's motd Friday April 15, 2011

[Guest guest]

SCHOOL DAYS,

SCHOOL DAYS!

Friday, 15 April 2011

You know what? I get to meet so

many interesting people at Slimmons. When I do, I

like to ask them what they do for a living. Hey, they

know what I do for a living, so I like to

know more about them, too.

I've discovered that we have such

an interesting mix of people attending my studio. We

have doctors and nurses. We have people who work in

the movie and TV industry. (Hey, this is Los Angeles,

after all. LOL.) We have make-up artists, tattoo

artists and photographers. We have people in the

banking business and among our members, we even have

one lady who's a mortician. Several teachers take

classes at Slimmons, too. Some of them are school

teachers while others are college professors.

Several months ago, I met a sweet young lady named

who teaches third grade at one of the Los Angeles area

elementary schools. Well, she had such a fun time at

Slimmons that she decided to bring along some

of her fellow teachers from school to take class with

us. One Saturday, she even brought her school's

principal.

told me that they often use

my Sweatin' To The Oldies workouts at her

school. She also told me how much fun the students

had sweatin' with us. (And you know I loved hearing that.)

I told to say hi to all of her students from me.

Now, the next time she came to class, was

carrying a folder. As she handed it to me, she told

me to look at it when I got home after class. I

promised her I would and after finishing dinner at

home that night, I did just that.

The folder was filled with letters from all of her

third grade students, telling me how much they loved

sweatin' with me. A week later, some of the other

teachers who'd visited Slimmons with brought

their own folders, filled with the same kinds of

letters. I have to tell you, reading the letters from

those great kids brought tears to my eyes! They told

me how much fun I was, they could tell how happy I was

and that they liked my hair. (Thanks,

kids!) They told me I had some pretty smooth dancing

moves, too. (Oh, I just love these children!) Along

with their letters, the teachers included photos of

all of the children so I could see what each of them

looked like.

One day, I asked if she'd like me to visit her

school and teach a big Sweatin' class for all of the

students...live! was thrilled. She

immediately said YES and we've been

planning that class for weeks now.

had the students in the 3rd, 4th and 5th grades

tell me what their favorite songs were.

's big hits, Thriller and Beat

It topped the list. They also liked Katy

's hit, Firework. Other choices

included the Black -Eyed Peas, I Gotta Feeling

and Dynamite by Taio Cruz. 's school's

student population is 98% Hispanic so I'm starting the

class off with J-Lo singing On The Floor,

the Spanish version.

Today, I'll leave my house early and get to the school

for my 10:30AM class. I'm gonna start off by visiting

all of the 1st and 2nd grade students. Then I'll then

move on to the school's auditorium to workout with the

older kids.

I've also invited the children's parents to join us at

school for today's workout. So oh boy, I'm really

looking forward to a fun day!

I'm sure most of you know that for several years now,

I've been working hard to get PE reintroduced into our

nation's schools as part of their core

curriculums. PE was removed from public school

curriculums by the No Child Left Behind Act.

I visited Washington several times in my fight to get

PE back into our schools. During one of those visits,

I even had the opportunity to speak before Congress

about childhood obesity and the disappearance of PE

classes from our nation's public schools.

But you know Washington, it takes so much time to get

those bills introduced and passed. Our Fit Kids

Bill was passed by the House of

Representatives but never made it to the Senate for a

vote. The Fit Kids Bill will become part of

the new Education Bill that will hopefully be

passed by Congress later this year.

But hey, I cant wait! I have to continue

spreading my message now by visiting

schools, teaching exercise classes with the students

and stressing the importance of getting those bodies

of theirs...moving! They'll be happier and

healthier, if they do!

Now of course, I want our kids to

do great in math, science and reading. But I also

want them to be healthy and active, too. After all, a

healthier body is a body more prepared to...learn!

Oh how I wish you all could be with us today. But I

know you'll be here in spirit. Don't forget to get

your workouts in today!

Love,