DEL.ICIO.USMorningside students get the jump on exercise
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Thursday, May 14, 2009
At an ungodly hour on Wednesday morning, third-, fourth- and fifth-graders trickle into the Morningside Elementary School gym, dropping back packs and picking up jump ropes.
Just like that, this once quiet place fills with the beat of 1980s dance music; the syncopated clack of a double-Dutch routine; the high-pitched whistle of a rope whipping around an 11-year-old doing freestyle tricks.
VINO WONG / vwong@ajc.com
PE teacher Aly Nussear gathers her students for some jump rope exercise at Morningside Elementary.
VINO WONG / vwong@ajc.com
Graham Russell, 11, loves to jump rope and after seeing a team performed from another school, he decided to petition others to join him and enlisted the support of his PE teacher to start a club at Morningside.
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Rebecca Pruitt, Morningside’s principal, watches with glee. This exercise program and students like 11-year-old Graham Russell, she said, are part of what makes the Atlanta school special.
Graham, who’s been jumping rope for years to strengthen his legs and increase his stamina in soccer, football and basketball, got the idea for the class after watching a jump rope team perform at his school.
“I saw how good those kids were and wondered if we could do the same thing,” he said.
He then enlisted the help of his physical education teacher Aly Nussear. She jumped on the idea, opening up classes twice a week at 7:30 a.m.
“In one practice we got 100 kids,” Graham said. “I was really proud of that.”
Nussear and Pruitt were, too.
Given the nation’s alarming rates of childhood obesity and juvenile-onset diabetes, it seemed a natural fit for Morningside, which prides itself for having made “wellness” part of its curriculum. Besides PE classes, Morningside enjoys sugar-free Wednesdays, fresh fruit Fridays and staff exercise days.
On a recent Wednesday, 50 turned out for jump rope. Corrine Polo, 8, jumps alone as fast as she can. Mary Anglin and Elizabeth Lansing, both 9, do a fancy jump and turn inside the rope; Grove Fish, 11, makes some moves. At 7:40, Nussear gathered them in the center of the floor.
If you want to show your tricks, she says, line up and do your thing. Every one of them get in line — Graham included.
The fifth-grader has loved jumping rope since third grade when a friend showed him a trick.
“It’s good exercise,” he said, “and a really good way to meet other kids and make friends.”
Perhaps, but according to Nussear, it’s the show-and-tell that the kids really like.
“A lot of their motivation is to show off,” she said.
Maybe, but for Grove, showing off has nothing to do with it.
“For me, it’s just fun,” he said.
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