Portfolio Coming Together

Last night I spent some more time putting more permission slips and other papers into my binder. Turns out this portfolio is going to be bigger than I thought which is ok. It's going to give the judges and everyone else a good feel on what I did, I think. Since I will have my video going as well, I think everyone will get an even better feel on what I really did with the kids. Everything is coming together great and I only have two days left with the kids which is kind of sad because after all these days the kids and I have grown a bond with each other. Most of them are saying hi in the hallways when they see me or just giving me a smile. It will be sad to see it end, but my senior project will also be almost over and that's a relief.

Day Six

Tuesday was the sixth day of my program. For a snack, we had carrots and ranch. The kids were really excited about that. After that, we played red rover. Oh, that was pretty fun. We had a few slight injuries but in the end it was all ok. They seemed to have a lot of fun with this game. There are only two days left of my program which will be during the first week of January. Once I am finished with my program I will be getting everything together for the expo.

Day 5

Today was the fifth day of Fit N' Fun. We had banana bread today for our snack. Everyone seemed to really enjoy that. After that, we played fruit basket upset which is almost like musical chairs. All the kids had to first grab a folding chair and set them in a circle. One kid didn't have a chair as he/she was the person in the middle. Every kid was assigned a fruit: apple, grape, or banana. When the person in the middle called that fruit, those kids had to get up and find a different chair along with the person in the middle. The kids really seemed to have fun with that one. We paused the game for a little bit to let them get a drink of water. After that, I went through the food pyramid with them. It helps if I get them involved in what we are talking about instead of just talking to them. I was definitely asking them plenty of questions and they were more than willing to answer. Once that was over, we played fruit basket upset for the rest of the time we had. I also video taped most of the program today.

Portfolio & Plan Changes

Last night, I started putting together my portfolio. Oh goodness, I sure realized fast that I have a lot to put in there. With all the kids' journals, permission slips, and everything else, it could definitely be a big portfolio. In the beginning, I was worried I wouldn't have anything to put in there but now I have plenty, I think. I just started putting the papers into the nice clear holders for my binder. Nothing is too organized yet, but it will certainly get there.

I have also decided to make a few changes to my program plan. My initial plan was to end the program on December 22. Well, due to me not being able to do the program last Tuesday and December 22 being the last day before Christmas break, I will not being finishing that day. I talked to Mrs. Steffensen, she and I have decided to finish up the week we get back from Christmas break. We will go that Tuesday and Thursday and then be done with the program. I wrote a letter which I will be giving out to the kids tonight so their parents know.

It's All Coming Together

Today I spent a half hour working on my video for the Senior Expo. I am now caught up on all my days. I do have one regret though and that is not taking any pictures or videos on Day 1. Now, I have nothing from that day. On the other hand, that was kind of a hectic day considering it was the first day and all. In my video, I only have pictures/videos from days two through five so far.

Day Four

Last Thursday was the fourth day of Fit N' Fun. We had fruit and cheese kabobs which turned out to be pretty good. Most of the kids handed in their weekend exercise logs and surprisingly everyone did at least something active. After that, the kids wrote about their wise decisions that week. I've decided to switch it up a little this week with their journals so they can have a little fun with it. After all that, we played rooster on the roof and that seemed to be a popular game. Everyone seemed to enjoy it. I also took more pictures for my video.

Video Making

I have been thinking about how I'm going to present my program during the Expo. I decided to put all the pictures and videos into iMovie and make a video. I have started putting everything in there and it's looking pretty good. I plan to just have it play the whole time I'm presenting that way everyone can get a good feel for what went on.

Day Three

Yesterday was the third day of Fit N' Fun. First, I handed out a weekend exercise log. Beings we aren't together over the weekend, I thought it would be a good idea to have them log any exercises they do. Next, I handed out snacks which was Go-Gurt. While they ate their snack, I had them journal about what the healthy/fit decisions they made throughout the week. After they were all finished, we played Band-Aid tag. It seemed like a pretty fun game, but it would have been more fun with a bigger space which we don't have. I also video recorded some of the program today so I can present it at the Expo.

