Home | Advice: Carol's Page, Coach Ed's Page | Happy Feet Kids' Club | Free Bookmarks | School | Speakers/Guest Authors Log-A-Mile Blue Ribbon Program News | Guest Book | Event Calendar | Columns | Youth Program Links | Resources | 10 Healthy-Kid Tips | Who We Are                          PROGRAM OVERVIEW: HAPPY FEET, HEALTHY FOOD KIDS' CLUB Fitness, Outdoor Fun, Healthy Eating, and Literacy CLUB SONG - RAINBOW TREASURES MISSION Happy Feet, Healthy Food Kids' Club is an after-school program. Its mission is to help children develop the love of everyday habits which include physical exercise and healthy eating. During each 10-week session (fall and spring), children keep track of their own progress through a journal "log-book" and also work to reach group goals. FUNDING This club is best funded locally, either by your own school system, your PTO, or by a town business. You may also wish to search for grants which emphasize well-being of our youth. MATERIALS You can plan your budget around the following materials. Your club's budget will be dependent on the number of children attending and your wants and needs. - T-shirt for each club member - I have many designs. Email carolgoodrow@verizon.net. for more information. - Happy Feet, Healthy Food book for each member. - School supplies: pencils, colored pencils, magic markers, file folders, glue sticks, file folders, paper, and vellum. - Incentives for finishing a fun run. RIBBONS Our children earn "Official Happy Feet, Healthy Food Kid" ribbons by filling in 25 footprints on their footprint chart. See out footprint chart printable. If you have created your own Happy Feet club, then you can define your own rules for kids earning a ribbon. Please email carolgoodrow@verizon.net if you would like ribbons or your club. We provide these free of charge (WHILE SUPPLIES LAST) and only ask that you pay postage. ROUTINE UPON ARRIVAL 1. Children arrive at club, get their folders, find a seat, color in a "jewel" on a huge treasure chest if they brought a healthy snack. They then eat their healthy snack, and take this time to update their folders. SONG, FOOTPRINTS, DIRECTIONS, READING HAPPY FEET BOOK 2. When everyone arrives, we sing the club song, go over footprint folders to make sure kids' properly colored in footprints, go over day's schedule, and then children read an information page from Happy Feet, Healthy Food. The information pages highlight a specific physical activity and a specific healthy food. Reading can be done chorally, independently, or one child can be chosen to read. SONG LINKS RAINBOW TREASURES - Song Page Song: Verse 1 | Verse 2 |Verse 3 | Verse 4 | Verse 5 | Verse 6 PHYSICAL ACTIVITY 3. Kids head outside (weather permitting - if not to the gym) for walking, hiking, and or running. WRITE IN HAPPY FEET BOOK 4. Everyone returns to the classroom for a quick drink of water, and then journaling. Journaling in Happy Feet, Healthy Food includes: -Writing about the physical activity (one word, phrase, sentence, or many sentences - depending on the child's level). -Filling in a "time tracker" to record the amount of time spent exercising, both in the club and during other activities of the day. -Recording healthy foods eaten at the club, in school, and at home. -Making a quick sketch of an everyday healthy habit. COMPLETE AND TURN IN FOOTPRINT CHARTS 5. Kids use footprint charts to keep track of group goals. These include club attendance, bringing the journal to club, journaling at home on non-club days, having a parent volunteer, bringing a healthy snack, bringing in a "happy feet lunch slip", doing an event or fun run, and doing something special with family related to health and fitness. If the kids don't have time to update their charts before club, they do so at the end of club. They turn them in at the end of each session. Just print the charts and staple them into file folders. footprint chart printable PARENT PICK UP 6. Kids stay in the room until their parents arrive. They take their Happy Feet books with them to journal at home. They also take home extra "Happy Feet Lunch Blanks" and any handouts about local fun runs and events. OTHER CLUB COMPONENTS Happy Feet