Schools take tech route to getting kids to exercise
Physical education classes at West Babylon Junior High School use Nintendo Wii and PlayStation 2 consoles to play fitness-related video games like "Dance Dance Revolution."
In Lynbrook, high-schoolers improve their reflexes using a Cybex Trazer, an interactive machine in which reaction times and agility drive on-screen actions.
The two schools are part of a growing number on Long Island mixing technology and exercise to motivate kids.
"It's definitely a trend," said Colleen Corsi, executive director of the New York State Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance. "Young people are so attuned to technology - it's how they interact. In order to engage them, teachers use these mediums."
About 51 percent of K-12 physical education teachers nationwide will use fitness technology in their classes this year, and 32 percent will use video games, according to the National Association for Sport and Physical Education. With "minimal budgets," many local schools have been pursuing grants to help fund their high-tech items, Corsi said.
Since the 1990s, Bay Shore Middle School has used heart-rate monitors - supplied by Lake Success-based company Polar - that consist of a chest sensor and a wristwatch that displays a student's heart rate as he or she exercises. The longer kids hit their target heart rate - generally 135 to 175 beats a minute - the better the evaluation they receive.
"If they're not in the zone, it negatively affects their grades," said phys ed teacher Ted Nagengast. "It makes the kids much more accountable."
John F. Kennedy Middle School in Bethpage also uses monitors and asks kids to compete "against themselves."
"We don't use them daily, because they lose their novelty," health teacher Mary Padalino said. "But typically, if it involves computers, kids are all for it."
BAY SHORE
Essay contest
Bay Shore High School freshmen Tim Batura and Kwaku Owusu were named second- and third-place winners, respectively, of a recent essay contest sponsored by Hofstra University's National Center for Suburban Studies and Eastern Suffolk BOCES. In the essays, the students explained how Long Island's diversity is key to its social and economic survival.
They received $1,000 and $500 prizes, respectively.
EAST ISLIP
Going batty
John F. Kennedy Elementary School students learned the importance of bats to the environment last month during a visit from representatives of the Cornell Cooperative Extension of Suffolk County in Riverhead.
Eighty third-graders viewed a bat skeleton and discussed how the mammals can kill up to 1,000 mosquitoes an hour and how their droppings can serve as effective fertilizer. Students built wooden bat houses to hang in their backyards.
"Many children tend to be scared of bats when they don't need to be," third-grade teacher Carol Wilson said.
LAKE RONKONKOMA
Bumper stickers
Madeline Kirchoff, a second-grader at Hiawatha Elementary School in the Sachem school district, was honored last month for winning first place in a statewide art contest coordinated by the New York Association for Pupil Transportation. Her winning design, which featured the motto "Stop 4 the bus," will be used on bumper stickers to be distributed at various state facilities.
Kaitlyn Lauro, a third-grader at Hiawatha, was awarded third place in the contest.
LINDENHURST
Ranked 7th by magazine
Lindenhurst public schools ranked seventh nationwide in a recent report on the most affordable ZIP codes with the best schools published by Business Week magazine in conjunction with the real estate Web site Cyberhomes. The report studied home values and test scores, the district said.
WEST BABYLON
National Day on Writing
The West Babylon district's seven schools celebrated freedom of expression last month through writing activities for National Day on Writing, sponsored by the National Council of Teachers of English. At the elementary level, students scrawled comments on paper "graffiti walls" that were later displayed at the high school. Speakers at the junior high and high school included retired ABC News editor Melvin McCray and two editors of Scholastic Scope, a teen-oriented classroom magazine.
"Writing is an integral part of life from shopping lists to blogs," said Carol Varsalona, district director of language. "We want to create a lifelong love of it."
ISLANDWIDE
Writers recognized
Twelve Long Island high school juniors were among 544 students nationwide to receive recent achievement awards in writing from the National Council of Teachers of English: Bellmore: Michelle Dimino of Mepham High School; East Setauket: Julia Deng, Shelby Lin and Wenxiao Zhang of Ward Melville High School; Garden City: Allison Shen and Emily Tudisco of Garden City High School; Great Neck: Rachel Dicker and Shelli Gimelstein of Great Neck South High School; New Hyde Park: Leah Pupkin of Herricks High School; Syosset: Teena Nawabi of Syosset High School; Cathy Wilshusen of Our Lady of Mercy Academy; Smithtown: Taylor Rinefierd of Smithtown West High School. -
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- gts2525
- 10/27/09
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