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SuperCyclist Training on Scooters! |
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Wednesday, 04 October 2006 |
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Patricia
McAlpin has been teaching the SuperCyclist program since 2000. She is a teacher
at Longs Creek
Elementary School in San
Antonio, recently arrived from Plano. She is a super teacher who organizes
bike rodeos and creates fun, interactive games to teach bicycle safety.
Patti has graciously agreed to share some of her ideas
and experiences teaching SuperCyclist Bicycle Safety. Thank you Patti! By Patrica McAlpin - 2006
We always start out our Bicycle Safety week by watching the Zamboni short film. During the week we have some fun relays with bike rules and bike parts. There are so many good lessons during Bicycle Safety week. Our favorite one is the Bicycle Course which is usually held towards the end of the week. Not all children have a bike, so we set up a course in the gym using scooter boards. The children sit on the scooter and travel through the course. We use orange cones with directional signs on them. There are multiple turns and stops.
There is a freeway where they can go as fast as their feet can push. The children must show their hand signals at each intersection. We usually don't have enough scooters for all the children to ride through at the same time, so we make some of them police officers. Their job is to monitor the students hand signals and give tickets for not obeying traffic signs. We varied this once and had the police officers trade places with the rider. Unfortunately, this is not how it is done in the real world so we switched back. When a scooter gets back to the starting position, the student trades places with a police officer. We stress to the students that riding a bike is just like driving a car. All traffic signs must be obeyed at all times. Cars use signals to let other cars know what they are planning to do. Bike riders need to do the same. Our week culminates with a Bike Rodeo. The children bring their bikes and helmets. They have their helmets checked by Officer Keogh, our Safety Officer, and then ride through a course which is painted on the parking lot. This is a fun event and is looked forward to each year. –
We give our applause to Patti for her creativity and dedication to teaching bicycle safety and making a tremendous difference in the lives of her students! Thank you Patti for contributing your ideas and pictures! |
