What is CATCH?
CATCH (Coordinated Approach To Child Health) is a TEA approved Coordinated School Health Program designed to promote physical activity, healthy food choices, and prevent tobacco use in elementary school aged children. By teaching children that eating healthy and being physically active every day can be FUN, the CATCH Program has proved that establishing healthy habits in childhood can promote behavior change that carry into adulthood.
CATCH is a resource or tool that builds an alliance of parents, teachers, child nutrition personnel, school staff, and community partners to teach children and their families how to be healthy for a lifetime. The four CATCH components – Go For Health Classroom Curriculum, CATCH Physical Education, Eat Smart School Nutrition Guide, and family Home Team activities – reinforce positive healthy behaviors throughout a child’s day and make it clear that good health and learning go hand in hand.
How is CATCH benefiting the students, staff and families at Lamar?
Improving the nutritional quality of school meals by promoting and coordinating ideas for linking good food to good health. Promoting the consumption of more GO foods than SLOW foods and more SLOW foods than WHOA foods.
Providing teachers with user-friendly, easy to implement resources that blend health topics with core academic areas.
Getting students, parents and extended family members involved in practicing and adopting healthy eating and physical activity behaviors at home.
Promoting student’s enjoyment and participation in moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) during PE classes, extra-curricular activities, and recreation time with family and friends.
What are the CATCH goals at Lamar?
What does CATCH look like on our campus?
We have a CATCH Champion
The CATCH Champion is the Master Coordinator of CATCH on our campus. It is the role of the CATCH Champion to lead the CATCH Team in the coordination and implementation of the CATCH Program to ensure faculty and staff are creating a healthy/healthier school environment and promoting healthy habits. (insert name and pic of Champion)
We have a CATCH Team
The CATCH Team is a core group of volunteer faculty and staff, representing all areas of the campus who determine the steps the campus will pursue each year to help their students, “Make the healthy choice the easy choice.” Our CATCH Team includes:
Champion – Dale Potter
Administrator – Andrew Bennett
Cafeteria Manager – Heather Conner
Physical Education Specialist – Dale Potter
Classroom Teachers – Lisa Irvin and Natalie Smith
Specialized Support Specialist – Aviel Azevedo
Parent Leader – Dave Tibbetts
We use the CATCH Coordination Toolkit as a campus to provide simple, doable tasks that drive school wide coordination.
We have GO/SLOW/WHOA signage in the cafeteria and around our campus.
Our classroom teachers have declared their classrooms Healthy Zones.
Our faculty uses Activity Breaks (short bouts of physical activity during class time) to reactivate the brain through full body movement.
During PE we implement CATCH games and the CATCH philosophy to ensure our students are engaged in Moderate to Vigorous Physical Activity (MVPA) at least 50% of the PE class.
Teachers incorporate the 6th, 7th, and 8th grade CATCH lessons into their subject lesson plans to promote healthy eating, adequate sleep, physical activity, and water consumption.
We participate in the CATCH sponsored “get ur 60” campaign and provide open gym/physical activity time outside of PE # times a week (before/during/after schools).
We participate in the CATCH sponsored “get ur H20” campaign and encourage students to drink water in place of sugar sweetened beverages.
CATCH 2015-2016 Happenings at Lamar
Get ur 60 is a CATCH sponsored campaign that promotes 60 minutes of physical activity. There are 2 aspects of get ur 60:
Deals and discounts at local organizations where students can engage in physical activity (i.e. Main Event, Ballet Austin, Dart Bowl & Soccer Zone).
Open gym/Activity Time: An opportunity for kids to be active outside of PE class. At Lamar, open gym is offered Tuesday and Wednesday mornings in the large gym from 7:40-8:00. Encourage your child to attend open gym, it’s FUN!
Get ur H2O is a CATCH sponsored campaign that promotes water consumption. Several of our water fountains have been upgraded with filling stations. Students can now refill their water bottles 3 times faster than a regular fountain AND the water is colder! Students can also earn a FREE “get ur H20” water bottle in class by correctly answering trivia questions. Encourage your child to fill up and drink up!