The “VERB TM Planner” Program The “VERB TM Planner” Program for Chinese School Association in the United States

What is VERB What is VERB TM ?

VERB VERB is … A national, multimedia, multicultural, federally funded campaign coordinated by the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Our Vision The vision of the VERB Campaign is that all youth lead healthy lifestyles by getting involved in physical activities and sustaining those activities. –It’s about changing our kids’ way of life, how they spend their time, and how the families should get involved. –It is also about the emotional and physical well- being of our country’s future.

Our Challenge The trend in children & adolescents being overweight in the country can be partly attributed to a culture that is increasingly less conducive to a physically active lifestyle. Today, the amount of time our children are spending on sedentary activities has drastically increased, such as watching television, listening to music, playing video games, surfing on the internet, and online chatting are to name a few. Research shows that habits formed during childhood continue into adulthood. It also shows that kids who are overweight or obese have a higher risk for being overweight or obese as adults.

“If we are to have a positive impact on the future health of the American population, we must change the behaviors of our children and young adults … we must reach them at an early age with important health messages.” House Appropriation Report, 2000

What’s Our Goal?

For Our Children The campaign focuses on increasing regular physical activity among children 9-13 years old, also referred to as Tweens, by: –Encouraging them to find a “VERB” or several “VERBs”— like run, dance, skip, throw, row — that fit their personality and interests. –Getting them excited about increasing the amount of physical activities in their lives.

How … We need to make VERB and physical activity fun and cool … something that becomes part of their every day lives. We’ve implemented a surround strategy to reach tweens at all relevant touch-points, including schools, at home and in their communities. –This means that we have reached out to schools and summer camps with programs we’ve developed such as this “VERB Planner” Program. –We reach kids in schools, at events in communities, as well as in their homes through television, print media, radio and internet—whether they are at play or at rest.

For Us Adults The campaign focuses on child influencers that include parents, caregivers, teachers, coaches, older teens or siblings, etc. by: –Promoting to them the benefits of physical activity among kids. Benefits include increased self- esteem, leadership and social skills, alertness etc. –Emphasizing on VERB as a means of displacing unhealthy, risky behaviors and as a means of decreasing the future prevalence of obesity and the diseases that are related to the lack of physical activity. Such diseases include heart disease, Type 2 Diabetes, and other debilitating health problems.

The “VERB Planner” Program - How It Works? - How It Works?

Objectives For Tweens: –To encourage kids to have at least 60 minutes of physical activities each day during a 2-month period. For Parents: –To inform parents on the benefits of regular physical activities for their kids. –To give them tips on how to integrate physical activities into their kid’s daily life.

Program Specifications Program Period –Week of March 28th - Week of May 16 th (8 weeks) Program Materials –Tweens: “VERB Planner” –Parents: “Activity Tip Sheet”

Program Incentives in CSAUS VERB is offering an incentive program to motivate your schools and teachers to participate in the program and to show appreciation for the continued support! All participating schools in Greater LA, Greater Houston, and NY/NJ that register with the VERB planner program before April 4 th, 2005 are qualified to win the following: For Tweens –VERB Sports Bottle For Teachers –1 Winner: Each participating teacher’s name will be entered in to a random draw to win a gift certificate for a class field trip for 20 students.* For Schools –2 Winners: Participating schools will be entered into a raffle to win a $300 gift certificate towards sporting equipment for the winning school.* For Organization –Special Edition VERB Plaque –Letter of recognition from CDC * Note: 1.Final prizes will be awarded after all of the submission forms have been completed and submitted. VERB will perform the lucky draw and decide on the fieldtrip choice. 2.A minimum of 15 schools of or a minimum of 2,000 tweens of CSAUS must participate for this incentive program to be valid.

To Do List For… School Coordinators Teachers Tweens Parents

To inform and promote the program to all school teachers with students ages using this presentation. Distribute “VERB Planners” to all teachers with tweens in their classes. Place Bi-lingual Activity Tip Sheets in waiting areas for parents to take freely. Encourage schools & teachers to motivate and remind kids to record their daily physical activity. Collect completed forms (with student’s info and teacher’s signature) from all teachers. Distribute “VERB Sports Bottles” to all teachers as incentives to tweens who completed the program. Offer more physical activity opportunities throughout the year. School Coordinators

To distribute, explain VERB and the “VERB Planner” program to tweens and encouraging them to do cumulative of 60-min of physical activities every day and recording them in their very own VERB Planners. Remind parents to encourage tweens to stay active and to sign off on VERB Planners each week. Collect, write, and submit to the school coordinator any feedback regarding the Program. Check the completed “VERB Planners” from tweens, then sign off and collect the submission forms in the back of each Planner (tweens can keep their Planners). Award each tween who participated in the Program with 1 VERB Sports Bottle. Turn in completed submission forms to the school coordinator. Continue to implement and include physical activities in curriculum throughout the year. Teachers

To record in their very own “VERB Planner” the activity type and time spent on every physical activity each day for 8 continuous weeks. Every Sunday, ask a parent to check and sign off on the Planner. After 8 weeks, turn in the completed Planner to the teacher who will sign off and collect the form at the back of the Planner. Receive a VERB Sports Bottle for participating and making physical activity a part of their daily routine. Keep their very own VERB Planners. Provide any feedback to teacher. Continue to try new and fun activities anywhere, anytime! Tween Students

Parents Pick up the Bi-lingual Activity Tip Sheet from the school. Encourage tweens to have at least 60 minutes of physical activities every day. Check and sign off on child’s VERB Planner every week. Research new and fun ideas (family outings, active play dates, etc.). Provide any feedback to the teachers.

We Need Your Help To Make This Program A Success And To Lead The Way To Raising Happier, Healthier Tweens!

Any questions or feedback? THANK YOU! Any questions or feedback? Contact Us: VERB Partnership Team 12 East 33 rd Street, 4 th Fl, New York, NY ext 145 THANK YOU!