Making Healthy Habits Part of How Kids Learn
Research documents what educators know: Healthy students are better prepared to learn. Boosting physical activity, nutrition education and other aspects of student wellness can increase academic achievement and reduce absenteeism. For this reason and many more, we created Fit to Learn.
Fit to Learn is an innovative professional development program for educators. It provides practical methods for making health and wellness a regular part of the school experience while meeting academic standards in math, reading, science, social studies, art, music and more. Just as important, Fit to Learn is about having fun and developing lifelong skills. We offered workshops to teachers in Chicago from 2010 to 2018.
Since 2006, schools across the country have been required to adopt and implement wellness policies. These policies guide schools’ efforts to promote healthy eating and physical activity, support student learning and help address our nation’s obesity epidemic. Fit to Learn resources provide teachers with the knowledge and skills to implement a number of key provisions of these policies. These resources are available online to schools across the country, and include:
- Delicious Nutritious Adventures (DNA): DNA is a dynamic set of classroom curricula that has shown incredible results – one study of the Chicago program showed that after participating in Delicious Nutritious Adventures, 76% of students ate more fruits and 67% ate more vegetables!
- Fit to Learn Health + Wellness Lesson Plans: Fit to Learn is an innovative professional development program for educators. These lesson plans, which cover topics from physical activity to nutrition and cooking and are connected to key learning goals, provide practical methods for making health and wellness a regular part of the school experience.
- Tip Sheets for Incorporating Health + Wellness into the Classroom: The Fit to Learn tip sheets offer teachers step-by-step instructions to start implementing health and wellness principles in the classroom.
Shaped by Educators
We created Fit to Learn with extensive input from Chicago Public Schools (CPS) teachers and principals as well as academic leaders with expertise in nutrition, fitness and child development. It’s informed by both peer-reviewed research and hours of real-life classroom observations.
By the Numbers
120+ CPS schools were involved with Fit to Learn
300+ CPS teachers participated in the Fit to Learn Program
10,000+ Students impacted by Fit to Learn
