ANCHORAGE, Alaska – School administrators in the Anchorage School District are distributing fitness devices to elementary students with the goal of goading them into physical activities with points they can use online.

Students at 37 elementary schools received Sqord devices Monday that resemble a wristwatch and track physical activities much like the popular Nike Fitbit, Your Alaska Link reports.

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“Sqord basically is a Fitbit like I’m wearing here for kids, the difference really is an online platform that they’ve built to kind of bridge the gap with the kids as they start to decline in their activity levels around fifth-sixth grade,” Micaela Jones, Sqord program coordinator for Providence Health and Services Alaska, told the news site.

“It gives them a little online component to keep them interested,” she said, “but really the gal is to keep them moving and active.”

A test group of 350 Anchorage students first received the devices in April and served as a test group, but the initiative has since expanded to 5,000 students across Alaska.

Jones told KTVA the devices typically cost $34.95 a piece, but the devices distributed Monday were covered by Providence Hospital.

“Today we’re rolling out to approximately 37 schools in the Anchorage School District, elementary level,” she said. “We’re going to deploy the Sqords today with the students. They have all had permission slips signed and we’re up and ready to go. They’ll get their first look at putting on their Sqords, ready and active today.”

Jones said the Sqords are a better suited for young students than Fitbit or other devices because they track a range of activities, and encourage students to keep moving to impress their friends.

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“They get points by moving, similar to a Fitbit, a Fitbit is picking up steps, the Sqord actually picks up all movement,” Jones told Your Alaska Link. “So for every step you might get on a Fitbit you’re getting about three and a half points on a Sqord, so it’s not just that you have to walk or run to get points, kids adaptive PE kids, kids could swim, any one of those things could also get them points.”

And it’s the online points that keep kids exercising.

“It’s a bracelet that keeps track of your points, like every time you move or exercise you get more points,” Muldoon Elementary School fourth-grader Shayanne Hutton told the news site. “A lot of people like video games and since you have an Avatar it’s kind of like it’s a video game and you can dress your Avatar up with the more points you get from exercising.”

Students can access their online accounts through a computer or Android or Apple device.

“The hope is we can get them focused on this program knowing that in order to get points and to spend their Sqords online and get gear and look cool Avatars they gotta get moving, so that means they have to get out from behind the computer,” said Jones. “Getting the kids moving and building a habit of active play everyday that they can take into their adult life is really critical.”

Solan Katrobos, another fourth grader, told KTUU he’s pretty excited about his Sqord.

“If you’re healthy you can do millions and millions of things, if you’re not you can do some things but not all,” he said.