written by Wendy Cooper (top section) and Margaret Robelee (CHARACTER EDUCATION section)

Can you relate to these questions? How do we incorporate nutrition education into our present curriculums while maintaining movement as our top priority? How do we do acquire innovative and top quality programs when our budgets are being cut? How do we empower our students, staff, and families to make healthy choices? How do we find a realistic program? Healthy Highway is the "key." It is designed to: Integrate into all areas of the school with the Physical Education specialist, nurse, and cafeteria manager as the main drivers. "Fuel Inject" nutrition concepts into any unit of study. Connect movements with nutrition concepts thereby providing interaction with concepts and movement with purpose. Use educationally sound concepts with traffic metaphors to engage the imagination of students and adults. Be a realistic, cost effective, sustainable program that will showcase your school or organization as a leader in improving our children's health.

Entering its 3rd year of driving down the Healthy Highway, English Village Elementary School in Rochester, NY, is now famous for their 2nd grade chefs. One class is chosen to write healthy snack recipes, make the recipe, and serve it in the cafeteria. This has grown from a one time serving to three, with the children asking for it every week. The increase in healthy choices has definitely shown improvement - one example: going from 5 lbs of lettuce to 15 lbs in a day!

Healthy Highway: Wendy Cooper, wellness and physical educator for 30 years; developed this program from actual lessons taught over a 5 year period. As Wendy watched her students embrace the healthy concepts into their lives she knew she had to share this with other professionals.

• Foods are categorized as red, yellow and green light foods according to the number of grams of fat.
• "Fuels" are categorized as the food groups, with examples ranging from low to high octane.
• A traffic light is a great visual for balancing calories in and out: if it is a red light food, the traffic light says to do 25 of an exercise of your choice; yellow light=10 and green light=5.

CHARACTER EDUCATION

Healthy Highway also incorporates character education concepts into its curriculum. Students drive down honest street, cooperate circle, respect road, play fair blvd, teamwork avenue, and kindness way. Rubrics are designed where students work together to complete all four of the "keys" of each road to earn their way down the highway. These may be used in any unit of study and all throughout the year.

North Park Elementary in Hyde Park, New York, is a new driver on the Healthy Highway that has embraced the concepts and is on the fast track to success. Below you will read the many ideas that they have developed. Enjoy the ride.

North Park School on the Healthy Highway!

I met Wendy Cooper five years ago at the NYSAHPERD annual conference. I was happy to let her know that I was using her "PE Rules of the Road" posters, and that conversation led us both on a journey that has been wonderful and exciting!

As the years passed and our professional relationship grew, so did Wendy's ideas. Eventually, Wendy created the Healthy Rules of the Road and both these programs graduated to Healthy Highway; a program we now use at North Park. Wendy arrived at North Park this past October to begin our training, and she began by saying that this program could, and would, most likely take on a life of its own. She was absolutely correct! The possibilities are endless, and we are enjoying those possibilities as we use Healthy Highway to teach and reinforce healthy choices, good nutrition, physical fitness, and character education at North Park School!

Healthy Highway at North Park began in earnest in October 2010. Wendy spent the day with our team, and at the end of the day we were ready to begin the journey down the Healthy Highway! As our committee met, our plan began to take shape and before we knew it the program took on a life of its own! We decided to fuse our existing "Fit Kids" program with Healthy Highway, and create our activities based on three areas of importance: character education, physical fitness, and healthy food choices.

Using the "highway" theme, we assigned each classroom a car that travels down a road that is hung up in each hallway. Classes earn "miles" by participating in Wellness Wednesday (eating a healthy snack), Fitness Friday (participating in extra physical activity), and making good choices as a result of traveling down roads such as Courage Crossroads, Respect Road, Honest Street, Perseverance Path, and others.

Each month we hold a school-wide assembly to introduce our monthly focus and review the efforts of the students by adding up "miles" earned. During each assembly we relate the focus area to the three key elements of the program: physical fitness, character education, and healthy food choices. We recently introduced the concept of Honesty, and we told the students that we would be driving down "Honest Street." Our principal discussed the need to "tell the truth" no matter what the situation or consequences. She told our students that without the truth, it is difficult to solve problems.

