Moving and Grooving

Nottingham Elementary School’s Linda Chavers and Sarah Chu have been awarded an Oliver Healthy Choices Grant by the Houston nonprofit Oliver Foundation.

On Thursday, Oct. 2, Oliver Foundation Program Director Sandy Bristow and Executive Director Debbie Woehler kicked off a yearlong student health and fitness program at the elementary school.

The grant was issued for the educators’ Moving and Grooving Program, which will help expose Nottingham Elementary children to healthier lifestyle options by using Xbox360 Kinect DDR Energy Fitness equipment during fitness classes and school-based family fitness nights.

The yearlong program includes heart rate monitoring and monitoring education, fitness and distance tracking, and special Xbox equipment. The Oliver Foundation promotes the prevention of childhood obesity as its main goal.

Chavers is a health fitness specialist at Nottingham. Chu is a fourth-grade language arts and social studies teacher.

Students will begin moderate to vigorous physical activities under the Moving and Grooving Program this month. They will also be taught how to monitor their heart rates during exercise, and how the body’s bones, muscles and joints work together.

By February, students will be “moving and grooving” to push their heart rates into measured zones for improved health and fitness.

“Students will be learning movement routines that will increase their heart rates. They will also learn about the location and purpose of the heart and cardiovascular system,” says Health Fitness Specialist Chavers.

“All year long, students will have the opportunity to use digital pedometers and fitness equipment to learn how many steps should be taken daily to be healthy, and what exercises promote muscular strength and increased flexibility,” she adds.

The Xbox Kinect DDR Energy Fitness equipment, paid through the grant, has generated excitement with its DDR, or Dance Dance Revolution, game routine.