BonnerSprings.com

It was quite the sight to see Friday morning as about 200 Bonner Springs Elementary students, parents and staff took to the city streets for the annual Walk to School event.

Starting in the parking lot at the corner of Second and Elm streets, parents dropped off their students bright and early instead of in front of the school. After a brief discussion of safety guidelines and rules, the troop set off on what would end up being about a 1-mile trek.

“We do a lot of fitness in my class,” said PE teacher Beau Bragg. “It’s a great way to show that walking can be a fitness activity.”

The Walk to School event was the culmination of a two-week unit on walking and how to stay fit for life for BSE students. During their PE classes, the students walked laps around the gym as a warm-up activity, while trying to accumulate as many laps as possible.

Each class then made a bar graph to hang in the hallway that showed how many laps they completed throughout the unit. For the fourth- and fifth-graders, those laps were calculated into miles, with 19 laps around the gym equalling one mile.

Students have also been participating in walking and jogging activities during recess. Each student was given a punch card, and their goal was to get 20 marks on their card before they could get a new one. Classes competed with each other to reach the highest levels with the most cards.

But it hasn’t just been the students who’ve been learning about fitness and walking. BSE staff and teachers have gotten involved by using pedometers to count how far they walk in a day as well as working on a bingo card that contains various walking activities.

Bragg said that throughout the unit, the students have been motivated and responded well to setting goals for themselves to accomplish. This is the fifth year Bragg has taught the unit and he said he plans to continue it because students have been enjoying it so much.

Students learned that different speeds of walking can affect their heart rates, Bragg said, which shows them how much of a physical activity walking can be.

“With how the world is going today, child obesity is at an all-time high,” he said.

He said he hopes his unit teaches the students the importance of fitness and how to be lifelong participants.

“Walking is a way to stay fit your entire life,” he said. “Walking is a lifetime sport.”

Comments