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More than 150 parents and children participated in fitness activities at the Kennedy Community School Family Fitness Night. The theme for this year’s Fitness Fever month is a jungle theme, “Wild About Fitness.” 

Kennedy Community School recently held its annual Family Fitness night to encourage family participation in fitness activities.

Facilitated by Barb Gabler, a physical education teacher at Kennedy, Family Fitness Night is part of a month-long Fitness Fever project. During the night, families rotated among fitness stations to have fun together while engaging in physical activities.

“Fitness Fever is a month-long program for Kennedy students with two goals in mind – play (for) 60 (minutes) and eat at least five servings of fruits and vegetables a day,” Gabler said. “Kennedy’s Family night is just one more way to bring family and friends together for a healthy event while promoting Fitness Fever month.”

Fitness stations included sports activities such as shooting basketballs, jump ropes, climbing wall, hockey and scooters in the gymnasium; cooperative cup stacking in the cafeteria; and flexibility testing, standing long jump and balancing in the activity room.

Various month-long fitness activities during Fitness Fever include “Morning Workouts” where different grade levels are invited to exercise in the gym as a group before school, followed by “Classroom Energizers” at 8 a.m.

In addition, a school-wide “Mystery Clue Game” is played, each day a different clue is given describing a fruit or vegetable, students can use the clues to make correct guesses. Another activity is “Stop, Stretch and Exercise Tuesdays” when teachers interrupt their sedentary activities to take a stretching break. Yet another activity is “Reduce your Screen Time Wednesdays” during which students give up using video games, TV and computers.

Yet still another activity is a lunchroom crossword-puzzle time during which each grade level is given a clue to the puzzle displayed in the cafeteria, the students complete the health-related puzzle.

Kennedy students also promote the “Jump for Heart” event to help raise awareness and money for the American Heart Association to help fight heart disease. A “Family Dance” event is also held during Fitness Fever month.

More than 150 people participated in the event and seven Junior Leaders from sixth-grade helped with the event. The jungle-type theme for the month was called “Wild About Fitness.”