Whether or not a student gets any time for physical
activities at school varies from day-to-day and school-to-school. Some schools
have recess everyday, P.E. once a week, or nothing at all. In a society where
child obesity rates are growing, along with the number of children with
diabetes, it is important that our schools improve their effort to increase
student’s physical activity in school along with their knowledge of making
healthy choices. Programs like Playworks and SPARK, mentioned in this article,
do a great justice to our students by increasing the time they get to be
active. Especially in schools that have no structured time where students are
allowed to be active, we need to take advantage of outside programs like SPARK
that will come into our schools and teach teachers and volunteers (i.e. parents
and grandparents) creative ways to get our students out of their seats.
Programs like SPARK are a great resource to the increasing
number of schools that are cutting recess and P.E. either due to budget
limitations or to accommodate the time demands of their curriculum. SPARK will
show teachers how they can increase physical activity in their classrooms,
which as most teachers know, when students are active they are usually more
engaged. The Principal of Germantown Elementary, where SPARK is implemented,
noted that student’s attitudes have enhanced with their increased movement.
When we can so easily see the positive results physical activity has on
students, especially those in elementary, why is it then that our schools are
continually cutting P.E. and recess and not implementing programs like SPARK.
How can we really expect a 5, 8, or 10 year old to sit still for 7 hours a day?
I am 24 years old and you could not expect me to sit still for even 2 hours.
http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2013-04-08/news/bs-md-ar-germantown-elementary-spark-20130403_1_kindergarten-teacher-education-program-germantown-elementary-school
2 comments:
Melissa-
I could not agree more! Students need time to be physically active in school,and I believe this extends into middle and high school as well. In order for students to be successful learners, they must have basic needs satisfied, like health. If physical education and programs like the ones you mentioned are not available at schools, teachers can take out a few minutes in their classes to focus on physical fitness. Below, I posted a link to Bmore Fit, a program designed for teachers to use in their classroom to increase fitness and help students focus on the material. It requires very little space and gets students out of their chairs and moving around. Seems link a win-win. My 9th graders really like it!
http://www.bmorefit.net/
I certainly agree that the decline in P.E. classes in our schools is detrimental. In the school where I work, we actually used to have a Playworks coach who worked with our students every day. The students loved having organized recess and gym classes with him. Unfortunately, because of funding issues, we lost him. Now, this year we only have a part-time P.E. teacher. I truly do believe that I can tell the difference that it has had on our students, not having daily recess and regular P.E. classes. They get restless and antsy because of the pinned up energy that they hold. Or, sometimes they just need a break from academic work to have some physical fun and activity.
As a teacher, I do desire to give them more of that time to be active, but I sometimes find it difficult to do so...either because of cold weather outside, or not seeming to have the time in my instruction to take a break. I do appreciate Sara's suggestion though! To have something to get the students active and moving around, but that is simple enough to be done in the classroom is great. I'm hoping to be able to project some fun workout videos on the Smart Board and let my students have at it for a few minutes each day!
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