Monster celebration!

One of our very own Playnormous teachers, Ann King, has been awarded a grant from the National Football League’s program Play 60 for her amazing health efforts at Spring Branch Westchester Academy for International Studies.

If you recall from last year, Ann was one of our teachers who won a Monster iMac for her novel use of Playnormous health games in her high school health and fitness class.

National recognition.

Play 60 is a national effort to promote healthy eating and 60 minutes of physical activity to K-12 children. The program has been endorsed by the First Lady Michelle Obama and her wellness program “Let’s Move.”

This past month, Houston Texans linebacker DeMeco Ryans visited the Westchester Academy campus to see Ann King’s Play 60 program and work with her health fitness students and “student ambassadors.”  Ann’s program has been recognized at the district, state and national level. Ann is now teaching classes about how to implement her program  Amazing!!

To learn more about the program, check out the school video Westchester Challenges You to Get Active! and read the district’s official announcement.

Congratulations to Ann and her students for a job well done!!

The largest of its kind. 

Every year, tons of technology-loving teachers head to a conference called TCEA. That’s the Texas Computer Educator’s Association Convention and Exposition. TCEA is the largest state organization devoted to the use of technology in education. If you are a teacher and you want to know how to use technology in your classroom, this is the conference to attend.

Playnormous presents Feb 10.

This year, Playnormous is going to be speaking with two of our amazing Playnormous teachers in Spring Branch ISD, Ann King and Karen Harrell.   If you recall, these were two teachers that won a monster iMac in our Monster iMac Giveaway last school year.

This year’s theme is “No Limits” and the convention takes place in downtown Austin, Texas from February 7-11, 2011. Playnormous will be presenting at the 8:00 AM – 9:30 AM CST session, “No Limits, No Boundaries” Out of the Box Technology on Thursday, February 10. In this session, attendees will learn about how teachers in Spring Branch ISD are using technologies like Playnormous to motivate, teach, and engage students.

Visit the TCEA Annual Convention and Exposition page for more details on how to register. We hope to see you there!

Decorate with Playnormous.

Just like everything else on the Playnormous site, our online store got a face lift. In addition to that we have some cool new items!  If I may direct your attention to the bottom of the store page you will see we have several new school items listed.

Cool colorful classroom posters! Fantastically fabulous food journals! Everything you and your students need to start learning about health the fun way. My personal favorite new item is the Large Eat a Rainbow Poster.

All of these great items are available for purchase only in the Playnormous Monster Gear Store!

Time crunch.

We all know that teachers are constantly in a time crunch. If you are a teacher that has found Playnormous and is wondering how it might work into your current schedule, look no further than our Teacher Case Studies page.

Teachers all over the country are integrating Playnormous into their daily classroom activities to teach about health!

In this section you’ll find how four classrooms are using Playnormous in innovative ways. Each case study comes complete with custom lesson plans, classroom activities, and even what their students said about their experience with Playnormous. The work is practically done for you!

Share the love.

If you are currently using Playnormous in your classroom and want to be a part of our Teacher Case Studies page, please contact us!  We would be happy to include you and your class on the page.

A movement about movement. 

Our amazing TEA (that’s the Texas Education Agency) notified me today that Wednesday May 5, 2010 is Make the Movement Day.

This is the ACTIVE Life Movement’s annual, day-long initiative to encourage the public to create and share their “Moments” of physical activity (Move), healthy eating (Fuel), and personal and environmental health (Honor) to promote healthy, ACTIVE lifestyles.

Create your own.

Hundreds of teachers, families, and kids have already pledged to make their classroom a healthy one tomorrow.  For example, one teacher in Houston, TX is going to have her class do 10-minute aerobic activities in their classroom tomorrow.  Another in Galveston, TX has pledged to have her class eat fruits and vegetables as snacks during the school day.

To join in the efforts, participate in an existing moment or create your own in the Create a Moment section.  Consider adding Playnormous to your goal!