T
Sasha Taylor
In the past, I led Jump Rope For Heart for 20 years. I was attracted to the health. moves. minds. FUNdraiser because of the kindness component and because it served more needs for my school. It allowed me to continue to support a charity that is important to our community, gave me more funds for my PE program, and provided resources for me to teach skills like cooperation, getting along, positive student attitudes, and how to really be kind. The health. moves. minds. FUNdraiser really shifted everything in my PE program to the good, doing wonders for my school. We fundraise for three weeks and then have a celebration event that is an obstacle course. Parents are invited, and we have tables advocating and sharing the work the students are doing. When the students tell their parents they don’t want to leave this celebration, it is a good problem to have.
missouri
Most of our equipment at University of Central Missouri had not been replaced since 2007. We wanted to look at participating in a fundraiser that could help us fund replacing the old equipment. When we found that the health. moves. minds. FUNdraiser could also provide standards-based education resources for our content area and support our state and national sssociations, it was an easy decision. Last year we got started — we made it fun and competitive. It was easy to implement, and the support was phenomenal. Beyond the funds back to our university (over $1,000) to get new equipment, the FUNdraiser helped our students learn how to use the health. moves. minds. lessons in their future classrooms. They are now better prepared to set themselves apart from other health and physical education teachers when looking for their first position after graduation. The skills they learned taught them how to market themselves in interviews with administration. Our students are prepared to share how they already have experience and access to education resources that will impact the mental and physical health of the young people they’ll be teaching … and how they can supplement the physical education program budget using their experience with the health. moves. minds. FUNdraiser.
I like that the FUNdraiser is easy and has a message for the kids. It’s not only a service project giving back to the school and charity (if you choose that option), but students also learn the daily skills to infuse kindness in their own lives, building a kindness culture that is an added benefit for our school.
NEW FUNDRAISING REWARDS
Thanks to our national partner, Gopher, students can earn these exciting rewards when they raise funds online or offline!
$25
$50
Rainbow SoftTail
Limited Edition T-shirt
$100
$200
Rainbow SkyBlazer Foam Disc
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.
Learn more and register at healthmovesminds.org
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Physical Activity, Life Skills, and More PE Funds (continued from page 1) Last year we involved the students by asking The incentives gave students more physical them what they would like to get for new activity time and freed up time for staff equipment through the fundraiser. Our students (because the student had more PE time), while chose to work together to acquire 9 Square providing fun activities to watch or complete as in the Air, scooters, equipment for outside, a group or individually. It was important to have and golf equipment. It was not only the funds various ways for the students to accomplish their the students were able to raise but also the goals in the fundraiser. Some of the incentives building of relationships along the way that were: the 5th Period Challenge, a staff member made it such a successful journey. shaved his beard, pie in the face, photo shoot We also asked the students what fundraiser of leaders (really had fun with social media), incentives they would like to see and to help and step-up challenges for classroom teachers plan how they would reach the goal. We allowed (seeing them outside with their students for the students to use their phones at times to a quick physical activity break was cool). We share messages about what we were doing with also incorporated wristbands along with the this event: to raise donations and impact health incentives from health. moves. minds. at our school. Our goal was to teach them how Going into year three, so many in our school to plan and advocate for the cause they were community will already be familiar with this The “pie in the face” incentive was a supporting. They learned and shared meaningful fundraiser and hopefully look forward to it. In student favorite during Highlands Middle messages such as “Do you know what happens the future we are going to explore the option of School’s health. moves. minds. FUNdraiser. to your brain when you are physically active?” “paying it forward” to support a 501(c) charity. Having students gain and share that knowledge was huge. At the end of the day what we are trying to do is to motivate This year we provided a document detailing all the fundraiser the students to come together, cheer each other on, and work activities we were doing, as well as the incentives. This was distributed together to accomplish something — to learn how to advocate and put on the announcements. Having a plan worked great. Everyone about the importance of health and fitness and the utilization of knew what to expect — so they knew what they needed to do. resources to maintain and healthy lifestyle.
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Learn more and register at healthmovesminds.org