Most kids don't know how valuable exercise and the habit of creating exercise as a daily routine are for their future lives. They also don't exactly have the knowledge of all the available ways to increase their physical activity each day. Instituting the Appalachian Trail Challenge will provide a "felt need" and the hope of engaging interest in being physically active through hiking and walking regularly. In school, my 6th graders are engaging in running or walking laps around our parking lot and we are tracking how many laps the classes complete to calculate the total mileage the entire class has moved over the course of a day or week. This mileage is then tracked on a map of the Appalachian Trail by using a ruler to measure the distance in miles on the map and confirming the accuracy of it using a website that lets us see exactly where we are on the trail.
The overall goal of this challenge is to reach Baxter State Park in June, which will be over 2,000 miles from the start of the trail in Georgia.
Besides tracking our mileage in school, the students have the opportunity to use available resources at home to run or walk and document their distances that will go toward their classes total mileage. To go along with using outside school time to track distance, I have created opportunities for the students and their families to go for hikes on the Appalachian Trail and other trails around our rural area that help add mileage to their classes total.
With the donations of bug spray and water bottles to be used toward our hiking adventures, it will help inspire more of my students and their families to get involved participating in the organized hikes.
About my class
Most kids don't know how valuable exercise and the habit of creating exercise as a daily routine are for their future lives. They also don't exactly have the knowledge of all the available ways to increase their physical activity each day. Instituting the Appalachian Trail Challenge will provide a "felt need" and the hope of engaging interest in being physically active through hiking and walking regularly. In school, my 6th graders are engaging in running or walking laps around our parking lot and we are tracking how many laps the classes complete to calculate the total mileage the entire class has moved over the course of a day or week. This mileage is then tracked on a map of the Appalachian Trail by using a ruler to measure the distance in miles on the map and confirming the accuracy of it using a website that lets us see exactly where we are on the trail.
The overall goal of this challenge is to reach Baxter State Park in June, which will be over 2,000 miles from the start of the trail in Georgia.
Besides tracking our mileage in school, the students have the opportunity to use available resources at home to run or walk and document their distances that will go toward their classes total mileage. To go along with using outside school time to track distance, I have created opportunities for the students and their families to go for hikes on the Appalachian Trail and other trails around our rural area that help add mileage to their classes total.
With the donations of bug spray and water bottles to be used toward our hiking adventures, it will help inspire more of my students and their families to get involved participating in the organized hikes.