EAST ST LOUIS –During a pandemic, everyone can benefit from stress reduction. Research shows that physical activity helps children reduce stress and anxiety.
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David Kober, a PreK - 4th grade PE teacher in East St. Louis School District 189, has embraced the challenge of getting his students physically active from home during virtual learning. He is exploring new and creative ways to incorporate movement into virtual classes.
“My students only have PE once every 4 days so I constantly tell them how important it is to be physically active at home. Even if it is for a short time, they need to get up and move every day. And being physically active is important for physical, emotional, and social health,” said Kober.
Kober has been providing his students with a variety of activities from mindfulness yoga to Zumba dance parties. “ [Doing yoga virtually] is a challenge because it is harder to stress to them the importance of breathing and being calm and focusing, ” said Kober. Participating in Zumba has been more successful for his students and David says that “My kids love it and have always loved it.”
Another way that David is getting his students engaged from home is with Unruly Splats. Last year, David introduced Unruly Splats to his students as a way to bring STEM into his PE curriculum. Splats are programmable floor buttons that students code to light up, make sounds, and collect points when they are stepped on. They combine physical activity with block-coding for kids to create their own games that can be played at home or in the classroom.
“Splats are a new exciting tool for my students to get moving,” said Kober. “Last year, students were using Splats to play some of the pre-loaded games like whack-a-mole and red splat, green splat. The students really enjoyed collaborating with their peers and stomping on the colorful floor tiles,” said Kober.
In the virtual curriculum, Kober introduces the Found Art Sculpture game. In this Splats game, students have a limited amount of time to find specific colored objects around their home based on what the randomized code displays (red, green, purple, or blue). Then, they have to use these objects to make a creative sculpture. “We love to mix creativity and movement.” Kober added.
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