Imagine waking up every Friday morning and looking forward to exercise. Or feeling confident every day because you were able to pick out the right clothes and look presentable.

Thanks to two Apollo-Ridge School District teachers, students get to do just that—feel good about themselves, whether from their morning exercise routine or from marking off everything on their Looking Good Checklist.

These educators are helping students develop life skills and healthy habits that will benefit them throughout their lives.

Looking Good

A good personal hygiene routine may seem simple, but for some, these chores are difficult to remember.

Karen Skroupa, life skills teacher at Apollo-Ridge Middle and High schools, has designed a method to help her students remember and tackle everyday tasks others typically don’t have to think twice about doing.

Skroupa’s students are between 11 and 20 years old and need personal assistance with basic life skills. She has created a Looking Good Checklist, a list of basic personal hygiene duties she wants her students to remember to do before class begins for the day. She says the list helps keep the students on track and to remember what the tasks are.

“There are several items listed—did you comb your hair, brush your teeth and put on deodorant, and do you have on clean clothes?” she says. “We go through the list with each student every morning.”

Skroupa says students are honest and “confess immediately whether they forgot to perform one of their chores.”

“They will say, ‘Oh no, Mrs. Skroupa, I didn’t use my deodorant today.’ Then we give them a gentle reminder where it is in our classroom,” she says.

Skroupa and the para-professionals who work with the students collect travel-size deodorants and other personal hygiene products so when students forget, they can easily remedy the situation.

“Our school nurse will collect things like toothbrush and toothpaste samples that have been given to her, and she will pass them on to us,” says Skroupa. “Other things we just buy.”

Skroupa’s team also collects clothing in various sizes to keep on hand when there are issues with a student’s wardrobe.

“If someone comes in with a hole in their pants, I’ll ask them, ‘Is this appropriate for school?’ and they say, ‘No, but I was in a hurry.’ We then give them something appropriate to wear,” she says.

The basic personal hygiene and clothing issues are important for Skroupa’s students for a variety of reasons.

“For one, we don’t want them standing out because they have dirty clothes or chocolate cake on their face,” she says. “Second, they also are proud of, and feel better about themselves when they remember to do or are able to fix those things.”

Skroupa’s students work together to keep each other on task as well.

“When someone has to brush their teeth, all of the other students compliment them. They come back with a big smile, showing off their teeth, and the other kids will say things like, ‘Wow, your teeth look great,’ and the smile gets even bigger,’” she says.

Fitness Fridays

Fridays are fun at Apollo-Ridge Elementary School, and it’s not just because it is the end of the week. Physical education teacher Brandon Allison has introduced Fitness Fridays to the students.

During the Friday morning announcements, he plays a short exercise video that all the students follow, getting in a brief morning workout. But perhaps even more fun than watching the videos is making them.

Each week, Allison selects one fourth-grade and one fifth-grade student to demonstrate exercises, while he records them with his iPad Mini.

“I choose two students who are good role models—they may have done well on fitness tests or are leaders in the classroom,” he says.

The students and Allison select exercises for the video. They then film the video on Thursday, a day before the video’s air date.

“We usually choose a strength exercise then do something to get the heart rate up. Then we do two flexibility moves. We try to switch it up,” Allison says.

The students also do a signature move at the end of each segment.

“They chant, ‘We are AR,’ and do something fun,” he says. “In the past, we’ve had the students ride next to each other on scooters. There was another time where they threw a football to each other. They get to choose what they want to do, which makes it all the more fun.”

The students enjoy creating their mini-movies and work hard to make them perfect.

“We have a lot of retakes,” says Allison. “They love taking ownership of it and especially love coming up with the ending.”

The video participants aren’t the only ones reaping the benefits. The other students enjoy the exercises, and teachers have told Allison the students listen better while waiting for the Fitness Friday show.

“Studies show students who have some sort of exercise in the morning perform better in school and are more alert,” Allison says.

On weeks that are cut short because of vacation days, the students ask to record earlier in the week and they move Fitness Friday to another day.

“They really love it,” says Allison. “It gets our students thinking about exercise outside of PE class, and that is great.”