My Experience with the Fuel Up to Play 60 School Wellness Program [Interactive]

National FUTP60 10YearAnniversary cmyk

Episode Transcript:

One thing I feel strongly about as a physical educator is how can I connect my program to the larger school community? And one way I’ve done this is by participating in the Fuel Up to Play 60 School Wellness Program.

Welcome to the PE Express podcast. Today’s host is Jessica Shawley, a national board certified teacher leader from Idaho and a Shape America National Teacher of the Year.

What is Fuel Up to Play 60?

So what exactly is Fuel Up to Play 60? How does it work and what can it do for you? First off, Fuel Up to Play 60 is a leading national in school health and wellness program focusing on nutrition and physical activity. The primary focus is to help schools meet their wellness goals, to encourage students to consume nutrient rich foods and learn about nutrition and making healthy choices and then also encouraging youth to achieve at least 60 minutes of activity each day. So the fuel up part is all about eating right and that play part is all about getting that 60 minutes of play a day. So these wellness program goals definitely check all the boxes for me as a health and physical education teacher and aligned with what I was trained to do in having my students be able to transfer what they learned inside my class to the larger community.

Resources and Funding Opportunities

So I went and signed up online, and I found that there’s a ton of valuable resources on the advisor dashboard from leadership lessons, how to get your community partners and students involved and how to apply for funding for your school wellness program. So for me it was a no brainer and a game changer in getting financial support for our school wellness schools. And when you go online you’ll see tons of success stories from educators all across the nation.

Program Impact on School

Some of the ones that I know of and some of the things that have worked for my own school have been promoting healthier choices and our cafeteria through signs, through student poster contest, grab and go breakfast promotion, recipe contests. I know other teachers who, you know, create great partnerships with their custodians and helping students reduce waste. They have smoothie makeovers with new blenders. We have recycling programs and promoting, you know, how to take better care of our environment and for the physical activity plays, you know, promoting that 60 minutes of play a day. The field to play 60 program can sponsor, you know, a recess refresh of new equipment and programming out on the playground. Lunchtime, intramurals and running clubs, walking clubs, how to have student activity breaks and brain breaks in the classroom, providing materials and supplies to teachers. And so really the sky is the limit. It’s a really customizable program. They give you a great support. Again, you can contact your dairy council representative personally to ask for that support in applying for grant funds and utilize the online resources. And so I encourage everyone to get online, get signed up for your school and then take small steps from there to learn more about the wellness program and how you can utilize it for your own school and community.

How to Sign Up!

You can sign up at www.fueluptoplay60.com and did I mention it’s a free program so there’s no risk in signing up and checking it out and seeing how it might work for you and reaching out to other Fuel Up To Play 60 program advisors and teachers who have been a part of the program or reaching out to the dairy council representatives that can help you. There’s a lot of support out there for school wellness programs and grant writing, and this is one of those fantastic programs that I encourage everyone to check out. Thank you for listening. Thank you for teaching and have a wonderful day.

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