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 14, 2015 | Educator, Grown Up
It seems in today’s world, the idea of letting kids walk or bicycle to school would be one of the past due to safety concerns. But thankfully, we recently discovered the Safe Routes to School National Partnership, whose mission is to promote safe walking or bicycling to schools and by creating livable and sustainable communities.
According to their site, the Safe Routes to School National Partnership collaborates with organizations, government agencies and professional groups working to set goals, share best practices, leverage infrastructure and program funding and advance policy change to help agencies that implement Safe Routes to School programs.
We can’t think of a better way to get kids active before and after school than being able to walk or bicycle there along a safe route, so we joined as a partner affiliate and are strong advocates for healthy and safe kids so we created a fun, OrganWise-themed coloring sheet in support of the Safe Routes to School mission!
Download your Safe Routes to School coloring sheet below:
So what are you waiting for? Become a partner affiliate and promote safe communities for kids!
by admin | Aug 5, 2015 | Educator
Live Healthy Gwinnett and GUIDE, Inc. hosted the 2015 Out-of-School Time Expo on Saturday, August 1, at Bogan Park in Gwinnett County, Georgia. We were so excited to be a part of this important event right in the home county of The OrganWise Guys! OWG President, Dr. Michelle Lombardo presented on the evidence-based out-of-school-time programming being used in a number of parks around the country and also was excited to exhibit at the event. We love seeing the healthy focus being put on this out-of-school-time.
Check out Live Healthy Gwinnett’s online album from the 2015 Out-Of-School-Time Expo as well as the pictures below!
Dr. Michelle Lombardo with two lovely Gwinnett County Parks and Recreation interns.
We couldn’t resist sharing our OrganWise Gals in this retro photo from Live Healthy Gwinnett during Parks and Recreation Month in July.
by admin | Jul 28, 2015 | Educator
Watch out, Zumba – Piloxing is the hot new way to stay healthy while having fun!
Founded by a former dancer, Piloxing combines standing Pilates, boxing, and dance to tone the body and burn fat. To intensify the workout, weighted gloves are usually worn and exercises are done to 145 beat-per-minute music. Piloxing gained popularity quickly, and there are now more than ten thousand certified instructors in over fifty countries.
To test the trend, campers at the 2015 BOUNCE (Behavior Opportunities Uniting Nutrition, Counseling, and Exercise) summer camp, in Houston, Texas, tried Piloxing for the first time.
“It was hard but cool,” said Kyla Carrier, 12. “You get to have fun while working out.”
The BOUNCE camp was founded in 2005 by Dr. Norma Olvera and her research team at the University of Houston and is held annually to empower Hispanic and African American girls, aged 9 to 14, to live healthy lifestyles. Campers and their parents are exposed to physical activities as well as nutrition and self-esteem counseling during the multi-week-long camp.
After exercising vigorously all week at BOUNCE camp, Melissa Chible, 11, especially appreciated how “Piloxing helped with soreness.”
“I do Zumba a lot,” said the volunteer Piloxing instructor Olga Hernandez, “but Piloxing is able to provide that extra challenge I need.”
To find out more about BOUNCE, visit http://bounce.uh.edu.
Today’s post was written by a new guest blogger, Joyce Chen, who is President of the Teen Board of The Oliver Foundation, a Houston-based 501(c)(3) non-profit operating foundation dedicated to the prevention of childhood obesity.
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.
