BRIEF: MOVEMENT BREAKS IN THE CLASSROOM IN BOSTON, MA

This brief summarizes a CHOICES Learning Collaborative Partnership model examining a strategy to integrate movement breaks into school classrooms in Boston, MA. This strategy incorporates five-to-10-minute classroom physical activity breaks during class time in kindergarten to fifth grade classrooms. 

THE ISSUE

One in three first-graders in Boston has overweight or obesity.1 Being physically active can support children in growing up at a healthy weight, though not all schools provide students with the recommended 150 minutes of physical activity per week or 30 minutes per day.2,3 Regular physical activity can boost brain health, including improved cognition and reduced symptoms of depression.4 Students who are physically active also tend to have better grades, attendance at school, and stronger muscles and bones.4...

https://choicesproject.org/publications/brief-movement-breaks-boston/

Baltimore County charter school expects to open in fall — featuring 10 acres of woods, fields and a stream

A Baltimore County charter school designed to get children outside into an environment of streams, woods and fields is expected to open next fall in Woodlawn, despite initial difficulties in gaining county school board approval.

The two founders — both parents with children who would attend the school — visualize students exploring a campus with an orchard, gardens and a chicken coop, as well as natural spaces. The school is part of a nature-based movement in education that places emphasis on the notion that children shouldn’t spend their days on a computer or stuck inside.

The school would be Baltimore County’s only current charter school, and only the second to gain approval in the years since Maryland passed a law in 2003 allowing charter schools. Unlike the city, where there are 34 charter schools that have proliferated over the past two decades, Baltimore County’s school board and administration have received few such applications to consider...

https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/education/k-12/bs-md-co-new-charter-opens-20181218-story.html?fbclid=IwAR1H2kLUVbxVTbOM3HEWOEmx85rUA5UMZPcxn04pBD0uFK9X9OrpqnMuKl8