-
Whole School, Whole Child Wellness at Forest Park Elementary
This year Forest Park will continue to raise children’s academic performance by supporting their physical, emotional, and social health needs. (Maslow (1943) initially stated that individuals must satisfy lower level deficit needs before progressing on to meet higher level growth needs)* This goal is part of our School Improvement Plan: ALL teachers are attentive to students' emotional states, guide students in managing their emotions, and arrange for support and interventions when necessary.
The Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development report studies have shown students achieve higher academic success when their emotional, nutritional, and fitness needs are met. Those studies also showed an increase in school attendance with this type of well-rounded support. In addition to promoting children's academic success, Forest Park will also provide support to staff in health, fitness, and life skills in hopes to improve staff morale and wellness. In turn, this will increase teachers' abilities to be attentive to students’ needs.
Our plan to implement this whole school, whole child program involves the following:
*Weekly Physical Education classes (k-5) will include lessons on nutrition as well as teaching motor skills and cooperative games
*The Bear Den houses an opportunity for classes to participate in daily, purposeful 10-minute movement activities that focus on developing the gross motor, fine motor, and balancing skills from Ready Bodies, Learning Minds program - built on Dynamic Systems Theory = cognition cannot be separated from movement; these processes continually develop together
