Have you heard about the East
School Mileage Club?
It's the latest recess
craze at East School! Organized by our East School guidance counselor, Ms.
Beall-Gomes, the Mileage Club is
open to all students at East School during lunch-recess. The field has been
lined to mark a 1/8th mile lap. Students can spend part of their recess time walking, running, skipping, or hopping
the loop, counting their laps along the way. Eight laps total one mile - East
students of all ages will tell you that now! And for every mile, students
receive a colorful foot charm for their Mileage Club chain so they
can watch their miles accumulate over the year. Each Friday, students are invited to wear their Mileage Club chains
and feet at school to celebrate their miles and our Mileage Club community at East.
(Please note that Mileage Club chains and
feet should remain safe at home on all other
school days – this is for safety, to avoid distractions in the classroom,
and to prevent hurt feelings from lost chains.)
In just our first few
weeks of Mileage Club, the data is impressive - 85 out of 125 fourth
graders were tallied doing laps on the field one day last week! The miles are
adding up already. Teaching assistants are lending a hand with supervision and
we have a class of students that will be tallying the totals each Friday. It is
a school-wide effort.
Why the Mileage Club?
It continues our attention this year to School Climate initiatives. Recess can
be an overwhelming time of day for some children; it's a busy time on the
playground, yet an unstructured time. While it is wonderful for young children
to have the open time, for some students, navigating the social environment can
be challenging. The Mileage Club offers an experience that
offers children an activity that they can join as an individual, with a
partner, or with a group of friends. As a Mileage Club participant
at recess, one child can walk alongside another and make a new friend. And with
so many children happily engaged in their laps, fewer recess altercations or
behavioral issues have been noted. All with health and physical fitness
benefits as well.
This fall weather is a
perfect time to get started (if we could just keep the rainy days away) -
encourage your child to head on out to the Mileage Club for a
few laps each day!
