PORTLAND – Ski Maine for Kids’ new “Winter Sport Fitness Curriculum Guide,” aligned with the State of Maine Learning Results and endorsed by Gov. Angus King and by the Maine Principals’ and Maine Superintendents’ Associations, has been released and offers Maine teachers concrete ways to integrate winter sport activities into their curriculums. It’s Ski Maine for Kids’ way of helping teachers encourage children to discover the benefits of an active, healthful outdoor lifestyle all year long. Sponsored by People’s Bank, the Curriculum Guide is available free of charge to all Maine educators.

Recent studies have shown that physical fitness levels among Maine youth are among the lowest in the nation. Public health officials believe that our youth spend too much of the winter indoors. At King’s recent Blaine House Summit on Health, Surgeon General David Satcher put out a call for programs that encourage children to be outside and active throughout the year. The curriculum guide is part of Ski Maine for Kids’ continual response to that call, and it reflects its mission to help children build healthy bodies.

The 82-page guide offers lesson plans, exercises, games, winter outdoor safety information, assessments and more, all geared toward encouraging children to get outside this winter. It also contains ideas for acquiring funding for field trips and equipment. Piloted last year and expanded this year, the curriculum guide is designed for use by teachers of all age levels.

Though primarily developed for application in health and physical education classes, the guide is intended to reach teachers of other subject areas as well. The guide reflects Ski Maine for Kids’ origins in the ski industry, but it is meant to encourage all forms of winter outdoor activity, from skiing and snowboarding to skating, sledding, snowshoeing and building snowmen.

So far, the response has been outstanding. At the recent annual conference of the Maine Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance, Ski Maine for Kids distributed the curriculum guide to more than 100 educators, many of whom expressed their need for such a tool.

Many are already engaging their students in activities, such as skiing and snowshoeing, and many more have a desire to but haven’t yet found the means.

The following stories illustrate ways in which the curriculum guide is being used by Maine educators.

When Jean Martin took over as principal at Stockholm Elementary School in Stockholm, she realized her students were in need of healthy, outdoor activity during the long northern Maine winter. With limited resources, Martin created a ski program that flourishes today. For a modest sum, students rent their own skis each year and are required to care for them.

Classes ski three times a week, even on standardized testing days. Martin had her students outside skiing the morning before last year’s MEA testing and was thrilled to report a 100 percent improvement in their results over the previous year.

When Martin had a look at Ski Maine for Kids’ curriculum guide, she was struck by how closely it paralleled her own program. She now uses the materials in the guide to supplement her program.

Janet Hutchinson of James Bean School in Sidney was one of a handful of teachers to pilot the curriculum guide in its first year. She used the guide to design a program that culminated in a ski trip to Sugarloaf. The response from students was so positive that Hutchinson became one of the guide’s strongest advocates. Along with her experience as a physical education teacher and lifelong skier, Hutchinson’s enthusiasm made her a perfect candidate to take on the job of revising the guide for its second year. After many months of research and hard thinking, Hutchinson helped produce a more thorough, structured and accessible tool for all Maine teachers.

Lucy-Ann Spaulding, a third-grade teacher at Boothbay Region Consolidated School in Boothbay Harbor, wants to make the opportunity available to her students. Last winter, she took a small group to Lost Valley in Auburn where she obtained a copy of the guide. Although it was too late in the year to implement the program then, Spaulding made plans to do so this year.

“Our physical education teachers will be using the guide as a resource for several weeks before the ski season begins,” she said last fall. “They will be working with all of our third- and fourth-grade classes.” Spaulding’s program will culminate with seven weeks of Alpine and Nordic skiing and snowboarding for all 120 children in those classes. She writes: “We are thrilled to have this program to offer our children. In a state where winter may be relatively long, and for many a rather ‘household’ time, it’s wonderful to introduce our youth to a healthy activity – one which can be used lifelong.”