Results for: academic achievement
Practice Makes Perfect! Developing Health Mastery Using the Health Skill Models
We’ve all heard the ...
We’ve all heard the idiom “two birds, one stone.” Wouldn’t it be great to address both 21st Century skills and Health Education skills using consistent skill models in nearly all subject areas in all grade levels? This training will introduce newly developed skill models for goal setting, decision-making, and accessing information that align with Colorado’s Comprehensive Health Education Standards and support 21st Century Skills and Postsecondary Readiness Competencies. The skill models are essential for students in PK through high school and are an integral part of creating a positive climate and culture in your school. Participants will leave with tools and strategies to effectively teach and integrate these skills in all content areas and use in student support services. Participants will have an opportunity to explore how these skills models can be used in a school wide effort to build student mastery of these skills.
Every Student Succeeds Action Framework for Health and Wellness
The Every Student Su...
The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) recognizes the vital role that health and wellness play in education. This document from the Alliance for a Healthier Generation and Healthy Schools Campaign focuses on supporting advocates who are interested in working with state level policymakers to develop state ESSA plans. It provides practical resources and emphasizes several key areas with the greatest potential impact on student health.
Empowering Wellness: Manitou Springs School District 14 Video
Manitou Springs Scho...
Manitou Springs School District 14 is the 2017 Healthy School Champions recipient of the Platinum Governor’s Award for School Health and Wellness. Manitou Springs is implementing school health into their systems, policies, structures, and culture. They have a vision for putting health at the center of what they do, and a commitment to serving students’ health and academic excellence and they have done so by engaging their staff, youth, and entire community.
They know that health and wellness is a critical part of student success. Healthy, safe, and engaged students learn better. It’s so clear that it takes impassioned and creative educators to meet the needs of our youth - Manitou Springs educators understand the connection between health and wellness and academic success and are empowered to innovate and think about education in new ways.
This video is meant to inspire and highlight what’s possible in any school or district when school health is integral to the education system.
Integrating Health and Wellness for Student Success: The Story of Archuleta School District
When Colorado studen...
When Colorado students are living in poverty, come to school hungry, or feel unsafe, this affects their ability to learn. In Archuleta School District’s Pagosa Springs Middle School they believe in the strong connection between student learning and health and wellness. Educators have woven health and wellness into the fabric of the school with great results. Pagosa Springs Middle School was the 2015 Healthy School Champions Platinum Governor's Award for School Health and Wellness winner.
Check out this video to learn more about their efforts to connect academic achievement to learning.
Healthy Food Leads to Healthy Students in Silverton
After 100 years, a s...
After 100 years, a school in a mountain community now has a hot meals program. Committed to healthy kids and academic achievement, the Silverton School District developed menus to offer hot breakfasts and lunches to students and staff. Subsequently, Silverton has seen a substantial decline in discipline referrals, stomach-aches, and other ailments after implementing this effort.
Check out this video to learn more about the efforts in Silverton to create a healthier school environment.
All In: Using Advisory to Transform School Climate
Students who feel a ...
Students who feel a positive connection with peers, teachers, and other adults in school are more likely to achieve academic success. Struggling students, who do not experience positive connections with others, often exhibit behavior that undermines their academic growth.
At Pagosa Springs High School, a high-quality advisory structure connects students to adults and to each other in ways that are transforming school culture. Students and adults participate in team building activities, intramural competition, contributions of excellence, service learning, advisory class periods, and school spirit competitions. Watch the "All In: Using Advisory to Transform School Climate" video to see how Pagosa Springs High School is changing the way students feel about school.
Students Mentoring Students (SMS) Curriculum Video
At Poudre High Schoo...
At Poudre High School in Fort Collins, CO, students teach other students important lessons in diversity, equity, and social-emotional skills that not only create a more inclusive climate but impact academic achievement as well.
This video accompanies the full SMS Curriculum and highlights how Poudre High School is transforming school culture by creating a safe, caring, and engaging school environment.
The IDEAS 4 School Health Website - A website on Evidence Based Resources to help improve school health & academics
There is a significa...
