Literacy Lessons to Help Kids Get Fit & Healthy

In this inspiring breakthrough book, nationally known educator and fitness, expert Michael F. Opitz and veteran teacher Jennifer Davis-Duerr share their classroom-tested strategies for combining ready-to-use literacy lessons with easy-to-implement fitness exercises. You'll discover how to weave fitness (physical, nutritional, social, and emotional) into your existing classroom literacy routines-guided reading, read-alouds, independent reading, reading and writing workshop-for the invigorating, mind-and-body workout today's students urgently need. In light of increasing childhood obesity and its accompanying health issues, the book introduces FitLit, children's literature that spotlights the multiple aspects of health and well being. You'll find more than 250 related children's FitLit selections and 75 Web sites. You'll also learn how to create meaningful group and independent activities to help children understand the importance of physical fitness and overall well being. Students learn how to take responsibility for their own fitness through a special ?Taking Action? feature. For example, they'll learn to monitor their heart rate, find put how the heart works, and why boosting heart rate with exercise is important; they will also learn how to read and examine food labels critically so they can make smart food selections, which in turn promotes a healthy body. In this way, FitLit reading selections and activities pack a one-two punch, simultaneously developing children's critical reading skills and their overall health. For the health, of our nation's school children, all teachers need to learn how to weave ?fitness literacy? into their daily curriculum. And FitLit can help put them on the road to improving students' health. Book jacket.