Public schools across North Carolina are entering their final weeks of the year, and that means it’s testing time for students. But with childhood obesity on the rise, schools face pressure to balance test preparation with the need for physical activity throughout the school day.
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At Perry Harrison Elementary School in Pittsboro, several fifth-grade girls are playing foursquare on the basketball court, and Brynn Dodge is on a winning streak.
State policy stipulates public elementary and middle school students are guaranteed at least 30 minutes a day of physical activity, and the state encourages schools to provide several hours a week of physical education. Researchers cite recess and P.E. as important tools in the fight against childhood obesity.
According to the CDC, childhood obesity rates doubled during the past 30 years and quadrupled in teenagers. As U.S. kids’ waistlines grew, teacher Laura Fenn watched as their time for school recess and P.E. shrank.
“I was a fifth-grade teacher for a long time, and over the course of 10 or 15 years, time for P.E. and recess was continually cut or eliminated,” Fenn said. “And the kids are just so miserable sitting inside all day long. But with all the focus on testing and achievement, a lot of times, time for P.E. or recess gets replaced with classroom instruction.”
Several years ago, Fenn came up with a solution to the increasingly sedentary school day. She started recording her lessons so her students could listen to them while they walked outside.
“The kids loved it because they got to go outside. They thought they were getting out of something,” she said. “It really tapped into a learning style that many students didn’t know that they had. And so students who were not successful in a traditional setting, all of a sudden, their kinesthetic, auditory learning style was really tapped into, and they were able to participate more and really feel like a successful learner.”
In 2011 Fenn launched a podcast of pre-recorded lessons called “The Walking Classroom.” It’s being used in 700 schools across the U.S. One of those schools is Perry Harrison Elementary. The school received “The Walking Classroom” as a donation from Briar Chapel, local real-estate development company. Brynn Dodge tried it out in her class this year.
“It was a cool way to get out because we were exercising while we were learning things,” Dodge said.
The students each created their own podcasts as part of a class project inspired by “The Walking Classroom.”
Zion Verinder is a sixth-grader at Margaret B. Pollard Middle School, which also received a “Walking Classroom” donation. He said he liked the podcasts.
“It’s a nice addition to everything,” he said.
But, Verinder says, he’s not a fan of being outdoors, for the walking classroom or for recess, especially when it’s hot.
“They make us walk around the soccer field,” Verinder complained. But his mother, Julie Wagner, sees things differently.
“See I love that, as a parent,” Wagner said. “They really have the kids get up, and they have to walk around and do laps. And I live close to the school, so I see all of them, even eighth-graders, seventh-graders and sixth-graders, walking around the school and going out to the fields.”
Verinder thinks he’s getting enough P.E. He said he has the class twice a week for the rest of the year.
“That’s wonderful,” Wagner responded. “I’m so glad you have P.E., but I wish you had P.E. every day.”
Like most parents in North Carolina, and the U.S., Wagner has to settle for a few hours a week.
