NEW TEACHER TRAINING -- FREE ACT 48 Hours

NEW TEACHER TRAINING -- FREE ACT 48 Hours

• Augment Your School Wellness Plan
• Receive New PE Lessons For Life-Long Fitness and Activity

February 14 and February 15
8:00-3:00; lunch break provided
SAFE ROUTES BERKS
Berks County Intermediate Unit
BCIU Education Centre
2101 Centre Avenue (Route 61) | Reading, PA 19605
610-987-8300 (phone) 610-987-8400 (fax)
info@walkbikeberks.org

Bring your walking shoes -- this is an active workshop.
Substitute Teacher Costs provided to your district.

An extension of the PA Safe Routes to School education and encouragement program, Safe Routes Berks is a new program of Walk Bike Berks that introduces walking and cycling as fun, healthy, and environmentally friendly activities for children ages 5-13.
In addition to walking, bicycling, and school bus safety lessons, teachers will be provided materials for their students to learn to view the bicycle and their feet as good means of recreation, exercise and transportation. Encouraging students to bicycle and walk more addresses issues of active living, obesity and diabetes, and environmental health.

School District Employees – Safe Routes Berks’s train-the-teacher program educates elementary and middle school teachers and staff, providing in-service and professional development trainings at the Berks County Intermediate Unit.  These Professional Development trainings comprise of a 6 hour tutorial on pedestrian, bicycle and school bus safety lessons. Berks County teachers, public or private, who complete the training receive full access to the online resources and print materials, including teacher’s guide, activity books for students, educational videos, and 12 Act 48 credits. 

Register Today:
On-Line Registration Instructions:
To begin, please visit the website listed below and follow the step-by-step instructions that will display on the screen. Steps are also listed below for your reference.  We hope that you will find this online registration system user-friendly.
1.  Go to BCIU's Website www.berksiu.org
2.  On the left hand side of the screen under quick links, click on “My Learning Plan”
3.  Scroll down to Step One and click on the link"click here to view course catalog"
4.  Click "view now"
5.  Locate “Safe Routes Berks “Pilot”
6.  Click on the title of the training
7.  Click on "click to enroll"
8.  Following registration procedures that apply to you:
·        I’m a registered user – select this option if you have already created a personal account in My Learning Plan (MLP).
·        I’m a new user – select this option if you do not have an account.  By completing this you are establishing an account with a user-name and password in a secure location for future reference.  You can update or change any of this information as needed.
·        I’m a My LearningPlan.com user– select this option if you have an account with MyLearningPlan.com
For technical support on using the online registration system, please contact Heidi Gamler 610-987-8548.
Register by Wednesday, February 8.

The Safe Routes Berks educational program is funded in part through a Transportation Enhancement grant from the Federal Highway Administration - U.S. Department of Transportation, through the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation and the Reading Area Transportation Study.

ACT NOW: Save Biking / Walking Funding!

Letter from The First Lady: Michelle Obama Supports Walking and Bicycling to School

To read the letter from our First Lady, click here.

To learn more about all of the wonderful things that are happening because of the National Safe Routes to School Partnership, click here.

Remember: as you prepare for Spring, consider building your Safe Routes to School Team now. It's not too early to plan for your participation in Walk to School 2011. WalkBikeBerks is happy to help. Just send a message to info@walkbikeberks.org.

Let's Move!: First Lady Column on Physical Activity

Let's Move!: First Lady Column on Physical Activity

I remember when I was a kid, all my friends and I wanted to do after school was run around outside until dinner. And even then, we didn't really want to come inside. But now, with video games, the internet, and entire TV networks geared toward kids, there's a lot more competition for our children's free time. And as we've seen more and more, when kids aren't moving, when they're not active, they're less likely to grow up healthy — and it's a significant factor in our country's building epidemic of childhood obesity.


So in our first year of Let's Move!, we've worked hard to reignite the magic of play and get kids moving again. We've worked with sports leagues like Major League Baseball and the National Hockey League, with pro athletes and nonprofit leaders. And with Super Bowl MVP Drew Brees and gold-medal gymnast Dominique Dawes at the helm, we've established a revamped President's Council on Fitness, Sports, and Nutrition.

Kids are moving all over the country, from schools to our greatest national parks. Families have joined in as we reach for our goal of one million Americans to take the PALA Challenge. With this program, everyone, from a pre-schooler to grandma and grandpa, can earn the President's Active Lifestyle Award with just an hour a day of physical activity for kids and 30 minutes for adults. So we're working to set good habits that can continue long after the challenge is over.

Plus, more than 3,500 schools participated in Walk to School Month. Gyms have introduced family days with fun activities for the kids, and neighborhoods all across the country have broken ground on new playgrounds and parks for families. And the Departments of Interior and Agriculture have teamed up to get kids outdoors — from local parks and pathways to our beautiful national lands and waterways — with Let's Move Outside!

So Let's Move! isn't just the name of an initiative. Those two little words are a call to action — something we want kids to say more and more. Because playing around shouldn't be something they feel like they have to do — it should be something they want to do. The more they dance, the more they kick around the soccer ball with friends, chances are they're going to want to keep doing it even more.

That's what we're working toward — a future where kids are having fun, feeling better about themselves, and on the road to a healthier future. And if we as parents have to call a couple extra times to get them to come inside for dinner, that's not all bad either.

- First Lady Michelle Obama

This article is being distributed in celebration of the Let's Move! one-year anniversary and can be shared with your friends, neighbors and anyone else interested in solving the epidemic of childhood obesity materials. Check www.letsmove.gov for additional free materials, including copies of our new PSAs.