Happy Feet, Healthy Food Kids' Club

ART: HAPPY FEET, HEALTHY FOOD KIDS' CLUB
Week 7, Story by Carol Goodrow, Photos Carol Goodrow and Mary Anne Williams
nature trail

Buddies

first day

Discovering a nature trail is a lot of fun for kids and adults alike.

TRAINING
Running club is nearing its end. In a couple of weeks we'll be wrapping things up with a 1-K family fun run. This year we'll be handing out medals at the finish line to every child who participates.

Our training is going fine. The childen now complete 3 laps with ease. Then we head to the woods for a 5/8 mile nature walk. This week the children still had energy to spare, so we finished up on the baseball diamond. Each little runner ran the bases at least one time. We then headed in for journaling in our Happy Feet, Healthy Food books and some art.

ART
We are lucky to have a parent in our group who is a professional artist. Kevin MacDonald joins us as a running volunteer and then helps us with our art when we return to the classroom. The little runners that you can see on this Vocabulary Page were all inspired by Mr. MacDonald's artwork.

On our "Wear your Favorite T-shirt Day" we also integrated art into our club.

After running, the children returned to the classroom for drinks of water.

Next we worked together on our journaling. The children gave examples of sentences for our journals. I listed their ideas on a chart.

After we had five ideas, the children journaled. They are always allowed to copy from the chart or make up their own journal entries. self

When the children completed their entries, filled in their time tracker, drew a picture of a healthy snack they had eaten, they were given a piece of art paper to draw a self-portrait.

Club is always a lot of fun. The kids are keyed up for our fun run "The Chipmunk Chase". They're wondering about their medals.

"Does everyone get one?" they ask.

I answer, "Yes, if you come to the fun run and cross the finish line."

"What if you come but you don't cross the finish line?" they ask.

"If you come to the fun run, you WILL cross the finish line," I assure them.

"Can you bring your dog?" they ask.

"If it's under control," I answer. "I love dogs."

"Can your family run with you?" they ask.

"I want them to," I answer.

"What if you are sick and can't come?" they ask.

"Then you'll try again next year," I answer.

book

At club we sometimes write longer journal entries, but we always write in our Happy Feet, Healthy Food journals to keep track of our fitness and healthy eating habits. The children carry the book home and journal with their parents during the week. kid