Learning new skills just child’s play

New program helps Ocean View district students learn key skills, stay fit while playing outside. Let’s play ball.

Every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon, all 120 first-graders at Harbour View Elementary School get to spend the last session of the day playing outside, and most of them don’t even realize they’re learning.

They are taking part in Sports, Play, and Active Recreation for Kids, or SPARK, a program funded by a federal grant and designed to meet physical education needs and curriculum standards for primary students in the 21st century.

Until the program was started at Harbour View and all the other Ocean View School District elementary schools last spring, teachers were responsible for coming up with their own physical education curriculum.

Pamela Vander Ham, a first-grade teacher at Harbour View, said teachers already have a lot of planning to do in order to meet state standards for the other subjects. Having the physical education program laid out for them makes it easier to focus on classroom activities.

“It’s really exciting,” she said of the program. “It makes it easier for us to get excited about it ... when there is something to kind of lead you and guide you.”

Vander Ham attended a few program’s training sessions and then trained the other teachers.

“Basically [in training] we did what the kids were doing.” Vander Ham said. “What better way to learn than to do it yourself?”

The program starts with a few minutes of simple stretching. Students then break off into their own classes and do one of six activities: hula hoop, jump rope, bean bags, balls, parachute, and skill-developing games. The program includes multiple activities and specific guidelines for teachers to follow while doing the various activities.

The idea is that students meet the state physical education requirements while having fun and learning important skills such as teamwork, balance and hand-eye coordination.

Vander Ham said learning the skills are important for the students, because lot of them don’t partake in extracurricular sports or get a lot of outdoor play time.

“It’s good for their basic motor skills,” said Heather Perry, another first-grade teacher at Harbour View. Perry said it’s great for the children because they don’t even realize they’re learning. “They just think they’re out there playing.”

* LINDSAY SANDHAM covers education and public safety. She can be reached at (714) 966-4625 or lindsay.sandham @latimes.com.

20060119it9fxkncKENT TREPTOW / INDEPENDENT(LA)Leelee Nunn, 6, laughs as she tries to bounce balls off of a parachute with other students at Habour View Elementary School on Tuesday. The exercise was part of the Sports Play and Active Recreation for Kids, or SPARK, a program designed to help schoolchildren develop important skills.