Integrating Physical Activity Into Preschool Classrooms' Academic Lessons Promotes Daily Physical Activity And Improves Literacy

Abstract

PURPOSE: To determine the effects of a low cost, teacher directed, minimal intervention program that delivered existing academic lessons taught through physical activity in Head Start preschools serving African American children. METHODS: Fifty-four African American children (mean ± SE, age 3.9±0.1y) from a low socioeconomic urban Head Start were randomized to control (n=2 classrooms, n=30, F, n=13 F, M, n=17) or PA (n=2 classrooms, n=24 F, n=10, M, n=14) group for 6 months. The PA program promoted 150 min/wk of moderate to vigorous PA academic lessons (3.0 to 6.0 METS, ∼15 min each, 2 lessons/day). Intensity of classroom PA was measured by a validated time-moment sampling procedure System for Observation of Fitness Instruction Time, (SOFIT). Height and weight to determine BMI for age were obtained in private with a stadiometer and digital scale. The Get It, Got It, Go Individual Growth and Development Indicators for children ages 3-5y was administered to assess early literacy and phonological awareness in the areas of alliteration and rhyming. All measures were assessed at baseline, 3 and 6 months. RESULTS: Children in the PA group performed significantly (p<0.05) greater levels of PA in the classroom at 3 (PA, 3.6±0.2 vs. Control, 2.6±0.2) and 6 (PA, 3.5±0.1 vs. Control, 2.6±0.2) months than children in the Control group; higher scores indicate higher activity. The 6 month change in BMI for age for the PA group was -2.0±1.1% and control 0.5±0.9%, respectively (NS). Alliteration significantly (p<0.01) improved in the PA group from baseline (0.5±0.2) to 6 months (2.0±0.4) compared to Controls (0.5±0.2 to 0.9±0.3, p>0.05), resulting in between group differences at 6 months, p<0.01. Rhyming significantly (p<0.01) improved in the PA group from baseline (0.7±0.3) to 6 months (3.0±0.5) compared to the Controls (0.7±0.2 to 1.9±0.4, p<0.05), resulting in between group differences at 6 months, p<0.01. Higher scores for alliteration and rhyming indicate greater early literacy skills and phonological awareness. CONCLUSION: A low cost, teacher directed, minimal intervention program may promote daily PA, increases early literacy, and may attenuate increases in BMI in African American preschool children, a group at an increased risk for poor literacy development.