By Aimee Sachs | The Marietta Daily Journal |
Schools in Cobb County are doing their part to fight childhood obesity and enhance their physical education classes, and three have received accolades by the campaign started by first lady Michelle Obama.
Bells Ferry, Smyrna and Mountain View elementary schools have been named National Recognition Award winners by the “Let’s Move!” campaign to end child obesity. About 700 schools were recognized nationally, with 53 of them in Georgia.
Mountain View PE teacher Brian Devore credits the school’s active Parent Teacher Association’s Health and Wellness Committee being instrumental in “a total team effort here at Mountain View.”
Devore, who has taught physical education for 25 years, seven of them at Mountain View, said the school already had a quality PE program before registering for “Let’s Move!” in 2012.
“We try our best to bring new things to our students,” Devore said. “It’s not the same thing every day.”
Students at Mountain View aren’t always confined to their desks during class, getting up to exercise for a few minutes in between lessons for “brain breaks.”
A before-school program called “Morning Milers” has taken off at Mountain View in recent years. Students can walk or jog around the track before school while the teachers tie in geography and math by tallying how many miles the school walks as a group.
Devore has started to incorporate a children’s version of CrossFit workouts into his classes, teaching students teamwork and different ways to exercise.
“We want our kids to leave elementary school having the basic skills so they feel comfortable picking up any activity,” Devore said.
A former Mountain View student who is now in middle school sent Devore a note thanking him recently.
“He said he appreciated us giving him so many opportunities he was given to work hard in PE,” Devore said, “and said all the kids from Mountain View blow the other kids out of the water in PE.”
Schools don’t necessarily need to register for “Just Move!” to offer a higher quality of physical education. The gym at Mt. Bethel Elementary is decked out with pogo sticks, unicycles, aerobic step boxes and a rock-climbing wall.
“Our program has evolved over the years,” Mt. Bethel PE teacher Theresa Collins said.
Pogo sticks were introduced last spring and are for grades two and up, though Collins thinks some of the first-graders might be heavy enough to try it this spring.
Students can go from station to station trying out different skills from bowling to hula-hoops.
“That way we can handle more children and they can practice their skills,” Collins said.
The gym also has a power bar students can climb using their upper bodies, in addition to basketball and cornhole games.
“We like to appeal to everybody, not just the athletes,” Collins said.
Like Mountain View, Mt. Bethel offers physical activities before school.
“When they get to school, they can report straight to the gym,” Principal Jessica Appleyard said. “Kids can go on days they don’t have PE.”
Morning clubs include jump rope, baton twirl, gymnastics and unicycle, which is only offered before school.
“It’s fun and engaging, but there’s a true purpose to it,” Appleyard said. “We’re a high-performing school.”
Cobb County requires 90 hours of health and physical education combined annually, which is 100 minutes of physical education per week and 50 minutes of health education per week.