Lunch Blanks (pictured above) Printable Treasure Chests Pre-post club parent survey THE TEXT: HAPPY FEET, HEALTHY FOOD, Your Child's First Journal of Exercise and Healthy Eating AUTUMN 2006 - 2007 GAMES AND TRAINING Butterfly Training Run Our favorite way to train for our fun run. It's easy. Set up a route with cones, then walk, jog, and sprint your way to fitness and endurance. Click on the Butterfly Training link for details. Triangle Training And another! A kids' triangle. Use your cones to make your route, then sing, walk, jog in place, run, do jumping jacks, and jog your way in this "circlular" training. BONUS: Have a HAPPY FEET LUNCH CONTEST at your school. Click the link for more information. ABOUT THE CLUB - LITERATURE CONNECTIONS The Happy Feet, Healthy Food Kids' Club was founded by Carol Goodrow. Carol had been running with her schoolchildren for ten years when she wrote and illustrated her first book "Happy Feet, Healthy Food. (2004). Happy Feet, Healthy Food is a combination journal and information book. See "Happy Feet, Healthy Food". This book has become a staple at her after-school club. Children read about exercise and healthy food. They write short journal entries after each exercise period. They also track their time exercised and record some of their healthy foods they've eaten. This year, (2006), Carol has written and illustrated her first children's chapter book, "The Treasure of Health and Happiness". This is a 96-page work of fiction with full-color illustrations. The main character, Hannah, is a discouraged junk-food fed 9-year old who shuns healthy eating and exercise until she embarks on an adventure with her dog in search of the Treasure of Health and Happiness. During her journey she finds that the real treasures are not gems and jewels, but healthy foods like shimmering strawberries and the fun run she has never had the courage to enter. But Hannah's adventure is a dream and only the readers of the book will know if Hannah emerges with confidence to try things once again. NEW! Tees available for purchase for your Happy Feet Club AUTUMN 2006 Chipmunk Chase - Club Family Fun Run AUTUMN 2005 STORY 1: FOCUS ON HEALTH AND FITNESS STORY 2: THE NEW FOOD PYRAMID FROM MYPYRAMID.GOV STORY 3: HAPPY FEET LUNCHES - SCHOOL LUNCH PROGRAM SPRING 2005 New: THE SPRING CLUB - FOOTPRINTS TO HEALTH WEEK 1 GOAL 10 HEALTHY SNACKS AND JOURNAL AT HOME WEEK 4 DREAM COME TRUE WEEK 5 FIDDLEHEADS AND SKUNK CABBAGE WEEK 7 ART WEEK 10 MEMORIES AUTUMN THE AUTUMN CLUB TEE WEEK 1 ADDING COLOR TO THE FALL CLUB WEEK 2 AUTUMN CLUB LESSON AND RUNNING WEEK 3 AUTUMN CLUB LESSON AND RUNNING WEEK 4 AUTUMN CLUB LESSON AND RUNNING WEEK 8 HAPPY FEET FAMILY FUN RUN THE RIBBON SPRING TRACKING MILEAGE AND HEALTHY EATING TEN-WEEK SPRING SCHEDULE AUTUMN AND SPRING TIPS FOR LEADING A SUCCESSFUL CLUB An after-school program is a great place to encourage your students to eat healthy snacks and embrace physical exercise. If you start when they are young, they will be more apt to make healthy habits a part of their daily routine. PLEASE take the time to visit the links on this page and then e-mail me - carolgoodrow@verizon.net with any questions you may have. LINKS TO FALL CLUB 2004 THE AUTUMN CLUB TEE WEEK 1 ADDING COLOR TO THE FALL CLUB WEEK 2 AUTUMN CLUB LESSON AND RUNNING WEEK 3 AUTUMN CLUB LESSON AND RUNNING WEEK 4 AUTUMN CLUB LESSON AND RUNNING WEEK 8 HAPPY FEET FAMILY FUN RUN LINKS TO SPRING CLUB 2003 First Week at Miles of Math Second Week at Miles of Math Third Week at Miles of Math Fourth Week at Miles of Math Fifth Week at Miles of Math Sixth Week at Miles of Math Seventh Week at Miles of Math Eighth Week at Miles of Math Ninth Week at Miles of Math Tenth Week at Miles of Math Note about this club: The founding of the Happy Feet, Healthy Food Kids' Club would not have been possible without the support of Amby Burfoot - Runner's World magazine, Mark Summers - CNC Software, Inc., Kevin Bouley - nerac.com, Garth Battista - Breakaway Books, Matthew Linde, and Lori Adams - Runner's World magazine. It also would have not been possible without the support of the Tolland, CT School System: faculty, administration, parents, and students.