There is a significant amount of literature concerning policies, programs, and practices for comprehensive school health; however, there remained a need to curate the existing evidence-based strategies into a high quality and usable resource for researchers and practitioners. The creation of this website responded to this need.
This site is the result of a 3-year process conducting systematic reviews on evidence-based practices for the ten WSCC component areas along with seeking and revising feedback from experts and practitioners.
The purpose of this website is to provide school wellness practitioners and researchers an easy-to-access site where you can identify existing evidence-based practices and supporting material related to the ten WSCC component areas that apply to your needs related to improving health or academic performance in schools.
The IDEAS 4 School Health Website - A website on Evidence Based Resources to help improve school health & academics
There is a significa...
There is a significant amount of literature concerning policies, programs, and practices for comprehensive school health; however, there remained a need to curate the existing evidence-based strategies into a high quality and usable resource for researchers and practitioners. The creation of this website responded to this need.
This site is the result of a 3-year process conducting systematic reviews on evidence-based practices for the ten WSCC component areas along with seeking and revising feedback from experts and practitioners.
The purpose of this website is to provide school wellness practitioners and researchers an easy-to-access site where you can identify existing evidence-based practices and supporting material related to the ten WSCC component areas that apply to your needs related to improving health or academic performance in schools.
Engaging Youth as Partners in Creating Healthy, Safe, and Welcoming Schools
Youth engagement is ...
Youth engagement is a critical component in creating a supportive environment for social and emotional wellness and academic growth for students. Youth engagement is a powerful approach to improving policies, programs, and practices related to youth.
Meaningful youth engagement occurs when young people are involved in responsible, challenging actions to create positive social change. This means involving youth in planning and in making decisions that affect themselves and others. Youth engagement happens in youth-adult partnerships that are structured so that both groups contribute, teach, and learn from each other. This video serves as a resource for schools seeking to develop and maintain a successful youth engagement effort.
Connecting Health and Learning is Vital to Student Success: An Overview of Relevant Research
Research shows that ...
Research shows that integrating school health best practices into the school schedule, policies, practices, and culture will yield better academic outcomes such as attendance, graduation rates, and test scores. This resource presents an overview of relevant research and literature, including key facts, quotes, and references — and success stories from Colorado schools and districts that have seen the benefits of institutionalizing health and wellness.
Social Emotional Workshop Blog and Resources
Social Emotional Wor...
Social Emotional Workshop is a subscription-based service that provides weekly emails with social, emotional, and behavioral intervention ideas, and exclusive access to The Toolbox, a growing library of bite-size counseling resources.
SEL Activities from Centervention.com
Free Social Emotiona...
Free Social Emotional Learning Activities from Centervention.com include lessons, activities, and printables in the following skill areas: Communication, Cooperation, Emotion Regulation, Empathy, Impulse Control, and Social Initiation.
These resources are age-appropriate for elementary and middle school students and are typically used in a classroom or a small group setting. And in most cases, if materials are required for the activity, they are items that you already have in your classroom or office.
Many of the activities and lesson plans include characters from Centervention's online social skills games. If you are using or plan to use the online games, these activities will reinforce the learning that occurs during gameplay.
Leader In Me-Family Resources (Social-Emotional Learning)
Over 3,800 resources...
Over 3,800 resources can be found on Leader in Me Online!
School staff members can access thousands of resources including lesson plans, videos, classroom materials, and on-demand professional development courses as part of their school membership.
Helping Teens Assess Their Sleep Needs
The Alliance for a Healthier Generation offers this tool to help individuals of all ages assess their sleep.
Call to Action
The Colorado Allianc...
The Colorado Alliance for School Health has recently published a Call to Action. Its intent is to define school health services, elevate the importance of these services, outline opportunities for health and education to work together to meet the healthcare needs of every student, and identify actions we can take right now to improve the health of all Colorado youth.
Impacting health where kids live, learn and play is an ambitious endeavor, and we can't do it alone. When we organized ourselves as an Alliance in 2016, we knew that this massive undertaking of systems-level work would be bold, upstream and extremely difficult; we are doing it anyway.
