Second grade isn’t usually the time youngsters learn the
importance of going the distance, giving it your all, and staying
healthy for life. But the children in Angie Bellino’s class at Ladd
Lane School are one step ahead of the game. Miles ahead,
actually.
Hollister – Second grade isn’t usually the time youngsters learn the importance of going the distance, giving it your all, and staying healthy for life. But the children in Angie Bellino’s class at Ladd Lane School are one step ahead of the game. Miles ahead, actually.
Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday morning, the 30 second-graders in Bellino and fellow teacher Stacey Bonura’s classes run one mile around the school field to learn about perseverance and the importance of exercising for life.
They do squats, stretch their quads, do a round of jumping jacks, and shake out their arms and legs on the tetherball courts to warm up.
“Remember, no cutting corners!” their teacher, Angie Bellino says. “And don’t sprint right when you start, or you won’t have the energy to make it through all four laps.”
And then they’re off, the inevitable few sprinting right out of the gate, but most pacing themselves as they start their morning run around the field.
Bellino’s is one of several second grade classes at Ladd Lane that makes the mile-long run three times every week.
“We’re teaching them about perseverance and about exercise as a lifestyle,” said Bellino, who ran the New York Marathon on Nov. 7th and is passing the lessons she learned on to her students. “Being a teacher, it’s such a great opportunity, working with kids, to teach them about how important exercise and health are,” she said.
Bellino and Bonura’s classes started running a few months ago with two laps, or half a mile, around the field, three times a week. Each month they add another lap, and the two teachers hope to have their students running eight laps, or two miles, by the end of the year.
This is the second year Bellino, 24, has used running as part of her class curriculum. She and Bonura said while some kids aren’t exactly thrilled to be running the mile three times a week, most enjoy it, and the ones who don’t still run.
“Most of them like it. It gives them a chance to be out there with their friends, and some of the girls just stay in groups and chat. But it’s good exercise, and they need it. Too much television,” said Bonura.
In fact, Bonura said, children need a note from a parent if they’re not going to run.
At the end of every month, Bellino and Bonura time the kids, and the top ten fastest get their names posted on the school bulletin board.
As the kids finish the mile, they stretch some more, walk a few laps around the thetherball court, and wait for their classmates. After every student has run his or her four laps, they all gather on the courts again to do sit-ups and push-ups before going back to the classroom.
They huff and puff as they line up to head back, but few complain.
“I like running because it will make me be faster than my brother,” explained Aaron, a student in Bellino’s class.
Riley, another of Bellino’s students, said running has made him better at football, and his classmate Sarah said she would still be running when she’s 50.
Bellino said parents’ reactions have been good, too.
“I had a parent who said her daughter was having trouble in gymnastics with cartwheels, and she was able to use the marathon as an example of how if you really persevere you can accomplish your goals,” she said.
Almost all of Bellino’s students said they would like to run a marathon one day, which is 26.2 miles, or about 105 laps around the school field. In preparation, most said they’d be running over summer vacation and keeping it up next year.
In fact, some said they’d keep running until they were very old indeed.
“Until I’m my parents’ age,” explained one.
Jessica Quandt is a staff writer for the Free Lance. Reach her at 831-637-5566 ext. 330 or at [email protected].
