Toms River District's School Makes Fitness Message Fun

(Jared Ferguson, a fifth-grader at Beachwood Elementary School, holds a yoga position during one of the school’s Fit Day activities. Staff at the school, part of the Toms River Regional School District, held Fit Day to help send the message of how much fun fitness can be -- as well as how good it can be for children overall. Credits: Karen Wall)

How do we tackle the problem of childhood obesity?

It’s an issue that has created controversy across the country, as schools have changed what goes into the lunches they serve, often to the kids’ dismay, and states have tightened the rules on what can and cannot be sold or given out during school hours, sparking furor over birthday cupcakes and bake sales.

At Beachwood Elementary School, principal Kelly Josberger and the staff wanted to find a way to incorporate healthy eating and fitness messages into the school day. The result was Fit Week, which culminated in Fit Day last Friday at the school, where the kindergarten through fifth-graders added a fitness break to their academic studies.

“Studies show that kids who exercise have better brain function,” Josberger said during a brief break in activities Friday. Those studies, which were reviewed in the Journal of the American Medical Association Pediatrics in 2012, and then followed up with a larger study that was published in September.

The conclusion of that larger study, published by the American Academy of Pediatrics, was that exercise has a positive effect on a child’s academic performance.

So Josberger and the staff set about ways to not only add a little exercise to the school day, but to also give the students some ideas of things they can do on their own.

The result was Fit Week, she said.

“It’s been educational,” she said. “The students have been reading about nutrition and doing their own research.”

Each day last week a student had the opportunity to read a fitness or nutrition fact they had learned during the morning announcements, Josberger said. And Monday through Thursday, the school incorporated ”Brain Breaks,” where for five minutes, the students throughout the school would get out of their seats for a physical activity.

One day the students danced to the Pharrell Williams’ song “Happy,” and another day the followed a path of taped arrows through the school, speed-walking to the song “Hey Ya!” and ”Gangnam Style.”

“We weren’t sure how that would work out,” she said, and they told the kids that if they behaved well enough during the first song, they’d do a second. The kids loved it, she said.

On Friday, lunch included a visit from the Toms River Regional School district’s food services director, who demonstrated to eager students how easy it can be to add a serving of vegetables to your meal, sauteeing yellow squash and zucchini in a little bit of oil with with oregano.

“It’s been really surprising how many kids went for the vegetables,” she said, as students returned for second, third -- and in one case fifth -- helpings. The word was reaching parents, too.

“I’ve heard from several parents saying, ‘My child is asking for more vegetables,’ “ she said.

While students were gobbling the squash and zucchini, in the gym fifth-graders were taking part in a range of activities designed by gym teachers Paul Brush and Danielle Dilts, including jumping rope, pushups against tires, wall sits and more. Brush’s wife, Marci Brush, who teaches at Toms River High School East, came for the day to teach yoga, while Beachwood teacher Jackie Citta led the students through a Zumba routine.

“We wanted fitness-based activities and we wanted to get the kids moving,” Dilts said, and by setting it up in stations, the students could do more in a shorter period of time.

“This lets the kids go at their own pace,” Paul Brush said. Plus it was an opportunity to have all the students in one grade level together at once, where usually they’re only dealing with a small group.

“It’s a great way to start the new year,” he said.

“It’s just awesome,” fifth-grader Jared Ferguson said. “I learned to keep my body healthy, and I learned good ways to eat,” adding that the squash-zucchini was ”delicious.”

“I didn’t sit at a desk all day,” fifth-grader Angelina Brown said. “I felt relieved that I got my energy out.”

Josberger said the week’s lessons haven’t been lost on the staff, either. Attendance -- which has been a hot topic in the district -- was significantly better during Fit Week. “It was almost perfect today,” she said Friday.

The way the students embraced the Brain Breaks -- Brown said her favorite was Thursday’s, where they did jumping jacks and more to the 1960s song “Go, You Chicken Fat, Go” (check out the recent iPhone ad if you haven’t heard the song) -- and researching their own nutritional and fitness facts are things Josberger said the school would continue.

The school also received support from Toms River Fitness (where the Brushes are fitness instructors), which provided passes for a free family swim or a kids’ cardio class to each student, and Beachwood Mayor Ron Roma and his staff arranged for the dietician at ShopRite to come speak to the students, Josberger said.

“The message we wanted everyone -- students and staff -- to receive is to take care of yourselves, keep your mind and body fit,” Josberger said.

Have a news tip? Email karen.wall@patch.com.

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