A Way of Wellness: Fraser Valley Elementary Video
Fraser Valley Elemen...
Fraser Valley Elementary School in Fraser, CO, is the 2018 Healthy School Champions recipient of the Platinum Governor’s Award for School Health and Wellness. Fraser Valley has embedded health as a core component of their mission, vision, policies, and instructional model. They have a systematic approach with a shared leadership model that utilizes data to drive decisions and empowers youth. In Fraser Valley, "health is not something you add to your plate, it is the plate."
This video is meant to inspire and highlight what's possible in any school or district when school health is integral to the education system.
Bicycle Safety Lesson Plans (Grades 3-6)
This resource includ...
This resource includes lesson plans for implementing a bicycle safety program in school curriculum, particularly in physical education classes, for students from third through 6th (or even 8th) grade. These lesson plans introduce a variety of skills that can help children stay safe while they ride their bicycles and have been developed to improve the safety of students on their way to school and in their communities.
The curriculum is a combination of indoor and outdoor lessons that can be used together or separately, depending on time and space available. Each lesson builds on the concepts and skills of the previous one. The outdoor lessons are the practical application of the skills learned in the indoor lessons. The 16 lessons cover topics from how to fit a bicycle helmet, basic bike fit, ABC Quick Check, rules of the road, riding skills, and bike parking and locking.
The Importance of Health and Wellness in Schools Video
This video shares th...
This video shares the importance of addressing health and wellness in schools. We know that to create healthy and engaging learning environments, we need to give kids what they really need to succeed. We need to work for a systemic, strategic, and coordinated approach to supporting the whole child, which includes social, emotional, nutritional, physical, and safety wellness.
No matter how good the teaching, how interesting the curriculum, or how beautiful the school, students will not achieve unless they are healthy, feel safe, and have the skills to handle whatever may be going on in their lives.
Trauma-Informed Approaches in Schools: Keys to Successful Implementation in Colorado
The purpose of this ...
The purpose of this document is to provide an aligned message to schools and districts on trauma, its’ prevalence in youth, and how schools can utilize trauma-informed approaches to change outcomes for students. This document will provide a common language and common understanding to help schools begin the investigation and implementation of tier 1, school-wide trauma-informed approaches in schools.
This document utilizes research and practice from experts and implementers across the state and the country to explore the essential components to successful implementation of trauma-informed approaches in schools. It is also intended to provide vetted resources and references for further investigation at the local level.
Health and Wellness: A Leadville School and Community Success Story
In 2016, Lake County...
In 2016, Lake County Intermediate School in Leadville was recognized with the Healthy School Champions Platinum Governor’s Award for School Health and Wellness. However, it wasn’t long ago that health outcomes for Leadville kids weren’t so great. That’s why educators across the district began focusing on meeting students’ basic health and wellness needs.
Times are changing in Leadville. Now, students have improved access to health care, communicate more effectively with each other, eat healthier foods, and move more. Due to these efforts, Lake County is seeing the benefits in improved academics and student engagement.
Destination: Healthy Schools Successful Students – A Roadmap & Guidebook to Implementing a Collaborative Approach to Learning and Health at the School Level
The guide defines a ...
The guide defines a step-by-step process for schools utilizing a Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child (WSCC) approach and features "travel guides" for experienced teams seeking in-depth support in specific areas (high functioning teams, meeting facilitation, developing success stories development, data collection and usage, and community involvement).
Core Subject Bicycle and Pedestrian Lesson Plans (K-8)
This resource provid...
This resource provides lesson plans for bicycle and pedestrian topics in core subject matter areas such as math, social studies, reading, writing, science, and more. Includes resources for Kindergarten through 8th grade. The lesson plans integrate walking, bicycling, active transportation, and healthy living into core subject areas and are arranged by grade level and content area.
Academic Integration of Physical Activity
This Physical Activi...
This Physical Activity Integration Resource Manual was created by one of our Interns at the UNC Active Schools Institute. It offers examples of classroom physical activity that support academic content including science, math and language arts for both elementary and secondary education levels.
