Your district's support for your program is important. Your students' parents support is equally important. You may ask, "Why bother with anyone else?"

Here's why. If the community in general does not fully understand what you are up to, you will be limited in what your program can do to grow. True, the parents of your students are a small part of this general community. They are your spokes-persons when conversations happen "over the backyard fence." Word of mouth is a powerful thing, but why stop there?

I'm sure that all of your institutions have a school newsletter of some kind. Some administrators require something from each grade level for each issue, while some just suggest it. Whatever situation you find yourself in, make it a requirement for you! Make it a point to have something, anything, about what your students are learning in each and every issue of that newsletter. Tell your students that it will be there, just waiting for them to show to their parents.

This could be as simple as a few sentences about what you are currently doing. Or, it could be as basic as asking for old sneakers to stock a "sneaker store" for kids who forget theirs at home. You can also get more involved. You could post digital photos from class. Gymnastics, especially if you have parents in to help spot the kids, is always a great theme! Anything that you do with technology, such as pedometers and heart rate monitors, gets people saying good things about you and your program. This still only targets your "in house" people. Now is the time to move into the broader community.

Local newspapers are always looking for stories about school news. Make it a goal to be in these types of newspapers 3 - 4 times a year. Anything innovative that you do, or that integrates other subjects, is always prime news material. Here are two examples that were covered in stories: We have a website for our program, and we keep track of the locations around the country and the world that contact us. We once received a message from a place called Skalna in what is now the Czech Republic. The teacher there wanted more information on one of our programs. The local newspaper heard about this and came in to do a story about it. We then had an opportunity to explain how we use our website in our program.

The second example involved recycling. I collect plastic gallon milk jugs, and cut the bottoms out so we can use them as scoopers to practice catching. Our 1st and 2nd graders use the scoopers in preparation for using lacrosse sticks in 3rd grade. Word leaked out again, leading to a story centered both on our instruction techniques, and how we were helping in the local recycling efforts.

Sometimes the "word just gets out" on its own. Sometimes you help "get the word out." Don't ever be afraid to give a newspaper a call. More often than not, they want to help you. If they won't send a reporter out, send the story to them. This way, you get to say exactly what you want to say, in exactly the way you want to say it. Either way, more people are now aware of what you are doing for your kids.

And don't stop at print. Don't overlook television. I'll bet you can get a local TV station to your school once a year! We have been on TV 5-6 times, so I know it can be done. A few of our local stations run health-related segments each day. I called them to find out if what we were doing would apply to their broadcasts. With all of the press childhood obesity is getting, anything that you do to combat this is welcome information for them.

For example, we have some DDR (Dance Dance Revolution) pads that our kids can use both before school and at recess. The kids tracked their steps on the pads each day with pedometers. They then added their steps up (math; 4-5 column addition skills) to earn little shoelace tokens for every 10,000 steps. We compared the participating kid's fitness scores to those that did not participate to show improvement and the importance of being active. I then called a TV station, and they sent a crew over to interview me and a few of the kids. The whole experience was fantastic. The kids saw themselves on TV (great PR!), and the community saw how important our program is to our students (more great PR!). I'm sure there is something that you teach that could also be promoted through local television.

What you do is important; you know that. It's everyone else who needs to be educated. Use your kids as the "frontline." Make sure that they understand two things: why they are there, and that they enjoy being there. Your kids will then help you educate their parents. In addition, use your newsletters, newspapers, and television outlets to continue to help promote all of the positive things you do on a daily basis.

Part of our struggle is teaching our kids what they can do outside of school to carry-over our lessons. Telling them what they can do is not the hard part. The hard part is following up to make sure they really did it. Here may be a way to accomplish both, at least on a limited basis, while promoting your program at the same time.

Most areas around the country have organizations that sponsor road races. Some of these events also include "fun runs." If you are fortunate enough to find these events, get involved!