Second Day

The second day of my Fit N' Fun program is over. This go around definitely went a little bit smoother for some reason. The kids seem to have a lot of fun with the program. Today, we had graham crackers with peanut butter and bananas as a snack. I had the kids make their snack to have a little fun. While they ate their snack, I talked about the activity pyramid. The kids admitted to sitting in front of the TV and playing videos games. I gave them a challenge to cut down that time and actually do something active. I even had one kid come up and ask me questions about what they could do. It really made me feel like I was just talking to a wall, instead at least one person was actually listening. I've found some kids can be a tad bit disrespectful, hopefully that will change over time. The game we played today was giants, elves, and wizards. The kids had a lot of fun with that game. I decided to take a group picture today and some other pictures of them playing.

And It Has Begun

Today was the first day of my Fit N' Fun program. It was a little overwhelming at first seeing all these kids that were in my hands for 45 minutes. Needless to say, it all went alright. The kids seemed to have a lot of fun. I started off with attendance and then Krista, my helper, and I introduced ourselves. After that, we had our snack, granola bars, and went on to our game of the day, which was the electricity game. After awhile I could see on the kids faces they weren't having much fun anymore so we did something else. Krista's suggestion was to play some good old duck, duck, goose. Normally, duck duck goose isn't too intense of a workout but with all those kids there was a big circle to run around. Before they were let out, we went around the circle and everyone said their name and something about themselves. We thought this would be beneficial for mainly Krista and I since we don't know all of the kids. A few kids were missing due to illnesses and what not, so hopefully they will be there next Tuesday. Overall, the program went pretty smoothly which I am certainly happy about.

Official Start Tomorrow

Today, I revised over my letter for the parents about the meal plan. I signed and copied those so they were ready for tomorrow. Tonight, I got the game for tomorrow together. I made six signs needed for the game, grabbed some dice, and put it all together. To kick off the program, we are having granola bars for a snack while we discuss the meal plan. After that, we are going to play the game called electricity game. I hope it will be a fun game as I have never played it and with almost 40 kids who knows what could happen. I'm slightly nervous about tomorrow but hopefully it goes smoothly and I have everything done that is needed. We will be taking pictures and video recording as much as we can to present during the expo in March.

Last Minute Touches

After school today, I met with Mrs. Steffensen about some final touches before I start my program on Tuesday. I needed a few more ideas for games to play during the program. She gave me a few ideas such as fruit basket upset and a couple more. I already had the idea of having the kids write every day once the program was over. Mrs. Steffensen gave me some ideas of what they could write about. One was writing about their wise decisions pertaining food and exercise. Another idea she had was since there will be four days we won't be together over the weekend, she mentioned having a exercise sheet. The kids would take home the exercise sheet and log when they exercised and such. An idea to push eating fruits and vegetables would be to challenge the kids each day to eat more of a certain fruit or vegetable that night. That's about all we discussed.

I am for the most part ready for the program to begin. I am quite excited about it; I think it will be a lot of fun!

Attendance Chart

Today, I created an attendance chart for my program. This took about 15 minutes to make. I created this so I had a paper copy of the students who showed up. Also, I thought it would be good to show at the expo in March. I have a total of 25 students and the number is still growing. By Thursday, I should have an exact count on how many students I will have.

Now that the program is just a week away, I need to decide what exercise games I will be playing at the program. I have a few ideas so far but I definitely need a lot more.

Meal Plans=DONE

Today, I worked on my December meal plan and finished it up. I worked on it for 15 minutes to add the last few days off meals and put a little color into it. I just emailed the December meal plan to my community mentor Tiffany. As soon as she looks it over, I will make the final touches on it and will be officially done with the meal plan.

I also picked up the permission slips from each class on Thursday. I counted them and I got 23 students to attend. There are more students who had asked to bring them this upcoming week so I will be picking them up later.

Mentor Update

Today, I emailed my community mentor Tiffany to give her an update on how I'm doing. I also sent her my November meal plan to have her look over it. I'm almost done with the December meal plan which I will send to her as well to look that over. A lot of my research is coming from the same website. As soon as I get done with my meal plans, I will move on to putting together the actual program and what we are doing to be doing. Tiffany's only suggestions were to take out chicken fingers, fish nuggets, and chicken fettucini because they were not healthy for you. Otherwise, my November meal plan is good to go. Talking with her and looking over the meal plans myself, I have decided to attach a letter with the meal plan explaining various things. What I will include in the letter is that the meal plan is only suggestions they don't have to follow it, add veggies to suppers, and eat whole wheat.

