by admin | Sep 8, 2015 | Educator
Previously we shared the story of OWG President, Dr. Michelle Lombardo’s, niece, Ashley Griffin, and her student teaching stint in Costa Rica where she incorporated OWG into her lessons. Today we have an update from Ashley and her experience with The OrganWise Guys in Costa Rica.
The Organwise Guys continue to have an impact down in Costa Rica! Our school, Tree of Life International School, encourages hands-on technology to strengthen the understanding of specific concepts. Recently, we have been working with Scratch, a coding program online. I was thrilled when the older students came to my classroom to ask if they could borrow my Organwise Guy! They “dissected” him and had each organ connected to a certain function on the computer. When the organ was pressed a student recording said what organ he was, and his primary function. It was both a wonderful and stimulating activity that kept the students engaged.
I also wanted to share this sweet story about a little boy in the Kindergarten class. He simply loved the Organwise Guy doll that his parents ended up buying him his own, personal doll! At night he makes statements such as, “Mom, my Pepto is hungry!”
I love how this program is Impacting kids around the world from the inside out!
by admin | Aug 25, 2015 | Educator
With all this back to school talk, we thought it would be a great time to bring back this post where we shared some proper hygiene techniques for your OrganWise Gal or Guy dolls. You’ve probably never thought that your sweet little OrganWise Guy or Gal may need a little bit of a cleaning. In the past, we’ve had people ask us how to clean the doll and the organ beanies housed inside, but have definitely never had anyone send us their OrganWise doll bath pictures!
Last year, we were both thrilled and tickled to get this email from Roger Steinbrock from the City of Lawrence in Kansas. We have thoroughly enjoyed working with him and appreciate his efforts to get kids healthy in the parks in Lawrence. We asked him to share with us exactly what they did to clean their Mr. Organ (as they call him). Here is what he said:
“We just got a bowl with a little bit of soap (we’ve used Woolite in the past). Today we used a little bit of dish soap and washed him and wrung him out as best we could, letting him air dry the rest of the way. The water actually gets pretty dingy – more than you’d ever believe. This was the first time we included Mr. Organ in the wash and I’m glad we did!”
Sounds like Mr. Organ has been quite busy playing in the parks this summer! Thank you Roger for sharing your tips to make sure your OrganWise Guy and Gal (and their insides) stay clean and healthy.
by admin | Aug 22, 2015 | Educator
With back to school here, The OrganWise Guys are eager to get back to spreading the word of good health. Over the summer we were busy revamping our website and are excited to share with you the new look and tools available. So whether you already use the evidence-based programming or you are new to it, take a minute to visit the new site, including our new shop and check out the free resources you can use in your classroom setting.
Here are the free healthy resources for kids:
- Educator tools – See how the school assemblies are done or catch Dr. Michelle Lombardo (OWG President and creator) perform a training on The OrganWise Guys Comprehensive School Program (OWG CSP). Here you can also find lesson plans and implementation guides to coincide with OrganWise Guys materials.
- Curriculum Standards – All of the OWG materials are correlated and updated in real-time to your state curriculum AND Common Core standards.
- Kid’s Club – Here you will find video clips, as well as FREE activity and coloring sheet downloads!
- Kid’s Blog – Check back each Monday and Thursday to see what ‘the Guys’ are up to! You can also download and copy free activity and coloring sheets that correspond to that blog!
- Educator Blog – Learn best practices for OrganWise Guys program implementation in the classroom and community.
- Grown Up Blog – Gain helpful tips and ways to keep your family OrganWise at home.
We’d also like to share this back to school discount code for 20% off your order! Use coupon code SCHOOL2015 upon checkout.
Which OrganWise Guys resources do you find most helpful?
by admin | Aug 4, 2015 | Educator
Whether you’re ready or not, back to school is nearly here so why not embrace it with open arms!? Kids will certainly need to get back on track with healthy eating and behaviors, so try some of these new ways to use The OrganWise Guys in your school. Over the years, we have collected some really creative, unique and effective ways to use “the guys” in the school setting and wanted to share some of them with you.
Here are 5 new ways to use The OrganWise Guys in your school:
- Construct a recipe board – If you’re using the Foods of the Month (FoM) in your school, print the back page of recipes from the FoM newsletters and create a recipe bulletin board. You can also print out and share the FoM recipes posted every Monday on our blog.
- Create ideas for a healthier world – There’s nothing like kids using their imaginations, so why not have them come up with ideas for creating a healthier world? Have each child come up with an idea using an OrganWise Guy to promote a healthier world. Reward each participant with a Great Idea Award Certificate and an OrganWise Guy.
- Design your own OrganWise Guy/Gal – Using this blank body template, color, cut and paste these OrganWise Guys onto the body. Go ahead and let the kids design the body to look like themselves.
- Follow the Kid’s Blog Adventures – Every Monday and Thursday on our kid’s blog, features new OWG adventures along with an activity and/or coloring sheet. Make it a habit on these two days of the week to read the short story and let the kids do the worksheets. It’s a quick way to get in a great health and character ed lesson!
- Host a taste test – Try introducing new foods to kids with a simple taste test, where they will be more likely to have a taste! If you are using the FoM program, ideally you can coincide the taste tests with the foods of the month. Check our blog each month for taste test worksheets. Try out this berry taste test worksheet or this tropical fruit taste test worksheet to get started.
Hopefully these are some fresh ideas for using The OrganWise Guys materials! If you have your own creative ideas, please share with us on our Facebook page. We love hearing from you! Until then, best of luck as you start the new school year!
by admin | Jul 7, 2015 | Educator
It’s the middle of the summer and kids might just be getting a little restless. Certainly a little change of pace could help cure this little case of restless kids. How about trying out this creative and healthy idea that incorporates kids of all ages in your out-of-school time programs?
Last summer we piloted a contest idea with Gwinnett County Parks and Recreation (we love our partners in The OrganWise Guys’ home county). The contest sought out creative older students in summer camps who were willing to come up with some unique ways to convey The OrganWise Guys’ health messages of LOW-FAT, HIGH-FIBER, LOTS OF WATER and EXERCISE to younger children using a variety of multi-media formats. Some suggested examples included: songs/raps, short skits, and poems. We were impressed with their final products. Check out this montage of the fun submissions.
Because the pilot turned out to be so fun, we encourage you to explore similar contests or ideas in your out-of-school time programs! Contact us if you would like to see a template to use for contest rules and submissions and please share your multi-media experiences with us so we can see just how creative you all are!
The winners from Bogan Park seemed to really enjoy participating in the contest!
Previously we shared the story of OWG President, Dr. Michelle Lombardo’s, niece, Ashley Griffin, and her student teaching stint in Costa Rica where she incorporated OWG into her lessons. Today we have an update from Ashley and her experience with The OrganWise Guys in Costa Rica.