Alliance for a Healthier Generation - Healthy Schools Program
Is your school ready...
Is your school ready to join the Alliance for a Healthier Generation's Healthy Schools Program? This link will take you to a sign-in page where you will have access to free guidance, tools, and resources to implement healthy policies and practices that improve student performance, attendance, and behavior.
After signing-in, you will be connected with an online tool that schools can use to do a healthy school assessment, action plan, and apply for national recognition. By signing-up you will join more than 35,000 schools across the country who are working to create healthier environments.
Health Education: WSCC Menu Advocacy Brief
As schools pursue th...
As schools pursue the strategies for each component of the Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child (WSCC) model, using evidenced-based strategies increases their likelihood of successful results. This document provides a sampling of the benefits and evidence-based strategies of the Health Education WSCC component as found in the Menu of Evidenced-Based Practices.
The Menus of Evidenced-Based Practice were written by Advancing IDEAS for Health, the university members of Healthy Schools Successful Students, to provide information about evidence-based strategies for each component in an easily accessible format to help schools and districts finds the strategy that fits their needs.
Alliance for a Healthier Generation - Healthy Schools Framework
The Alliance for a H...
The Alliance for a Healthier Generation works to empower students to develop lifelong healthy habits by ensuring the environments that surround them provide and promote good health. The Alliance's Healthy Schools Program helps to create and sustain healthy environments where students, especially those in greatest need, can learn and flourish.
The Healthy Schools Program Framework of Best Practices identifies specific criteria that define a healthy school environment. Through an assessment tool and a customized action plan, the Framework helps schools work towards the Alliance’s National Healthy Schools Award.
To earn the Award, schools must demonstrate implementation of specific best practices in each of the following modules that address school health: • School Health and Safety Policies and Environment • Health Education • Physical Education and Other Physical Activity Programs • Nutrition Services • Health Promotion for Staff • Family and Community Involvement
Health Education Skill Model
Access a variety of ...
Access a variety of downloadable resources related to providing health education in schools. The "Health Skills" models are aligned with the National Health Education Standards and Indicators. Models for grade spans PK-2, 3-5, 6-8, and 9-12 focusing on the skills of analyzing influences (INF), accessing information (AI), interpersonal communication (IC), decision making (DM), goal setting (GS), self-management (SM), and advocacy (AV). Through consistent practice, students will be better able to implement these skills in a variety of settings beyond the classroom. These skill models can be used in health education and across the curriculum in various content areas.
Students Mentoring Students (SMS) Curriculum
At Poudre High Schoo...
At Poudre High School in Fort Collins, CO, students teach other students important lessons in diversity, equity, and social-emotional skills that not only create a more inclusive climate but impact academic achievement as well. Both schools are seeing positive change on school climate indicators and in student behavior, as well as reduced “F” rates for 9th grade students, lower drop-out rates, and higher graduation rates.
These lessons are researched, practiced, taught, debriefed, and continually improved as the bulk of a credit-bearing class within the regular curriculum.
This download includes the 13-week SMS Curriculum.
2018 Healthy School Champions Magazine
Each year, Healthy S...
Each year, Healthy School Champions recognizes Colorado schools and districts for their success at creating a healthy school environment and implementing effective school health efforts that support student learning.
This magazine features schools and districts that have successfully demonstrated the critical link between student health and academic achievement. Schools and districts are awarded based on their implementation of best practices in school health through an assessment tool called Smart Source, a narrative outlining their work, and letters of support.
2017 Healthy School Champions Magazine
The Healthy School C...
The Healthy School Champions Program recognizes Colorado schools for their success at creating a healthy school environment and implementing effective school health efforts. The program celebrates schools that have excelled at creating health and wellness programs that support student learning. In 2017, 46 Colorado schools were award winners.
This magazine highlights how these schools demonstrate the critical link between student health and academic achievement. In 2017, Manitou Springs School District 14 was recognized with the Platinum Governor’s Award for School Health and Wellness for embedding health as a core component of their mission, vision, policies, and instructional model.
