H.A.W.S.

A key element at the kids' school is teaching/training the kids to "own their own learning". It's a catch phrase you hear more and more in education, but I'm really seeing it happen here...

One of the PE teachers for the elementary grades had a really crazy idea:
Let's take some of the biggest health & wellness issues we face in the world today and let's let the kids tackle them. We'll have a health and wellness summit.

The summit was yesterday....
It was a huge success!

The idea behind H.A.W.S (Heath and Wellness Summit) was to get the kids researching the facts about big health issues (cancer, heart disease, diabetes, etc.), present these issues in a "conference-like" setting, and then corroborate with their peers to make action plans on things THEY can do to solve these issues.  The older elementary grade (5th) would present to the younger grades (3rd & 4th).

Wow!

Over 2 weeks ago, the PE teacher came to GAAPA (the parent association) to ask for help and support. He needed guest speakers, parent volunteers for "Extreme PE", healthy snacks, and free goodie bags for all 3 grades. The event would be a full day that started with an opening program, then move into a rotation of "conference talks/presentations" given by the 5th grade groups, and followed by a closing ceremony where the actions were revealed.

Game on!

Even the art teacher got involved. She held a contest for the kids to create the HAWS signature artwork that would be used on all the HAWS advertising posters. Olivia came home fired up to win... She drew up an initial design and asked Madeline help her perfect it.

She submitted it, and... lo and behold.. it was chosen!
Her poster became the artwork for the summit! It was featured on all the advertising and she was presented with a poster-sized foam-board printout of her work during the closing ceremony.

The event would be a full day that started with an opening program (about an hour) of 3 key speakers about health and fitness:

There was a dietitian

... a yoga instructor

and a body builder.

Then the kids were released to their preassigned "conference rooms" (classrooms) to move into a rotation of "conference talks/presentations" given by the 5th grade groups.

Let me pause to explain how this worked.
The 3rd & 4th graders were the conference "attendees"; the 5th graders were the conference "experts". The experts (groups of 3-4 kids) chose topics of interest to them that they researched for their presentation. Each expert group was assigned a presentation time (Session 1, 2, or 3) and conference room (classroom in the 3rd, 4th, or 5th grade halls).

The conference attendees were then allowed to choose which talks they would attend for each of the sessions on a first come/first served sign-up basis. The "experts" not presenting during a given Session time, would also choose a talk to attend. This ensured that each room would have a balanced number of attendees in any given room during the allotted times.  To break up the sessions, there would be "Extreme PE"/snack between Session 1 & 2... and lunch between Session 2 & 3.

Now, let's talk about the session presentations:
The 5th graders had chosen topics of interest to them, then created a 45 minute presentation. They ran the talk just like what you'd expect at a working conference. There was an ice-breaker/mixer so that the 3rd-4th-5th graders in the room could get to know each other a bit.

(Doesn't this little guy look just like Kid President??)

Then the kids filled out a K-W-L chart (What do you KNOW? What you WANT to know? What did you LEARN?) to focus the group on their topic.

There was usually a power point presentation that contained a video or website link with facts about the issue, why it's important to study it, some problems that are still unanswered, and what's currently being done to solve the issue.

At this point, all the groups had the attendees break into small groups and brainstorm how THEY could help to solve/tackle the issue (there was a large poster for each group to record their thoughts).

The talk ended by completing the "L" section of the K-W-L chart and the presenters thanking the attendees for all their hard work.

Olivia's group presented during Session 2 which is when I took the above photos. Her group's topic was diabetes. They did really well and I was so proud of her. I even let Madeline take an absent mark in her history class so she could attend her sister's talk.

I worked the Extreme PE time between the 1st and 2nd Sessions.

We had the entire gym (it was a black flag day: too hot to be outside) where there was an obstacle course with hula-hoops, jump rope tricks, toss the (rubber) chicken, hurtles, funny walk, and soccer skills sections. We also had 2 Zumba instructors who led a "dance class" and a yoga instructor who challenged the kids to some poses.

After the final session, the kids all came back to the auditorium where they were congratulated for all their hard work and shown (just a few) of the outcomes generated as hanging scrolls of their working papers.

It was a loud and proud moment.

The PE teacher then challenged every kid to continue to follow through on the actions they decided. Each kid went home feeling like they (a little 3rd, 4th, or 5th grader) had made a huge difference in the world today. It was pretty awesome to witness.