Brittani Besterman

Intern for the Minority Health Coalition of Marion County 

 

I was selected as the Operation Fit Kids intern for the Minority Health Coalition of Marion County in January, 2014.  For my first session, I was assigned two elementary schools, both Indianapolis Public Schools.  Each week, I would visit each school's after school programs to talk to the children who participated in the after school program at their school.  At this time, I have been assigned two more locations.  The first is at the Dayspring Center in downtown Indianapolis, and the second is at Mount Carmel Baptist Church.  Both of these locations host summer camp programs where the children regularly attend during the summer.  I am teaching the same lessons, weekly, as I mentioned above.

 

The Operation Fit Kids program is a program designed by the American Council on Exercise to educate elementary school-aged children about the importance of a healthy diet and regular exercise.  Each week's lesson focuses on a specific aspect of diet and fitness, and increases in difficulty and depth each week.  The very first lesson, I begin with a pre-test so the Minority Health Coalition of Marion County can assess the students' knowledge about the topics.  At the last lesson, they are given a post-test to see how much they have learned throughout the program as well as how much they liked and learned about the program.

 

Lesson One-- Move & Groove as You Eat to Win-- is an introductory lesson that covers the importance of exercise and the basic food groups.  I teach the children about the Activity Pyramid which shows them which kind of activities they should be doing daily, three to five times a week, two to three times a week, and which ones to cut out or reduce.  I have the children give me examples of things from each of these categories so they are able to understand and apply this concept.  At this end of this portion of the lesson, I gather the children in a circle to perform simple exercises, like jumping jacks or running in place, so they can see the kinds of things that are good for them to do regularly.  For the diet portion of this lesson, we discuss all of the food groups that should be eaten daily using the My Healthy Plate diagram.  I let the children name different foods from each of the food groups so they know which foods are important for them to eat often, and which ones are better if they avoid them.

 

Lesson Two-- Heart Smart Kids on the Liquid Lookout-- discusses the FITT Principle and RPE Scale as well as the circulatory system.  The FITT Principle (Frequency, Intensity, Time, and Type) teaches the children how to measure their exercising so they know how hard they're working.  THe RPE Scale, ratings of perceived exertion, shows the children that not every exercise feels the same for everyone and that everyone has different abilities.  It is important for the children to understand that not everyone is able to work as hard or as long as others and that's okay.  For this lesson's activity, I'd have the children perform an exercise (like jogging for a minute or stretching) and rate them according to the RPE Scale they just learned.  For the nutrition aspect of this lesson, the children learned about what kinds of liquids they should be drinking to stay properly hydrated.  They learn that water is best, as well as low fat milk and 100% fruit juice.  Many children didn't know that there was a difference between fruit juice (Kool Aid, for example) and 100% fruit juice.  To help them grasp this concept, I'd offer examples of different drinks and they had to tell me if they were considered healthy or not.

 

Lesson Three-- Walk this Way and Snack Attack-- discusses the importance of regular physical activity, like walking.  We also talk about healthy snacks for children to eat.  During the lesson, I teach the children the proper way to walk (wearing gym shoes, how to stand, how to move their arms, etc.) so they are able to effectively and safely exercise this way.  I also provided pedometers from the Minority Health Coalition of Marion County so the children will be able to count their steps to be able to be sure that they are taking enough steps during they day.  The children were very excited to use their new pedometers!  For this lesson's activity, we walked using the proper form so they were able to use their pedometers to count their steps while learning the most effective way to walk.  For the nutrition part of this lesson, we discussed healthy snacks.  We discussed the differences between healthy and unhealthy snack choices, how often to eat snacks, and why it's important to eat healthy snacks.  When I'd give the children examples of snacks, they had to tell me whether or not that particular snack was a healthy choice.

 

Lesson Four-- Pump it Up and How Much to Eat-- discusses how exercising is important keeping skeletal and cardiac muscles strong as well as portion sizes.  During the fitness portion of this lesson, we talked about the difference between aerobic and anaerobic exercise.  We discussed why it's important to have strong muscles and how that helps keep your bones healthy as well.  For our activity, we did different aerobic exercises, like skipping, and compared them to anaerobic exercises, like sprinting.  During the diet portion of the lesson, we talked about portion sizes.  We took a look at different foods labels and the children were taught how to read them.  They were asked to look at labels and find the number of calories, sugar, fat, etc. as well as the serving size on each label.  Many children had never looked at the food label before so they learned a lot about the foods they are eating.

 

Lesson Five-- Toughen Up and Cut the Fat-- discusses the importance of increasing their muscles and strength as well as why they should reduce the amount of fat in their diets.  For the fitness portion of the lesson, we talked about how doing reps and sets of exercises is what increases muscle strength.  We did different exercises so they were able to count the number of reps and sets (like push ups and sit ups) as well as feel their muscles working.  For the diet part of the lesson, we looked at the nutrition information for a few popular fast food dishes, like the Whopper or Big Mac, so the children could read how many calories, grams of fat, etc. were in the foods that they like to eat.  We talked about why we should cut back on how much fat we eat, as well as other healthier options for when they do want to go out to eat.  Many students suggested selecting apple slices, salads, or baked potatoes rather than the usual deep-fried French fries.  They children seemed very excited to learn about the healthier options for when they do go out to eat.

 

Lesson Six-- Chill Out and Breakfast- Don't Skip It-- discusses the importance of stretching and being flexible, as well as how important eating breakfast is.  We talked about how stretching and flexibility help to reduce injuries when exercising or playing.  We also learned different ways to stretch and how we shouldn't stretch.  For our activity, we took turns suggesting our favorite stretches and practiced them together.  For the diet aspect of this lesson, we talked about how important it is for us to eat breakfast every day.  We also discussed healthy breakfast options that are tasty, like fruit, yogurt, and cereal.  Many students shared that they don't typically have breakfast, so I had to be sure to emphasize the importance to them so they were able to see how it can change how they feel and think throughout the day.

 

Lesson Seven-- Putting it All Together-- is a review lesson that is given on the sixth and final week of the program.  I go over the key terms and concepts we covered throughout the program.  After the review lesson, I give the students the post-test.

 

This was my first experience working with children as well as working in health education.  I learned a lot about the way children need to learn and the best way to reach them in a way that they are able to understand.