Uniting for Young People's Success
School-based health ...
School-based health care is a powerful investment in the health and academic potential of children and adolescents. This model delivers convenient, accessible, and wide-ranging primary and mental health care services to students where they already spend most of their time: in school.
At the heart of the model is the partnership between the schools and health centers that give or support the services offered to the students. This resource explores:
- the value of school and health center collaboration,
- the benefits that health centers and schools get from the collaboration, and
- the supports in place that help health centers work with their local schools.
School Climate Issue Brief
School Climate is a ...
School Climate is a comprehensive term that refers to the quality of school life for everyone in the school community. School climate encompasses the social, physical, and academic aspects of a school. In this Issue Brief, an overview of what school climate is as well as the benefits of a positive school climate is discussed in addition to what schools can do to address and improve their climate, as well as some programs and strategies to consider implementing in your school community.
Produced in collaboration by Advancing IDEAS for Health and RMC Health with support from The Colorado Health Foundation.
Paving the Way: Putting Wellness Policy into Action
Welcome to Part II o...
Welcome to Part II of the Local Wellness Policy Webinar Series. The Colorado Education Initiative and the Office of School Nutrition at the Colorado Department of Education partnered to help you update and implement your Local Wellness Policy (LWP) per adopted regulations that expanded the requirements in accordance with the 2010 Healthy, Hunger Free Kids Act.
You have now updated your LWP, don’t keep it on a shelf! Join us as we dive into implementation, evaluation, and actualizing the LWP.
Gain insight, strategies, and tools aimed at helping districts take their LWPs to the next level by:
- Making the connection between health, wellness, and academic performance
- Garnering buy-in and engaging stakeholders
- Implementing wellness policies
- Assessing wellness policy and wellness policy implementation
SHAPE America- Reentry Resource Toolkits
Thanks to Clay Ellis...
Thanks to Clay Ellis, SHAPE AMERICA Central Region Leadership team member, for sharing these resources with the community! You can find a guide for PE/Health, a Teaching Strategy Workbook, and an At Home Survey for students.
Ideas 4 School Health Website - Informational Flyer
This flyer provides ...
This flyer provides a short summary of information about the contents and highlights of the IDEAS for Health Website.
School Meals Marketing Social Media Toolkit
Partners of the Colo...
Partners of the Colorado Blueprint to End Hunger have developed a free set of social media graphics and content to help with marketing school meals to a broader set of parents. The resources are free.
Using Common Household Items to Foster Play with Kids
Enjoy some fun and g...
Enjoy some fun and games with common household items using this resource provided by Colorado Action for Healthy Kids. This resources shows how to utilize some imagination to bump up the fun and activity level of kids using what you already have at home.
Website: Coping Skills for Kids & Teens
Coping Skills for Ki...
Coping Skills for Kids provides products and resources to help kids learn to cope with the daily challenges of life. These resources for educators and parents help young people develop coping skills related to COVID19, anger, anxiety, and more.
16 Social-Emotional Learning Games from Proud to be Primary
These social-emotion...
These social-emotional learning games from Proud to be Primary are great for the classroom or home use. Teach positive social interactions, encourage relationship skills, and practice effective communication.
SEL Activities from Everyday Speech
Everyday Speech is p...
Everyday Speech is providing users the ability to share interactive social skills games and materials with parents, 100% free, through July 1.
Parents will have access to the same videos, worksheets, and games that are normally used in school. Teachers can create lists for parents to use and send the links home for the parents to access.
Discounted pricing is now available for schools for a limited time..
Calm for Bedtime
Put your kids to bed...
Put your kids to bed with the Calm app. Calm is helping kids around the world fall asleep so that their parents can also get a little peace and relaxation. So, why is everyone downloading the Calm app? Sleep Stories are bedtime tales that include a soothing mix of words, music and gentle sounds to help your little one drift off into dreamland.
Behavioral Threat Assessment and Management (BTAM): Best Practice Considerations for K–12 Schools
Behavioral threat as...
