ka0use

as part of my learning to be a teacher i had to spend a week in fourth grade. 9 and 10 year olds.

first day, i rode in and put my bike in the enclosure with the the kids' bikes. some were hanging out, waiting for first bell. they looked me over and passed the word- teacher rode to school!

when my class saw my helmet i got serious street cred. had to wait until lunch to talk bikes and i had a captivated audience. not talking about me, but THEM and THEIR bikes.

oh, man, i can work a crowd.

next day most of my class rode in- and wanted to ride with me far, far away from school. they rode all week (weather was super, too), others lived too far away or parents didn't feel comfortable with them on the streets.

took me 2 days to put names to 26 faces- and they tested me each day. it was important to them for me to know who they were. lesson learned.
in the past year i have run across 2 of them and told them i remembered them and their names. bet they took those encounters back to school and told their other classmates.

the school is a magnet school and the kids get little time to be a kid. 15 minute lunch, no naps for the younger ones, 15 minute recess. some classes are short- art, gym, band, all a half hour.

i wanted badly to have a couple of saturdays doing a bike/trike riding safety course. zig-zag around cones, hand signals, head checks, stop signs/lights, etc.

Garfield Cat

Great way to bond. And to teach about helmet safety. Now tell them what's in the water bottle.