"They run for fun..."

...but not on the hot, hot sun. Except maybe once in awhile. It's mostly foggy, or cool and breezy, at my son's elementary school. Thing 1 has PE class once a week. Starting in first grade, their PE teacher uses foot print charts to log their running. Each time they complete 5 miles, they get a tiny, plastic foot.

At open house last night, his PE teacher came up and asked him if he'd received his silver foot. It turns out that a silver foot means a child has run 50 miles, and his was waiting on his desk in their classroom. (Plus they get a special prize when they achieve 50 miles, other than amazing their parents.) Wow! My people aren't built for fast running--and this discourages Thing 1 a bit--but we are a persistent bunch.

If your kid likes running, or might like to try it, the Kids Running web site has charts similar to the ones they use at my son's school.

Our school district also has a great program for learning about healthy eating, agriculture, and the environment. I'm not sure exactly how much Thing 1 absorbs in HEAL class--he's not terribly communicative in general about his school days--but he always brings home a good joke from class and he tells us about the new foods they try. Last Friday: "I tried a *whole grain* today. It was good." Not like this is completely new--we get bread with whole grains--but I guess it's something completely different when you try just the grain itself. ;-)

It's very comforting to know that kids are being exposed to good stuff like this at school. Sometimes hearing the same stuff from someone other than your parents makes it just that much more credible....