Behavioral threat assessment and management (BTAM) is a fact-based, systematic process designed to identify, assess, and manage potentially dangerous or violent situations. School safety experts, law enforcement officials, and the United States Departments of Education, Justice, Secret Service, and Federal Bureau of Education (2017, 2018) have cited research indicating that before a student commits an act of violence on a school campus, warning signs are usually evident. Research and best practice guidelines provided by these entities also indicate a collaborative, multidisciplinary approach to behavioral threat assessment and management can identify effective interventions and supports that mitigate a potential threat and help the person(s) toward a more positive pathway. This resource provides a summary of those best practices.
From the National Association of School Psychologists
Physical Activity Issue Brief
Physical Activity (P...
Physical Activity (PA) is a critical component of a healthy school and tool to improve and maintain students' overall wellbeing. In this Issue Brief, an overview of what physical activity is and its effects, risks of physical inactivity, a brief discussion of what schools can do to address and improve physical activity, as well as some programs and strategies to consider implementing in your school community.
Learning at Home-Getting Connected Online
Browse ways to get s...
Browse ways to get students and homes connected for online learning. This resource is provided by the CDE and covers online resources, best practices for educators and families, getting connected, guidance on e-learning technology and looks at online security--and more!
Buffalo School District: Engaging Youth as Leaders in School Wellness
Colorado’s Buffalo S...
Colorado’s Buffalo School District RE- 4J has truly empowered students to be leaders and agents of change. The district wellness committee is comprised of and led by 15 high school students, and those students have fostered incredible change for the school and community in regards to health and wellness. The school district maintains their district wellness committee by:
- Engaging and empowering their youth
- Providing resources for school health policies and programs
- Building and sustaining youth-adult partnerships
Watch this video to see how the students are making a difference for their school, district, and entire community.
School Health and Wellness: Implications of State and Federal Legislation
We know healthy stud...
We know healthy students learn better, but how do you get in front of school, district, and state leaders for vital education conversations? The answer? Become knowledgeable about the policies that impact school health. Policy impacts districts, communities, schools, and classrooms, providing opportunities to institutionalize health. There are many relevant federal and state policies, governing the education system, that include provisions aimed directly at improving equity, physical health, mental health, and safety in our nation’s schools.
This resource highlights those federal and state policies, statutes, and regulations that influence local school and district health and wellness policies and practices.
Nutrition Environment and Services: WSCC Menu Advocacy Brief
As schools pursue th...
As schools pursue the strategies for each component of the Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child (WSCC) model, using evidenced-based strategies increases their likelihood of successful results. This document provides a sampling of the benefits and evidence-based strategies of the Nutrition Environment and Services WSCC component as found in the Menu of Evidenced-Based Practices.
The Menus of Evidenced-Based Practice were written by Advancing IDEAS for Health, the university members of Healthy Schools Successful Students, to provide information about evidence-based strategies for each component in an easily accessible format to help schools and districts finds the strategy that fits their needs.
Colorado Retail Marijuana Education and Prevention Resource Guide
This guide provides ...
This guide provides tools for retail marijuana education and prevention efforts. It is an overview of education and prevention programs and research, links to fact sheets, talking points, campaign materials, webinars and trainings, activities, and case studies from Colorado organizations.
The guide is recommended for community-based organizations, government agencies, youth-serving professionals, coalitions, schools and educators, healthcare professionals, marijuana industry professionals, and communications professionals within those organizations.
Social Emotional Climate: WSCC Menu Advocacy Brief
As schools pursue th...
As schools pursue the strategies for each component of the Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child (WSCC) model, using evidenced-based strategies increases their likelihood of successful results. This document provides a sampling of the benefits and evidence-based strategies of the Social and Emotional School Climate WSCC component as found in the Menu of Evidenced-Based Practices.
The Menus of Evidenced-Based Practice were written by Advancing IDEAS for Health, the university members of Healthy Schools Successful Students, to provide information about evidence-based strategies for each component in an easily accessible format to help schools and districts finds the strategy that fits their needs.