I had mistakenly cited Math resources as the next newsletter topic, when it is Health and PE resources for teachers. Health and PE are typically thought of as the domain of physical activity, but there has been an evolving body of knowledge that goes hand in hand with these disciplines. These sites promote healthy choices and an active lifestyle for kids of all different ages. Enjoy!

• Ayden Elementary - http://schools.eastnet.ecu.edu/pitt/ayden/physed.htm
  Proof of what a good school home page can be - Phys Ed activities and resources beyond belief; more than 120 PE lesson plans, 400+ recommended PE links, all brought together by Ayden's PE teacher John Williams. And when you think you've seen all the man has to offer, check out his 'non-traditional gymnastics' - gymnastic activities that are open-ended, individualized and allow for creative expression using one's body!
• Band-Aids and Blackboards - http://funrsc.fairfield.edu/~jfleitas/contents.html
  Subtitled "When Chronic Illness...or Some Other Medical Problem... Goes to School," Band-Aids and Blackboards is a caring site that explores what it's like, from the perspective of the children and teens who are growing up with medical problems - important in creating empathy for something children can't understand secondhand the experience:stories, art, poems and activities all designed to prompt sharing and discussion. There is a section for adults too.
• Benny Goodsport - http://www.bennygoodsport.com/
  This elementary level site promotes the active life with activities for both on and offline, and it's been around forever in Internet years. As soon as the page begins to load you can see that it is laid-out for kids: word-find puzzles, crosswords, stories, games, all with a healthy lifestyle theme. And Benny doesn't limit himself to just health or just PE - there are sections on games, nutrition, fitness and activities that integrate into the Language Arts.
• CardioDoc - http://www.medfacts.com/crdiodoc/preappnt.htm
  This simulation allows student to play the role of a heart specialist diagnosing symptoms; fun and interactive but also bordering on irreverent at times, children apply their knowledge of heart health in helping fictional patients with their ailments. Be sure to look at the companion site SportsDoc <http://www.medfacts.com/appoint.htm> for an examination of sports-related injuries.
• Fitness JumpSite - http://primusweb.com/fitnesspartner/
  This exhaustive site covers all things to do with health and fitness, including cooking and nutrition, training, mental fitness and sports medicine. The activity calorie calculator is a neat feature to help students figure out how much energy they burn up based on their body mass and the duration of activity. It is best suited for secondary students, and it doesn't fall prey to the sex and relationship tendencies of other fitness sites claiming to be addressing healthy "lifestyles".
• Food Guide Pyramid - http://www.nal.usda.gov:8001/py/pmap.htm
  This clickable pyramid offers very basic information on the food groups, recommended daily allowances, and cooking tips to promote a healthier lifestyle. The connection between daily allowances and how to put them into practice is an important one, and this site helps kids begin to think about the practices that are needed to make good choices. It is a good way to introduce kids to the pyramid, or to review the information they have already learned on nutrition and healthy eating.
• Healthy Fridge - http://www.healthyfridge.org/
  Here's an upper elementary site covering healthy attitudes about food and nutrition with a special emphasis on cardiovascular health. There's the "Healthy Fridge" Quiz and the opportunity to Test Your Sat Fat IQ, but the addition of Mike Ditka's Fridge Makeover is the big news here. It includes streaming video in which you can watch Mike describe his life changes after his life-altering heart attack.
• Human Anatomy Online - http://www.innerbody.com/htm/body.html
  HAO offers over one hundred illustrations of the human body with animations and thousands of descriptive links. For each body system an image loads which students can explore by manipulating their mouse. Pop up names of each major point are clickable, offering further information on the function of each part of the system. In addition to the body systems typically covered, you can find the lymphatic, endocrine and urinary systems here as well!
• PE Central - http://www.pecentral.org/PEC2.html
  This site remains the ultimate Web site for physical education teachers, students, interested parents and adults; activities, lesson plans, assessment ideas, instructional resources, listservs and professional links. While it hasn't been updated since last Fall, it continues to house more, better resources than any other PE site on line. Hosted by Virginia Tech's Health and Physical Education Program, you'll want to bookmark PE Central and come back again and again.
• SchoolMenu.com - http://www.schoolmenu.com/
  It's an age old discussion: "School lunches - what's in them?" This site offers a kid's eye view of school lunch menus, health and nutrition through games and activities with a real comic book flavor to it. There's even a nice collection of games dealing with the food pyramid. With the right teacher guidance this site can be channeled into the realm of an educational experience
• Smart Play - http://www.smartplay.net/
  Here's an Australian-based wellness site focusing in on an active lifestyle and the benefits and injuries that can occur therein; nice format with an online survey, a chat room, virtual postcards, and lots of information from preventative equipment to the diagnosis and treatment of injuries. Have you ever noticed how many good things come from down under? Add Smart Play to that list!
• Visible Human - http://www.madsci.org/~lynn/VH/
  A virtual tour of the human body, Visible Human uses cross-sectional anatomy, animation and interactive annotations to create understandings and demonstrate relationships within the human body. The site is graphics intensive and even makes use of streaming video, but the rewards are worth the wait. Fabulous for high school, this site is maintained by the Washington University at St. Louis School of Medicine.
• Vita-Men - http://www.vita-men.com/
  Vita-Men offers yet another comic book format, this time presenting lots of basic info on the need for vitamins in good nutrition. Presented by Roche Vitamins of New Jersey, I especially liked the Vitamins: Where to Find Them section. It helps kids to think about what they need to be eating to meet all the daily requirements of nutrients. You can use the Flash version or the easy-on-your-browser non-animated version of the site.
  

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I will take next weekend off as a belated Spring Break.
The following week's topic will be "Distance Learning."

Please send in URL's of high quality sites which may be of interest to our readers to walter@surfaquarium.com! Also, I'm always looking for new topic ideas and input!

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