Rancho Running Program 2009

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Bret Dupuis – [email protected] and David Hinds –[email protected]@gmail.com ----- Facebook – Raccoon Runners

Rancho Running Program

2009 California Governor’s Challenge State Champion

Running program Overview

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Running Program Overview

Running Program was started in November 2006–Rancho students ran over 120,000 miles in just under 3 years

–This is the equivalent of almost 5 times around the circumference of the earth

–This is 480,000 laps around our quarter mile “dirt” track

–Rancho has 100% participation rate - Every student ran 10 miles and the highest was 454 miles

–Last year over 150 students ran at least 100 miles!

–80 miles per student (average)

–Rancho averages 40,000+ miles per year

–Rancho was named the 2009 California Governor’s Fitness Challenge Champion

•http://www.calgovcouncil.org/spotlight/schools/112/

•http://www.contracostatimes.com/education/ci_13360513?nclick_check=1

–Rancho Academic Scores have increased 8% since running program inception

–Livermore 5th grade aerobic threshold has improved 8% since running program inception in 10 schools

–Livermore students ran 150,000 miles in 2008-2009 school year and is projected to go over 200,000 miles in 2009-2010

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How do we setup the program?1. Find a place a to run

– Rancho uses a ¼ mile track in the back of the school. Track was measured using GPS. You can also use a bike monitor.

– Our track is exactly a 1/4 mile

– Mark the track

2. Create a process for tracking mileage– Rancho teachers and volunteers hand out popsicle sticks to kids every lap (1/4 mile)

– At the end of running the kids are told to “check in”

– Mileage is measured using clipboards, broken out by grade, class and student (see example)

– Students go to their teacher our volunteer, tell them their grade, class and name

– The teacher/volunteer enters the number of ¼ mile laps run by the student

– This is repeated several times over the week, until the sheets are turned into the office each Friday at 3 PM

– Most miles are teacher led during PE

– We use Microsoft Excel to track results and send to staff to reward children each week

3. Order rewards – See next slide

4. Present to parents/staff/students

5. Start running and have fun!

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How do we order rewards? And how many?Order Process - How do we order charms? (rancho example) Supplier - www.fitnessfinders.net Order form from the fitness finders catalog filled out and given to school secretary. School secretary gets PO and places order through the district office. With 10 Livermore Schools implementing the program the District now stocks the charms to expedite ordering

process

Budget – How do you pay for the charms? PE funds, teacher/parent/sponsor donation or other budget used.

Charm estimating – How many do you need? 24" chains - Require 1.1x student enrollment # (at least 10% surplus for lost or broken chains) Small feet - Max supply needed 10x student enrollment # Big feet - 2x student enrollment # 26.2 - Start with 100 and order as needed 50 and 100 - start with 100 and order as needed

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When do you run? Class time - PE (This is a majority of the miles)

–Teacher Led PE–Kids Run, Laps are registered on class tracker (see example)–Teachers hand in every Friday

Volunteer – Voluntary, parent led–Before School – 8-8:25 M-W-F – Some kids come to run as early as 7:30–Need to setup a volunteer network–Two Positions –

•Lead – Get to school at 7:55, get out sticks, trackers, etc.. Start the kids running•Data Capture

–Parents that will enter the laps run for each students–Ideally, this would be one parent for each grade–Around 8:23 we tell the children to check in–Each child goes to the person holding the clipboard for their grade–Children tell the volunteer their class, name and laps–Volunteer captures the information–Children turn in sticks–Repeat until all children are checked in. –Takes 3-4 minutes for 100 kids

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How do you capture and publish results? How do you distribute rewards?

Weekly Data Entry–Each week, the results are entered into an excel spreadsheet for each class (see attached spreadsheet)–The spreadsheet is setup similar to the trackers, by grade, class, student–The spreadsheet is setup to capture classroom and volunteer results (before school)–Each week you enter the results into the appropriate week (example)

Publish results –Each week after data entry, the results are sent to staff –Results include overall mileage and weekly mileage

Reward Children–The fun part! Kids love this part–Every Monday, the staff will receive an e-mail with results–Teachers reward their children for efforts on Monday morning (or whenever they see fit)

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Who runs the program? Rancho program is run by parents –Bret Dupuis –

[email protected] and David Hinds [email protected] Roles/Responsibilities:

–Charms Order and Distribution – Responsible for ordering and distributing the charms to the staff–Morning Volunteer Lead – This person gets there early to get the kids running, i.e., 7:55 for an 8 am start. They get out the sticks, trackers, monitor kids, etc.. This is split between different parents… –Morning Helpers – Parents to help check the kids in. They need to be there toward the end of the running to capture the laps run by each child (many parents that are watching their kids run)–Data Entry – Responsible for entering the data weekly and sending to teachers. We use MS Excel, so this may be a required skill. Please contact for example – [email protected]–The rest are just general responsibilities. Q&A with staff, learning and making process improvements, etc…

Remember – The Rancho program succeeded because of it’s simplicity, we started with something much more complex and stripped it down to what it is today. Do NOT over engineer.

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Governor’s Challenge

We encourage you to participate in the California Governor’s Fitness Challenge

This was a rewarding experience for Rancho Las Positas and every other school that participates

The first step is to find a parent or teacher to lead the effort

Follow the instructions on the website - http://www.calgovcouncil.org/challenge/

Please contact us with any questions

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Feedback We have received a lot of feedback from parents, staff and students. Amongst the

highlights are:– "To see these kids wanting to help other kids ... it renews my optimism for the future of this great state." Jake Steinfeld, chairman of the Governor's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports. – “ Thank you for believing in Sports and Fitness. To be balanced you need to be physically fit and mentally fit” – Governor Arnold Schwarzeneger–"We think it's fantastic," Tuolumne Elementary Principal Mark Lewis (after receiving the Grand Prize as a gift from Rancho Las Positas). "I've had teachers come to my office with tears in their eyes with great gratitude. We had an assembly with students this morning and the students were stunned." –“We can’t even get our Marines to run 3 miles” – Kindergarten father - Marine– “I am donating this $5000 because this program has changed my daughters life” – father of a 3rd grade student– “The doctor said it is the equivalent of losing 30 lbs as an adult” – Mother of a 4 th grader describing the pediatricians assessment of her son. This student has transformed himself into an athlete– “Wow… your boys just wore us out in the second half.. We were gassed.” - U-9 Soccer coach after playing a team with 8 Rancho runners– “After running, my students are very focused. I have seen an improvement in behavior and academics” – Rancho Teacher–Rancho fitness has been featured in a number of printed, radio and TV news stories over the past 3 years, both locally and nationally–And many other stories from parents, teachers, students, etc.. Last year we received over 20 e-mails from parents, nearly as many from the staff and an incredible amount of feedback from the students

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Contact Information

Please remember that it takes collaboration between a school staff, students and Parents to make a difference

Parents are largely an underutilized resource that can make a huge impact on the lives of children

Contact Information–Bret Dupuis – [email protected]

–David Hinds – [email protected]

–Facebook – Raccoon Runners - [email protected]

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Rancho Track Fund Rancho students are currently running on a dirt track

The track is a little treacherous, with many hazards… including tree roots, rocks, playground equipment, thorny plants… not to mention mud puddles from the sprinklers

We are fundraising for a track and are making great progress

If you are interested in donating, please visit our website for information

http://ranchoschool.com/ or Contact Bret and Dave

We are NOT a poor school, but are also not affluent and can use all the help we can get to make the track a reality

Thanks for your consideration!

Education

Rancho Running Program 2009