Video: Seattle students 'JumpUp'

Larger screen

SEATTLE - Kindergarten kids in Seattle public schools will be bringing home jump ropes in the next couple of weeks. 

It’s part of a new campaign to get kids moving toward fitness at school and at home.

Seattle’s Dearborn Park Elementary was the kick off site for the new campaign, called JumpUp. Familiar mascots, the school principal and even superintendent Maria Goodloe-Johnson got in on the act.

All kindergartners received jump ropes to take home. They’re supplied through Seattle Children's in partnership with a local nonprofit organization called Treeswing. The aim is to combat childhood obesity in a simple way.

"It’s something every kid can do,” said spokesperson Tracy Bennett. “It doesn't take special equipment. You don't have to drive somewhere. You can do it by yourself. You can do it with friends.”

The students were encouraged to set personal jumping goals, with the promise of a certificate for their achievement.

Personal goal-setting is a tool being used in the new P.E. curriculum introduced this year at 10 Seattle schools.

KING

Kindergarten kids in Seattle public schools will be bringing home jump ropes in the next couple of weeks as part of a new program called JumpUp.

"We still do the basketball and the soccer because that stuff's fun and it's important for the kids to learn, and we work on team sports,” said Ed Adams, Dearborn Park P.E. teacher. “But we do a lot of individual sports with it, where they're not competing with other people. They’re just trying to achieve and just trying to make themselves better."

Odessa Brown children's pediatrician Dr. Lenna Liu says nutrition education in the new P.E. curriculum will be key to kids’ health. 

"We are seeing what used to be adult diseases in children who are developing obesity early in their life,” she said. “Diseases such as Type II diabetes, high blood pressure, sleep apnea, high cholesterol.”

All things these kids will hopefully not face, because they've set their sights on building skills.

The Treeswing organization helped get the new P.E. curriculum going. You should see it in all the Seattle public schools by next fall.