ROSINTON, Ala. — For the second year, Rosinton Elementary students will be finding a WAY to health.

WAY stands for “Wellness, Academics and You,” and is a program at Rosinton for kindergartners through fifth-grade students. The program uses songs, videos and positive reinforcement to get youngsters more aware of the choices they can make for a healthy lifestyle. According to Rosinton Principal Theresa Harden, the program is also offered at Elberta Elementary.

The lessons are short, and can be used throughout the school day. Amy Owns, a fourth-grade teacher explained that with some of the video portions, like exercise videos, the classroom teacher chooses how long to present the material.

That is especially nice for the younger students, Kindergarten teacher Patti Zakutney explained.

“We use it through the day,” said Zakutney. “It helps the students to get up for a bit. Then we can sit and refocus. They are easy songs to sing.”

The curriculum becomes more advanced as the children progress up the grades. The WAY program is part of the “President’s Challenge,” a program that hat encourages everyone to make being active part of their everyday lives.

“The program asks students who they are, and the response is ‘I am the greatest,’” said Tonya Lynn, a third-grade teacher. “It then asks, ‘What do you want,’ and the answer is ‘to learn.’ And then they are asked, ‘Who can stop you?’ The answer is ‘nobody, not even myself.’”

“The idea is to promote better health,” explained Owens.

WAY is not part of every school child’s day.

“We went to a class and we and Elberta Elementary were interested,” said Harden. She added that the program is active in Florida, and as far as she knows, the two schools are the only ones that offer the program in Baldwin County.

According to kindergarten teacher Heather Duncan, the teachers at the school had to go be trained to use the program, which gets its message of healthy living across in small chunks during the day.

“We take smile breaks,” said Lynn. “It gets us up and moving.”

The federally-sponsored program provides all the teaching materials and sends a trainer to the schools to make sure teachers’ questions are answered and everyone has what they need, added Harden.

“We get e-mails, newsletters and training, said Lynn.

It costs us nothing,” said Zakutney.

“Every morning,” says Duncan, “we start with a song.”

For Duncan, the program allows her students to take “smile breaks” and to “get up and moving.”

Older students, Lynn, says, learn about nutrition and how to be careful shoppers.

“They lean how to read labels,” she said.

Older students also get journals that they personalize themselves, giving them more chances to write.

Students were tested on their knowledge of health matter at the beginning of last year, and they took a test at the end of the year. While the final results of the tests are not in as of yet, Owens took a look at the answers, and was encouraged.

“The kids had different answers from the beginning of the year,” she said.