BLOOMINGTON - "I've got a lemon!" Fifth-grader Blake Cochran, 10, picked up the plastic lemon from among facsimiles of food and note cards with food names written on them. | Photo gallery | Fit kids page

The items were at center court in the gymnasium of Unit 5's Pepper Ridge Elementary School on Bloomington's southwest side.

Cochran ran to where his three teammates were hurriedly sorting other plastic and note card representations of food into their correct categories in a food guide pyramid on a poster on the gym floor.

"So, 25 jumping jacks," Cochran said. He and teammates Jacob Belmar, Cristina Sheehan and Lucas Loy, all fifth-graders, started jumping.

They also picked up crackers and croissants and did 15 pushups for each one; hot dogs, catfish and eggs meant 30 line jumps for each. Doritos required two laps and it was back to 25 jumping jacks each for pears and eggplant.

"Once they're in here, we want to get them moving as fast as they can," said physical education teacher Terri McCullick.

P.E. classes at Pepper Ridge are among progressive physical education classes at an increasing number of Central Illinois schools. The goal is to get kids moving and to educate them about fitness and nutrition - all with an eye toward combating childhood obesity and diseases that obesity could bring later in life.

Nutrition is integrated into physical education to help teach children about the importance of eating healthy and being aware of serving sizes, McCullick said. Exercises are kept simple and are designed to keep kids moving and their heart rates up.

Classes at Pepper Ridge, taught by McCullick and Lucas Lopez, are representative of the New P.E., a nationwide movement that is called My P.E. (Moving Youth through Physical Education) in Bloomington-Normal.

My P.E. classes focus on:

• Health and disease preven-tion rather than sports skills.

• Accelerating students' heart rate to strengthen their heart rather than focusing on point scores.

• Keeping moving rather than waiting your turn.

• Using heart rate monitors and other equipment to measure heart rate, body fat, blood pressure, strength, flexibility and fitness, rather than using the Presidential Fitness Test.

• Tracking students' measurements over time so they are evaluated against themselves rather than classmates.

• Teaching healthy lifestyles and that a variety of activities, ranging from playing sports and games to dancing, can burn calories, accelerate heart rate and be continued into adulthood.

Dale Brown, an Illinois State University professor of kinesi-ology and recreation, has been working with local schools for about five years to update their P.E. programs. ISU and the American Heart Association are involved in the My P.E. movement that now involves - to varying degrees - most of the high schools and junior highs in Bloomington-Normal, and a few of the elementary schools.

Fitness portfolios, to track students' health over time, are being used in some high schools and junior highs, and Brown wants to get them in more buildings. The idea is to track students' fitness levels to determine how their body responds to activity, and to identify early warning signs of obesity and disease, including hypertension, heart disease and diabetes.

"I like it," said Cochran, of Bloomington. "I have to sit in a chair all day long. In P.E., I get to move. I want to run and do pushups and sit-ups, so I get to do all that stuff in P.E."

Cochran was among several fifth-graders who spoke with the Pantagraph after a recent P.E. class. All the students said they like the class because it keeps them moving and they learn.

"We learned what foods go in which part of the food pyramid and which are healthy and not healthy," said Analeese Monla, 10, of Bloomington.

Loy, also 10 and of Bloomington, said, "We learned about foods that keep us healthy."

"And we get to exercise, too!" Monla said. "It's fun because, in our group, we can move around all over the place, and we learn things to keep our body healthy."

The students divided themselves into teams of four. Whenever a teammate would pick up a food item, members of that team would have to do the exercise required: extras (sweets and less healthy foods) called for two laps; fruits called for 25 jumping jacks, vegetables called for 20 sit-ups; grains required 15 pushups; meats required 30 line jumps; and dairy required maintaining a plank (a push-up) position for 20 seconds.

Students were asked to get three servings of fruits, four of vegetables, eight of grains, three of meats, three of dairy and to limit their extras.

For most of the class, the students were thinking, discussing and moving.

All of the students wore pedometers to measure steps taken. As soon as them on, even before the class started, most of the students began stepping in place.

"I think they're really cool because you never know how many steps you take and, with a pedometer, you can see," Monla said.

Sheehan, 11, of Bloomington, knows that everyone is supposed to take 10,000 steps a day but admitted that's difficult.

From time to time, students went up to Lopez, who had a pulse reader, to count their pulse rate. The students knew they should get their heart rate up to 150 to 170 beats per minute. Less than that would mean they needed to move more. Higher than that would mean they needed to slow down.

"There's no cheating with this," Lopez said. "It's a way to use technology. And the kids love it. They get excited (getting their pulse measured) and it provides an extra incentive for them (to move)."

"It's cool to see how many beats your heart is beating in a minute," Sheehan said.

For the last few minutes of class, McCullick answered students' questions and advised them to use what they learned in their lives outside of class.

"You're in charge of your own body," she said. "It's your body, and you need to take care of it."