Talking to the Students

Yesterday, I went down to the elementary during my homeroom time and talked to the 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders. I went into each classroom explaining what my project was and why I had to do it. They seemed to be pretty excited about it so I hope I get a lot of students to go out for it. I handed out permission slips for their parents to look at and they are bringing them back by tomorrow. I was down there from about 10:45 to 11:30. Sometime tomorrow I am going down to pick them up and see how many students are actually going to do it. From there, I can really get down to the details of my program.

Getting Closer and Closer

After school today, Mrs. Steffensen and I met up to go talk to the 3rd through 5th grade teachers. Mrs. Steffensen had previously sent out an email just briefly explaining to them what I was doing and that I would be coming down to talk to them. I went down to the 3rd grade teachers first. I am meeting with them tomorrow at 10:45ish. We are going to combine both classes for this little meeting. I will be handing out the permission slips at the meeting also. I am meeting with the 4th graders after that and the 5th graders after that. I am having all the teachers collect the permission slips and I will pick them up when she has all them back. Hopefully, I will get a lot of students to come out for the program. I really don't know what I would do if I had no students come out. Let's just hope we don't have to go down that road!

Attacking the Meal Plan

After talking to Mrs. Steffensen earlier today, I decided I really just want to get everything done as soon as possible. I have really buckled down tonight and actually put together the November meal plan. Every day we don't have school there are breakfast, lunch, snack, and supper foods. On every day we have school, there are the same foods except no lunch beings most students eat school lunch. I worked on this for 45 minutes.

Off to a Good Start

Today, I met with my faculty mentor Mrs. Steffensen for the first time. We met for about 15 minutes. She looked over my permission slip and it looked fine. I started making a poster to hang down in the elementary. She thought that was a good idea. We discussed me meeting with each 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade class and Mrs. Steffensen thought that would be a good idea. I am going to email the elementary principal and see if that would be ok. If it is, we are going to go ahead and talk with the teachers to find a good time to talk with the students. I'm hoping it will be ok because I think it would help a lot to get the students to come to the program. They would get a better explanation and hopefully it will come off fun and exciting!

Down to Business

Yesterday, I got to thinking about my senior project and how I should really get it all figured out and ready for my program to begin beings it starts in a couple weeks. I started really looking at a hand out my community mentor sent me. The hand out is a actual program they did with kids that was along the same subject I am doing. I looked it over and got some ideas from it. Some of them weren't so helpful while others were a great help. I am getting further along with my project which is good. I'm going to really get down to business this week and get my permission slip done so it is ready to get sent out along with my meal plan and program totally figured out.

Meal Plan

Part of my senior project is making a meal plan for the students in 3rd through 5th grade. I researched some healthy foods for my meal plan. The most effective website I found was actually a blog written by a mom. I also found a lot of ineffective websites. I ended up finding a lot of information on healthy snacks that kids will actually eat. There are multiple varieties of how to put snacks together to make them fun and healthy. I still have many foods to look up to finish my meal plan.

Permission Slip

To get going on my senior project, I have started to write a permission slip for students in grades three through five to take home. It is basically a slip explaining what I'm doing. Parents need to sign it as an ok for their kid to come to my program. I worked on this on September 14 for an hour. I am pretty well finished with the permission slip but I just want to meet with Mrs. Steffensen and have her overlook the slip to make sure I have everything needed in there. After that, I plan to give the permission slip to the students two weeks before the program starts.

Preventing Childhood Obesity

Being a senior this year, I have a senior project to finish by spring time. I am doing my project on how to prevent childhood obesity. The big overall base of my project is pediatrics. The whole reason for my chosen topic is I want to further my education in college majoring in Pre-Medicine. I hope to eventually go on to med school and be a pediatrician. I have had my project approved by our committee and found my mentors. My faculty mentor is Mrs. Steffensen and my community mentor is Tiffany Keating.