Students, parents on the move during ‘Family Fitness Night’

BY FRANCESCA SAGALA

After a two-year hiatus, the mini winter Olympics were back at New Buffalo Elementary School during Family Fitness Night, which took place in the gym Thursday, Jan. 26.

“It was something kids and parents enjoyed - I like to see fitness bleed out into the community,” Erica Johnson, elementary school gym teacher, said.

Principal Adam Bowen said that there were about 275 people who came through the gym that night, which is the most they’ve had for the event in its three years of existence.

Having the parents participate with the students is important, he added.

“What we want to do is engage with the families and have them participate with us…It’s not talking to them, they’re actually engaged in the event,” Bowen said.

The night required parents and children to move around the gym, which had different stations boasting a variety of fitness activities. Activities, which were carefully chosen to encourage movement in certain parts of the body, included crawling through tunnels, climbing up and down on the “Wall of Mats” and swinging back and forth on a rope that was hanging from the ceiling. Students scaled a rockclimbing wall to promote upper body and grip strength. At the “Hippity Hop” station, students learned lower body strength by hopping on big bouncy balls from one end of the gym to the next. At the “Scooter Pull,” students took a ride on a scooter and could pull using their upper body, lifting their legs or, for an extra challenge, laying on their backs.

Johnson said she uses equipment that she’s been accumulating through the years for the event and thanked the high school for letting her borrow equipment as well as the district’s administration for purchasing equipment through the years.

The activities were set up in an American Ninja Warrior style course.

Students gear up for the event by participating in similar activities in gym class for two weeks throughout the school year: One week in November and then, this year, the week before the fitness night.

The course involves making students feel brave and that they can “overcome things that are a struggle or hard” and achieve their goals.

“We talk about goals, and we end the week with ‘I Am a Warrior’ – no matter what you do, did you accomplish something, were you successful,” Johnson said, adding that students also sign a wall.

Johnson makes a video of the students doing “cool things” and then lets the students watch themselves being a “warrior on TV.”

Since students like games, Johnson will often put skills within “game mode.”

“When you hide the skill in the game, kids don’t know if they’re just constantly throwing at a target…In this day and age, where kids are in front of screens a lot, they need to have the love of movement and I hope that’s what I‘m fostering in students,” she said.

Currently, students receive 35 to 45 minutes of gym class twice a week.

In addition to weekly gym classes, students in kindergarten through fifth grade have also participated in special activities to keep their bodies moving, such as Bike to School Day in May, field day and the nationwide Jump Rope for Heart event, which raises money for the American Heart Association.