2025 Shape Iowa Convention

Youth mental health has declined in the last decade. Five kids in a class of twenty-five will likely experience depression before adulthood. The latest reports on youth mental health showed that currently, 1 in 3 youth experience poor mental health and almost half felt persistently sad or hopeless. Schools have been and will continue to be a crucial part of the solution. Erika’s Lighthouse provides skills-based, teacher-led programs for grades 4-12 that educate students about adolescent depression, encourage conversations to reduce stigma, and teach help-seeking skills while meeting National Health Education Standards. This session will describe how utilizing these programs can have a positive impact on your students and your school’s mental health culture and school climate. Participants will learn how to immediately access and implement these free turn-key programs along with other resources available for staff and families.

The Safe Routes to School Coordinators in Iowa support schools by offering in-person lessons, co-taught activities, and providing resources and equipment lending. They ensure every student learns essential bicycle, pedestrian, and traffic safety skills, including understanding local laws. Coordinators foster safe transportation habits through hands-on activities and encourage physical activity. This presentation will demonstrate skill stations and rotations for teaching safety and riding skills. Additionally, Safe Routes to School assists local school champions with organizing Walking School Bus, Bike Bus, and Walk & Roll to School Day events, promoting active transportation in a fun and safe way.
As e-bikes become more popular, it’s crucial to address safety and rules for their use, ensuring students of all ages understand how to ride responsibly. Safe Routes to School is also looking at ways to incorporate e-bike education alongside traditional bike safety lessons.

More than 70 Iowa Schools have partnered with PLT4M to create a more student-focused Physical Education program. Learn how schools across the state are vertically aligning instruction and leveraging instructional technology to personalize and enhance the student experience.

Join the DYNAMIC DUO of Mic Siefert and Daniel Hill as they share over 50 years of combined HEROIC themed tips, tools and tricks. Engage your students from start to finish and encourage them to explore their SUPER powers!

Have you hosted or thought about hosting a "Family PE Week"? Come learn tips and strategies for inviting your community in to see your program! Attendees will leave with a plan to host next school year and advocate for their program in a completely new way.

During this session, teachers will learn the six components of
the Meaningful PE Pedagogy and how to implement them into their curriculum. Attendees will leave with tangible ways to assess and gain valuable feedback from their students.

This session will describe apps and programs that address classroom management, behavior management, activities, feedback and assessment, and delivering instruction.

We strive to encourage students to find the joy in movement. Yet when it comes to teaching fitness activities, we often get focused on testing and lose sight of enjoyment. When you make fitness activities personally relevant to your students, you empower students to improve their overall health, fitness and well-being, it is a win-win. Participants in this session will learn how to create an engaging and exciting fitness unit that helps students get fit while having a great time.

Looking for fresh ideas to spice up your warm-ups? This high-energy session will get you up and moving as you experience a variety of engaging warm-up games designed for middle school students. Say goodbye to repetitive routines and hello to activities that build excitement, teamwork, and readiness for movement. Participants will leave with several easy-to-implement warm-up ideas that require little to no equipment and can be adapted for any class size. Come ready to move, play, and refresh your warm-up routine!

In this presentation, participants will learn the fundamentals of longboarding and how to teach this unit to their students of ALL abilities by using challenge by choice and self-discovery strategies. In addition, participants will learn the cultural relevance to longboarding, how to secure funding, and more!