FILE: Over 700 schools nationwide are teaching kids to ride a bike. (Jason Olson)
DRAPER, Utah — Seven hundred schools around the U.S. are teaching elementary school kids how to ride bikes. Now, kindergarteners from Draper’s Saint John the Baptist Elementary School are among them.
The program, All Kids Bike, is a mission from the Strider Education Foundation to teach every kindergartener in America how to ride a bike in P.E. class.
Supplies consist of fleet of 24 bikes, pedal conversion kits, helmets, one teacher instruction bike and certified curriculum teacher training. Saint John the Baptist plans to have kids riding by their eighth lesson.
“The ability to ride a bike develops physical and mental well-being and instills confidence which can lead to better focus in the classroom,” said Lisa Weyer, executive director of the Strider Education Foundation in a press release.
Accordingly, the elementary plans to teach 72 students annually. The supplies have a life span of up to 10 years, meaning over 700 students will benefit from the program in the next decade.
The Saint John the Baptist Elementary School PE Teacher, Jen Hall, is who applied for the program. Hall shared her excitement in a press release.
“The All Kids Bike program will add diversity to our current PE curriculum,” said Hall. “The goal is to create a culture of love for exercise that students can maintain throughout their entire life,”
Additionally, children who previously wouldn’t have had the opportunity to learn how to ride a bike, now will. As a result, the children will learn to focus on motor skills, balance and coordination.