Parent Newsletter
academic behavior, and cognitive skills
Studies are showing that physical
exercise may be strongly
correlated with increasing your
students academic success!
DEAR PARENTS,
Your children live in a highly
competitive world where there is a great
deal of importance placed upon their
successes and failures at an ever
increasingly young age. The question we
as parents and educators must ask is,
How do we help them succeed?
The benefits of fresh air and
exercise are numerous and well
documented. There is a growing body of
evidence to conclude that feeling better
is not the only benefit of exercise.
According to the Center for Disease
Control (2010), a large majority of recent
studies have shown a positive outcome
for students in terms of student academic
and general attitudes when they are
given adequate opportunities for physical
activity. This CDC article was a nice
summation of what my own research has
found on the topic.
Excitingly, a more recent study
published in Educational Psychology by
Weinberger, Butler, and Schumacher
(2014) found noteworthy cognitive
improvement in students with as little as
12 minutes of dedicated exercise time a
day. The most thrilling revelation from
this study as an instructor, and likely for
many parents as well, is that students
who were at the highest risk for
academic failure also showed the largest
improvement from the implementation of
such a small increase in physical activity.
Now the question many may be
asking is, So what? What is the upshot
of all of this fantastic research and data?
The implication is that our students are
not receiving adequate physical
stimulation prior to educational
activities. I am writing this newsletter so
that you will be informed as to why I
have made a few minor classroom
management adjustments. Also, possibly
more importantly, to give you, the
parents, tools you can
CLASSROOM CHANGES
Effective immediately I will be
allowing students to play a 10-minute
review game, with a strong physical
activity component, prior to every major
exam/quiz. I will also allow students to
stand in the back, or side, of the room
during lectures provided they do not
become a distraction.

HOW DO I USE THIS NEW DATA?

What an excellent question! I am
glad you asked. Often students while at
home will have a hard time studying or
doing homework. Have you ever been
working at your job, perhaps on an excel
spreadsheet, for so long that an hour goes
by and you realize that you have no idea
what you have been doing? Perhaps you
have experienced a problem you just
cannot comprehend. These experiences
are common for your students as well.
Allow them to step away for a few
minutes from their work and provide them
with a fun physical activity for 10-15
minutes. After this have them return to
their work.
A note from your 9th grade science
teacher Mr. Hurst
Sources:
Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention. The association
between school based physical
activity, including physical
education, and academic
performance. Atlanta, GA: U.S.
Department of Health and Human
Services; 2010.
Nanci Weinberger, Allison G. Butler
& Phyllis Schumacher, (2014)
Looking inside and out: perceptions
of physical activity in childcare
spaces. Early Child Development
and Care 184:2, pages 194-210.

This practice of exercise is not a

cure-all academically but the results are
very encouraging. A large meta-analysis
(Statistical study of multiple independent
studies) done by the CDC (2010) has
shown that only 2 out of 251 studies have
shown a negative correlation between
physical exercise and the positive