December 2010                                                                                                                    Forward to a Friend

Peaceful Playgrounds Play Nice! Newsletter
Education is Too Important to be Left Solely to Educators
Lanier Elementary
Playground in Disrepair


What happens when 1000 volunteers come together to renovate an ailing elementary school? 

Peaceful Playgrounds Founder, Dr. Melinda Bossenmeyer describes her experience and learning from this unique experience with School Pride, a new NBC reality show which airs each Friday evening.
Peaceful Playground
Transformation with Peaceful Playgrounds

In addition to the playground renovation many other changes occured .  Read this month's  featured article to learn more about the transformation as experienced by students and staff, as the new facility unfolded.   Read on....





Parents in California Can Sue District for not
PE
Physical Education Instructions
Providing Physical Eduction

A California Court of Appeal ruled that parents may sue a school or district that is not providing students the minimum amount of physical education mandated by state law. One small survey showed that more than half the state's schools were not providing the required 200 minutes every 10 days for elementary-school students, or 400 minutes over that period for middle- and high-schoolers. San Francisco Chronicle



Champions for Healthy Kids Grant

Each year since the inception of the Champions for Healthy Kids program, the General Mills Foundation has awarded 50 grants of $10,000 each to community-based groups like this that develop creative ways to help youth adopt a balanced diet and physically active lifestyle.

Deadline for Applications: December 15, 2010

Application link.


Remember to include Peaceful Playgrounds in your grant application as we were selected as a model program.

Peaceful Playgrounds is a evidence-based Recess and physical activity program for schools and parks. Peaceful Playgrounds allows schools to add 100 permanent games and markings, painted on their playground through stencils provided with the program. Materials included in a comprehensive kit, provide the tools needed to make your playground peaceful. Documented key benefits include: more physically active children, increase in children participating in games, decrease in bullying, as well as decrease in playground conflicts and injuries.

Map Stencils Winners
Congratulations to December Map Stencil Winners

U.S. Map Stencil
U.S. Playground Map Stencil

 1)Nina David - Mamou Elementary - Mamou, LA

2)    Don Bigelow - Hughson Christian School - Hughson, CA


3)    Janna Rush - Columbia Crest School - Ashford, WA




Playground Supervision
Right to Recess Campaign
Grant Writing Tips
Stencil Giveaway

Enter your school today in the Learn to Play U.S. Playground Map Stencil Giveaway. The beautiful geographically and proportionately accurate educational map stencil is 16 feet by 27 feet and extends the classroom curriculum to recess and outdoor play. History and geography comes alive with the games and activities included in the stencil set.
Free Webinars
 
Learn how to create a playground that really works! Webinars are 45 minutes long with an informative 15 minute question and answer session. No special software is necessary for you to easily participate right at your computer. Register early, space is limited. Select your subject and act now to attend a free webinar of your choice at a time that fits your schedule.
Coming Soon.
 Peaceful Playgrounds 2 Go Games

               Indoor game rugs for moving and learning. 

 Great for classroom centers,  movement stations, rainy days, YMCATarget Game's, after school  physical activity programming, APE and many other uses.

There are six rug games:  Alphabet Grid, Number Grid, Target, Balance Beams, Hopscotch, and Bean Bag Toss.

Some academic concepts include: Alphabet Grid; letter sounds, letter identification, and spelling.

Number Grid: adding, subtracting, sequencing and number identification.

Watch for January release.


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