Let's Move! Active Schools

Grants are a great way for teachers to access funding to allow them to provide dynamic learning opportunities for their students that they may not be able to fund for themselves or through building resources. Gaining funding through grants helps teachers to bring more creativity to their classrooms without having to scramble or modify activities due to lack of materials. If there were less restrictions on funding, students would have endless avenues for expressing themselves and their learning than the standard activities used in many buildings.

 

Let's Move, Active Schools  is a grant that provides funding to help schools incorporate more physical activity into their building. Let's Move supports that notion that active kids do better; they have better academic performance, better school attendance, and better behavior and concentration in class. According to this organization, an active school should incorporate physical activity before, during, and after school for at least 60 minutes every day.  They believe that the best way to achieve school wide change is by: providing high quality physical education, creating active classrooms, having students begin and end their day with physical activity, emphasize physical activity for all staff, and connect the community.

 

This organization offers multiple grants that would help to reinforce the value of physical activity in the schools. This grant allows any school in the country to apply as long as there are grants available. Currently, as it is the end of the year, there are no grants showing for the schools in the North Thurston School District that are registered with the organization.  This website does not make it easy to learn about the requirements in applying for the grants. However, there are a lot of useful suggestions for ways in which schools can make the push to developing more active schools and free professional development.