The Syracuse Chargers is a local track club in central New York that sponsors the annual "Syracuse Festival of Races." This event includes an open 5K run for men and women, as well as a 3K fun run. This event is very low-key. No prizes are given for speed; however, prizes are given to the three schools that bring the most people (kids, parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles…). Each kid also walks away with a t-shirt, and that's where we come in.

We put fliers in the school's newsletter and send fliers home with the kids. We talk about the event almost every day. Out of the 400 kids in our building, our record number of participants has been 210. Not too bad for a Sunday morning in October! We take tons of pictures and put them in our newsletter, web site, and the local paper. This event has become a bit of a tradition in our program.

The kids and their families get to see me participating as well. I don't pretend to be a big time runner, and the kids know that. What they do see is another adult taking the time to do something that is important to them. Your role modeling extends outside the walls of your gym.

If there isn't such an event where you are, find out what you can do to get one started. Maybe your local running club or high school cross country team would want to help. There is also a national "Walk to School Day" in the spring. Give it a try and remember, don't be easily discouraged.

I can't speak for those of you not teaching in New York State, but our third learning standard in physical education deals with "community resources." This basically means that we are responsible for teaching our students how to get fit, and where they can go outside of school to stay fit. The reality is that we have them for too short a period of time each day. So, it is important that students know where to go and what to do outside of school to maintain active lifestyles.

Part of our jobs with elementary kids is to teach them to take activities from our classes directly to their "community." That could simply be their backyard. It could also be a park, playground, or basement. I think we all do this pretty well. We are always making connections between what we do in our lessons and how our kids can repeat them on their own. But have you thought to "take it to another level?"

I have come to realize that our students (and I'm sure your's too) have many resources available to keep them active. Not everything appeals to all, but that's OK. Have you ever made a list of all of the things that your kids can choose to do in your community? I never did until this last summer.

I was trying to come up with new ways to promote what we teach. Somehow I started thinking about different sports arenas I have been in. Most of them have either banners hanging from the rafters, or names on the wall somewhere. That got me thinking (always a dangerous thing!). Since part of my task is to teach about community fitness opportunities, why not turn our gym into one of those arenas I mentioned?

I made a list of as many youth sports/fitness organizations in our area as I could think of. I thought calling attention to these organizations' youth fitness opportunities would make it an easier connection between what I do and what they offer. I then called them, and asked for a t-shirt with their name on it. I told them I wanted to include their t-shirt in a banner I would hang around our gym. This would allow me to connect what we would be doing in class at a particular time to an opportunity the kids could later pursue on their own.

This process serves two purposes. One, it educates some of my kids as to what is really out there for them. They may not be aware of a certain dance studio, or ski hill, or youth league. This may help them to see something that they feel that they are good at in class, and then find an avenue to do more of it on their own, outside of class. Secondly, it serves to re-affirm what some of my kids are already doing. They may already be members of the local YMCA, or already like to snowshoe somewhere. It serves to positively reinforce their own choice of activity when I, as their teacher, stress its importance and tell them where they can go to keep at it.

So far my list includes: youth soccer, youth basketball, Pop Warner football, Little League baseball and softball, a local YMCA, a few dance studios, a local gymnastics center, youth cheerleading, youth lacrosse, a few local ski areas, a park where snowshoes are available, a local 5K fun run, a tae kwon do studio, and two local recreation departments. I'll have the kids help me come up with more when school starts this year.

I suppose that someone could say that all I am doing is providing free advertising for these places. I suppose that technically, I am. I choose to look at it differently. I see it as showing my students a way to make a connection between what we do in class and what they can do on their own. You see, my worst nightmare is to have one of my students say they are bored and don't know what to do. I think this is one way to prevent that from ever happening.

Grown-ups are supposed to help and encourage kids, right? They should help them learn how to do things, help them know how to behave, and encourage the positive things that kids do. But not all adults treat kids well. Some adults hurt kids rather than help them. This is an article you should read and discuss with your child.