District 50 takes pride in educating not only students, but continuing education for staff as well.

On Friday, February 15th, P.E. teachers laced up their tennis shoes and worked up a sweat in the Westminster High School gym as part of their ongoing training for SPARK. SPARK is an innovative curriculum that encourages a higher level of physical activity in gym class and promotes a healthier lifestyle for students.

In the training session, educators experienced the type of activity that their own students are getting through the SPARK program. The P.E. teachers got a chance to put SPARK to the test by running, jumping and dancing the “Chicken Dance”, among many other activities.

Last year District 50 received a grant of almost half a million dollars from the Colorado Health Foundation to purchase the SPARK curriculum and the equipment to support it. Educators found that some students would dress out for gym, but not engage in enough moderate to vigorous exercise to provide any real benefits.

High-tech pedometers, which measure activity, are key to ensuring that students are getting a real workout. Students wear the pedometers in class and the results are sent to the teacher’s computer for viewing. The “Healthy Fitness Zone” standard calls for students to be involved in moderate to vigorous activity for 50% of class time.

The P.E. teachers got to experience their own results by strapping on the pedometers during the training to see where they measured up to the “Health Fitness Zone”.

“We got a real workout,” said P.E. teacher Tim Woodruff from Hodgkins Elementary. “That’s what we want for our students too. This grant has provided a wonderful opportunity to find out what really works in gym class.”

Fourth grade students from Hodgkins Elementary who were measured on their pedometers during gym class last week showed a high number of kids getting moderate to vigorous activity during a significant part of their gym class.

“The results are impressive,” said Learning Services Director Art Drotar.