School Health Guidelines
to Promote Healthy Eating and Physical Activity

A: Strategies include:

• Require students in kindergarten through grade 12 to participate in daily physical education that uses a planned and sequential curriculum and instructional practices that are consistent with national or state standards for physical education.
• Provide a substantial percentage of each student’s recommended daily amount of physical activity in physical education class.
• Use instructional strategies in physical education that enhance students’ behavioral skills, confidence in their abilities, and desire to adopt and maintain a physically active lifestyle.
• Provide ample opportunities for all students to engage in physical activity outside of physical education class.
• Ensure that physical education and other physical activity programs meet the needs and interests of all students.

A: A supportive environment includes having adequate space for all students to participate in physical activity, regularly scheduled time for recess and other activity, encouragement to be physically active, and physically active role modeling by teachers and staff.

A: Physical education is an academic subject characterized by a planned, sequential K-12 curriculum that is based on the national standards for physical education.

The federal Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans recommend that children and adolescents do 60 minutes or more of physical activity daily. The CDC and other national organizations recommend a comprehensive, school-wide approach to physical activity that provides opportunities for students to be physically active before, during, and after the school day.

A: Other forms of physical activity in addition to a physical education program include daily recess for elementary school students; classroom-based physical activity breaks; intramural and physical activity clubs such as after-school recreation clubs; interscholastic competitive team sports, such as field hockey, golf, or ultimate Frisbee; and walk- or bicycle-to-school programs.