From Deseret News archives:
District adding P.E. to 3 'R's
Budget restraints and increased pressure on teachers to meet No Child Left Behind requirements have caused Jordan School District to cut down on physical education. Recognizing the need to teach fitness, the district has been working with the nonprofit organization EarlySport to teach teachers how to fit physical education into reading, writing and arithmetic.
Nick Smith, EarlySport vice president of research, led teachers from Monte Vista Elementary, 11121 S. 2700 West, through their program recently. If successful, the district plans to apply for a federal grant to use the program in each of their elementary schools, said Julie Christofferson, district healthy lifestyle consultant.
"A lot of teachers feel they don't have time to incorporate P.E. because it's not tested," Christofferson said. "But with the current obesity crisis, we can't ignore it. That's not fair to the children."
According to data compiled by EarlySport, physical activity in most elementary schools is declining while obesity rates in children have tripled during the past 20 years. Because not all parks and playgrounds are safe, school-based physical activity is sometimes the only opportunity children have to exercise. Besides, physical activity at school has been shown to increase concentration and improve test scores and reduce disruptive behavior.
Teachers recognize this but often feel helpless when confronted with so many other tasks.
"If you're a teacher with your reputation on the line, you're going to focus on where the pressure is — on what's tested," Christofferson said.
But the EarlySport program suggests easy activities that can be worked in without sacrificing a lot of time.
One idea is an interactive reading time in which students read a story about characters on the move, performing the motions along with the story.
"If they're coming down steps from an airplane, make stepping motions. If they're walking to the terminal, walk around the room," Christofferson said.
A three-ring binder full of "activity cards" was given to each teacher at the workshop. The teacher can either use the ideas during a specified exercise time or hand them out at recess to have students read instructions for new games and figure out how to play.
One example is a throwing game in which children stand in a ring with two balls and try to pass the balls around in the same direction fast enough for one ball to catch up with the other. Other examples include simplified versions of baseball or soccer to teach skills.
The binder is full of diagrams outlining how to lead circuit workouts in which small groups rotate among activities until the children have done them all.
"By then they've had a pretty darn good workout, and it's a pretty easy thing to do," Smith told the teachers.
For Christofferson, one of the most appealing aspects of EarlySport's program is that the activities are noncompetitive. Students have no fear of failure because they're only trying to improve themselves.
E-mail: akirk@desnews.com
