Community Fun Run to "Kick Off" the Year

Laurie Valentine
Fayetteville Elementary School

I am eagerly awaiting the end of the school year. SUMMER VACATION!!! Truly one of the teaching profession's top 10 perks! However, as a teacher, regardless of the discipline, we are always thinking about our future classes and what changes we can make to enhance our program. So as the close of the 2003 - 2004 quickly approaches, 2004 - 2005 is already on our minds. Our work is never done!

At the start of every school year, I begin to prepare our students for a local "fun run." The 3k Fun Run is one of the events held during the Syracuse Festival of Races the first weekend in October. Our elementary school "team" has had the most entries of any of the area schools entered for the past two years. Our school has the honor of designing the T-shirt for the 2004 run. This is a great way to bring our school together working for a common goal right from the first day of school.

Anyone and everyone is invited to participate and I give daily announcements on our progress. This year we are shooting for 500 entries. I am already thinking about how I can improve my communication with the students and their families. I am looking for new promotional ideas. I am also looking into funding and transportation for those students who may not be able to attend otherwise. We are very fortunate to have a Home and School Association that is extremely supportive of this event and each year they provide us with headbands with our school name on the headband. The headband is a great help to identify our students from other schools.

The day of the run our "team" meets the other elementary teams from our district and we warm-up together as one large group. I am continuously looking for appropriate music and warm-up exercises for a very large group. Refreshments are provided at the end of the run which may be the highlight for the students. The coordinator has an award ceremony for the schools and each school that participates gets a participation certificate.

The run is a super activity that provides exercise and quality family time - an opportunity that doesn't arise very often. You may want to look into any local racing events that may be taking place in your area. If you have any suggestions or comments I would love to hear them.

Enjoy your summer!!

Every " BODY " needs P.E.!!!!!