As the Physical Education teacher, I discussed Honesty as it relates to taking care of your "engine" or your body. I told students that it is important to be honest with yourself in terms of how you work toward improving physical fitness. Another member of our team, a third grade teacher, brought in several types of food and taught our students the meaning of "honest foods," which are foods that are as close to nature as possible. She used an apple to show a food that is completely natural or "honest," and a can of tomatoes, which is mostly "honest" because the only ingredient in the can is tomatoes. Finally, she read the label from a can of soup, which is not very "honest" because the label contains many chemicals in addition to some other foods.

Also, during our assemblies we recognize students who have made good choices by asking students who have earned a "North Park EZ-Pass" to stand and be applauded. Students earn these passes as a result of good behavior during recess. These passes allow students to go to the front of the line for lunch, and also allow his/her class car to move one mile "down the road." In addition, we recognize students who have made good choices in terms of Physical Fitness. Students who have completed our monthly Fitness Calendar are asked to stand and be applauded as well.

Finally, we DANCE! Wendy Cooper has created a "Healthy Highway Dance" using typical car behaviors! Students pretend to drive, put their foot on the gas, move their arms like windshield wipers, blinkers, and flashers, and also pretend to pump up tires! My students love this dance and very often ask me if we are going to do it at the assembly!

While assemblies put a spotlight on our journey on the Healthy Highway, the many "avenues" of the program can be seen throughout our school on a daily basis. Teachers carry "traffic sticks" which contain colors of a traffic light to manage hallway behavior: Red=Stop and think about it; Yellow=Slow down and think about it; and Green=All systems GO! Our cafeteria manager has placed these same traffic colors on the various food choices available for lunch. Students exiting Physical Education class self-assess behavior based on a particular exit question using the colors of a traffic light as well.

At any given moment of the day, you will hear "car talk" such as reminders to students to "keep you car doors closed" when walking in the hallway (arms down), or turn your "headlights on" (look and listen), or make your "horns silent" (no talking). We sometimes surprise even ourselves with the ways that we add Healthy Highway vocabulary to our day!

A recent addition to our Healthy Highway program is a bear that I named "Fitness Frankie." Fitness Frankie came to me as a gift from Indianapolis, and is embroidered with a racecar so he was a natural to become a part of our Healthy Highway program! He spends one week in each classroom, and participates in Wellness Wednesday, Fitness Friday, and very often attends Physical Education class with the students in the class that is "hosting" him for the week. Students write about the healthy snacks he eats, and the activities he participates in during Fitness Friday, and then two students read about his adventures to the entire school during our school announcements on Monday mornings.

Recently, Frankie attended our Board of Education meeting as our principal was highlighting our Healthy Highway program, and he has even been invited to spend the weekends with our teachers and their families! Fitness Frankie has become so popular that he has his own blog where his adventures are recorded and shared! You can visit his blog by going to: http://northparkfitnessfrankie.blogspot.com.

As you can see, Healthy Highway has become an integral part of our school environment in a very short time. It is a program that allows for school individuality and is sustainable, versatile, flexible, worthwhile, and fun!

resources:

• Read the Adventures of Fitness Frankie!

Healthy Highway: Wendy Cooper, wellness and physical educator for 30 years; developed this program from actual lessons taught over a 5 year period. As Wendy watched her students embrace the healthy concepts into their lives she knew she had to share this with other professionals.

Margaret Robelee is a graduate of SUNY Cortland, and is currently in her 28th year teaching Elementary PE at North Park Elementary School in the Hyde Park Central School District in Hyde Park, NY. She is a member of NYS AHPERD, as well as AAHPERD, and has presented sessions at local, state, and regional conferences on a variety of topics, which have included using technology in PE, pedometers, heart rate monitors, and cooperative activities. Margaret is also co-webmaster for their building website as well as the webmaster of the North Park Physical Education website. In addition, she serves on their district safety committee and Comprehensive School Health Committee, as well as several other building committees. Margaret Loves PE!

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