Team,
Walking? Challenge Coming Up!
In the spirit of fun and health, as provided by our health committee, I found 8 ways to increase your daily steps. The amount of steps we take in a day has a direct connection with overall health and wellbeing. Consider how you can add more steps to your day...every little step counts!
Taken from: https://www.patientfirst.com/blog/8-ways-to-increase-your-daily-step-count
1. Utilize Your Lunch Break
Most jobs provide a thirty minute to hour lunch break, but there are many Americans who do not utilize their break. Try grabbing your lunch and walking to a more scenic location to eat. Even if you need to eat at your desk due to scheduling constraints, find another time during the day when you can take your break and step away for a quick walk. Twenty minutes of brisk walking will knock out a fifth of your daily recommended steps.
2. Take the Stairs
Elevators and escalators are great inventions to help us reach high-level floors and transport heavy items floor to floor. But these modern marvels don’t do much for your daily step count! Instead, take the stairs when possible. On average, you can add 270 steps to your day with each minute spent climbing stairs.
3. Pace Around
Pacing may seem like an awkward habit, but your steps quickly add up! Think of all the daily tasks you do while standing still and resolve to move around instead. In the two minutes it takes to brush your teeth, you can add up to 240 steps on average. You can also pace while you wait for the elevator, your lunch order, while your food microwaves – the options are endless!
4. Go the Distance
How often do you drive around the parking lot looking for a premium spot? Next time you go to the store, or arrive at your office, save some gas and park farther away! Pick the farthest space from the door that you can find, maybe on the opposite side of the building. If you happen to live close by your destination, walk there rather than driving. Just don’t forget to wear your mask!
5. Take Calls on the Move
If you have a work cellphone, this small change of habit can easily be a huge step towards your 10,000 step goal. Even if your business calls are restrained to the desk, you can pace in place at your desk and take personal calls on-the-go. Even if you just have time to make it around the block once, you’ll add about 200 steps on average.
6. Take the Long Way
Heading down the hall to refill your coffee cup or to the copy machine? On the way to the restroom? Take the long way, or choose the farthest coffee station or restroom from your desk. This will allow you to get in extra steps a few times a day during your usual routine. Bonus points if you are home and can incorporate your staircase!
7. Set an Alarm
Set an alarm on your phone or watch to remind you to get up and get active at least once during your workday. Walk from one end of the building to the other and back again. Even if it is to just take a quick lap around your work area, you’ll rack up the steps by the end of the day.
8. Walk it out
If you have a dog, or even a walking buddy, take a walk together every day! Whether it’s a nightly after-dinner activity, or a brisk way to start your morning, you’ll both enjoy the fresh air, and you’ll surely add up steps in no time!
Bonus idea:
Walk 5 minutes 6 times a day. 5 minutes when you wake up. 5 minutes when you arrive at work. 5 minutes on your lunch. 5 minutes before you go home. 5 minutes after dinner. These little short bursts add up to a 30 minute daily walk. That will be an additional 1.5-2 miles of walking at an average pace!
Office of Instruction--Communication Tools
Exploration of Communication Apps
Over the course of the 22-23 school year, we have been in conversation around our methods for communication between district employees and students and their families. As a District, we encourage consistent communication between school and home to support our students in a variety of ways. Currently, the district provides staff with a number of communication tools to maintain home to school contact: classroom phones, district email, in person meetings, Infinite Campus, and Google Classroom. However, we understand that many staff members seek alternate forms of efficient communication.
As a district, we want to be able to provide our staff members with a safe and secure way to communicate with students or their families. Our goal is to provide all staff members access to a paid communication tool to utilize for any direct staff to student or staff to family communication by August 1, 2023.
The rationale for using one communication platform as a district includes:
- Providing a safe, secure communication tool for staff to use in communication with students and families
- EdLaw 2D compliant
- Record keeping capability to protect staff and students
- Road to Recovery alignment
- Can be used for announcements, updates, information sharing, communication needed outside District email, IC, Google Classroom, and phone calls
- Streamlining the communication tools for parents/guardians, which has been a request in recent surveys of the community
- Avoiding using personal cell phone numbers or private communication between staff and students, staff and families
While this tool will be available to all staff, staff members will have the choice whether or not to use the platform. However, outside of the chosen platform, the only acceptable modes of communication will be classroom phones, district email, in person meetings, Infinite Campus, and Google Classroom. Use of personal cell phone numbers and/or social media messaging from personal accounts will not be permitted between staff and students.
To determine the specific platform, we’ve researched seven different platforms to narrow the choices down to three. During the months of April and May, staff members from a variety of positions (teachers, coaches, club advisors, nurses, administration, and counselors) will be piloting platforms to provide the district with feedback. A decision on the platform is projected to be made by the end of the school year in June of 2023. Implementation of the platform will begin August 1st to ensure our fall coaches will be ready for their seasons, which begin prior to the start of the school year.
More information will be forthcoming this spring.
From our Tech. Friends
