How many steps?

This week in third grade we are doing several lessons with pedometers. The children are trying numerous activities and learning how many steps each activity takes. The children also guessed how many steps they should be getting every day, and how many adult needs. Turns out children between the ages of 6-12 need approximately 12,000-15,000 steps every day to be at a healthy activity level. Adults need 10,000. Hmmmmm... the children wondered why adults need less. And how come it takes less steps to run if you are faster? And why don't I get many steps when I do crunches and push-ups? Lots of theories to discuss!

Climb Away!

The JK children had a chance to climb on our climbing wall this week for the first time this year. It was awesome to see how strong and confident they were. Some children took a bit of time to figure out how to get up and get going, but once they make some progression in one direction, they seem to just "get it." Our climbing wall is actually a traversing wall which means they climb horizontally instead of vertically. The children have to keep their feet below a big red line so they are a safe distance off the ground. There is also a nice cushy mat for their landing. The children know that just like in gymnastics when we jump, we should try to land on our feet. I wish we had this piece of equipment when I was growing up...