Our very own Husky Health Team!

Healthy Food Habits by Sheela Mahdavi, Horace Mann Health Aide

• The Health Office is the first in the district to implement preventative medicine by providing free fruits to the children to pick up at any time. The kids absolutely LOVE it—making it an adventure every day to pick some up. My goal is to get the students to be consuming more fruits. Frequent complaints of stomach aches, headaches, dehydration and even constipation has prompted me to bring fruits in and offer the kids a chance to eat their fruit every day. The courier covered this news back in November: http://bhcourier.com/beverly-hills-news-horace-mann-launches-preventative-medicine-for-student-health-this-week/
• Over the break, Bristol Farms agreed to donate their organic fruits to the Health Office!!! This is huge, as we rarely hear of any public school offering organic produce to their students. Now, every morning, I pick up a box full of fruits (apples, oranges, tangerines, pears, bananas, apricots, whatever grab-n-go type fruit are in season) and place them in a bowl for the students to take if they wish. And it has been a HIT. So successful that I’ve had to make a rule: “1 fruit per day” so that we don’t run out! 😊
• I’m also now hosting guest lectures on nutrition! So far I’ve taught the 7^th, 2^nd and 3^rd graders about nutrition basics, importance of hydration, nutrition facts labels and ingredient lists, and in some classes we even discussed the chemicals in foods, pesticides, and the difference between organic vs. conventional/GMO produce!

Upcoming Nutrition lectures:

• Wednesday, February 28^th – Ms. Arth’s 2^nd Grade
• Wednesday, March 7^th – Mrs. Goldstein’s Kindergarten
• Wednesday, March 8^th – Mrs. Park’s 8^th Grade Science

Healthy Physical Habits

Part 1 by Coach Franks

Coach Ryan Franks teaches PE for Horace Mann middle school, 9^th grade PE at BHHS and also coaches the varsity girls’ soccer team.  He is also a parent of 2^nd grade twin daughters at Horace Mann. 

• My passion for physical fitness and sports began when I was a student right here in the district at Hawthorne and El Rodeo school many years ago. I played 3 sports at Beverly and ultimately earned a soccer scholarship to attend Loyola Marymount University and Cal State Northridge while earning my Bachelor of Science degree in Kinesiology. It was the relationships with my teachers and coaches in the district that made it obvious for me what I wanted to do as a career. I feel very grateful to be in such a wonderful school community as both a teacher and a parent.”

Physical Education Objective

• My goal is to help create a fun and safe environment where students can participate in a wide variety of activities. The center for disease control and prevention reports that obesity rates have tripled for children and quadrupled for adolescence during the last 30 years.
• The Physical Education curriculum is important because we are planting the seeds for a lifetime of physical fitness and health. Coach White and I have a comprehensive plan that we are very proud of. Our focus points are 3-fold:

1. social skills including fair play and sportsmanship
2. fitness and health
3. sports rules and skills.

• Our units are 3 weeks long students rotate between each teacher. We do soccer, football, tag games, relay races, hockey, handball and many more activities.
• To start the year in the fall we do a pre-assessment for the Fitness Gram assessment. The fitness gram is the state mandated test for the 5 components of fitness which are cardiovascular endurance, muscular strength, muscular endurance, flexibility and body mass index. The test is administered in the spring for 5, 7, 9th graders. The results give us valuable feedback on what areas need to be emphasized.

New Equipment in P.E.

• I want take this opportunity to thank the PTA, for its continued support of the PE department. This year I was able to implement a new husky mileage reward program using the EZ Scan App. Using this app I'm able to track student laps on the field. Students scan their bar code. I put some good music on and students can run or power walk and accumulate miles for the year. Every 3 miles is a paw for a necklace and every 5 miles is a dog tag. This simple rewards program helps motivate students and allows every student to experience success in P.E. often they are shocked how many cumulative miles they've done.

Fitness Tip for Families

• I also want to encourage parents to use fitness as a healthy way to bond and connect with your children. Over winter break I challenged my daughters to do 5 hikes in 5 days and it was truly a great experience and challenge for the entire family.