It's 2017... already? Ringing in the New Year with a Healthy Living Fitness Challenge in your classroom

The beginning of a new year can be the best time to motivate your students to try something new or kick a bad habit to the curb.  It's a time of reflection on what went well last year and what changes might need to be made for the new year.  Every year, I try to come up with a inspirational idea to motivate my students to be better and to do better, but I'm not sure how effective I've been at it. Sometimes my cute New Year mobiles don't look that hot.  Other times, students don't finish filling out their goals sheets. And then there are times when students just don't want to.

I actually was thinking about NOT doing New Years goals this year.  I know that I've failed in many of my own, and I just didn't want to be disappointed with the lack of enthusiasm from my students. But, as I was planning my next science unit (which is actually a chapter in our health books), I thought of a different idea.  Why not focus on healthy living for our goals?  I KNOW my students need guidance in this directions.  Just look at what they eat on any given day for lunch.  

Our health chapter is all about eating right and exercising.  We're going to be reading about kinds of food that we should be eating, vitamins and minerals, exercise and heart rate.  I put together this fun "Healthy Habits Fitness Tracker" for students to keep track of what they eat and do. 

I teach 2 different science classes, and students in both classes were so excited about this challenge. Classes are going to be competing against each other.  We're going to track 8 different healthy habits: how many vegetables we eat, how many fruits, sugary drinks consumed, how much water we drink, amount of time watching TV/playing video games. how much physical activity we get, if we eat breakfast and how much sleep we get each night.  

Students had so many questions - what's a serving of veggies, how do I know how much water I drink if I just put my mouth under the kitchen faucet (yep, that was a real question), does my gymnastics class count for physical activity, what if I watch a movie with my family - movies are over 60 minutes... So many opportunities to teach real life skills that will hopefully turn into amazing healthy habits!

We're going to keep up the challenge for 4 weeks.  I'm currently looking into getting donations for prizes for my students for completing their weekly trackers and then for the winning class.  But I think another amazing benefit is that I have instant accountability partners for my own healthy living goals.  I need to track these things just as much as my students need to!  And my homeroom is definitely going to be watching what I'm doing to make sure I don't bring them down in our contest.

You can get your own free copy of my Fitness Tracker here in my TpT store, The Owl Spot.  I'd love to hear how you use this in your class, or just for yourself!  

Here's to a happy new year and a healthier you!

Martha from "The Owl Spot"