When you think of kindergarten exercise, the classics probably come to mind first: four-square, somersaults, tag. But this semester, ASCEND’s youngest students explored an eclectic three-part fitness program featuring running, yoga, and the Brazilian martial art capoeira.
Kindergarteners Raymundo, Cristal, Christopher, and Nadia quickly took to the different forms. After training for several weeks, the kids participated in the Oakland Running Festival’s 100-yard Fun Run. “I almost won the race!” recalls Nadia.
“I liked it when I passed people,” says Raymundo. While the Fun Run fostered a positive competitive spirit, the kids took its health benefits most to heart. “Running makes your heart feel good!” says Christopher.
“We’re hoping that by doing these different kinds of exercises they’ll see that exercise can be fun,” says Kindergarten Teacher Lisa De Castro, “and then they will stick with them and choose to do them on a regular basis.”
As a balance to the high-energy running, De Castro and fellow kindergarten teacher Mason Marangella brought in a yoga instructor to lead the kids in basic poses, which they continued to practice throughout the semester. “Yoga was a new kind of exercise and vocabulary for most of the kids, and they really enjoyed it,” says De Castro. “Some would even practice their poses during recess.”
“I like yoga,” says Raymundo, “because there are different kinds of moves, like the cobra. It’s peaceful.”
The kids’ crash course in capoeira featured a trip to a studio in Berkeley, where the kids learned the discipline’s basics. “I like capoeira because I can do some movements I’ve never done,” says Nadia. “My sister, she’s in 5th grade, and she’s teaching me other moves too.”
In keeping with ASCEND’s commitment to cross-subject integration, De Castro and Marangella have worked music, art, culture, and history into all the exercise lessons. At the Berkeley studio, says Marangella, kids learned about the call and response music associated with capoeira, and back in the classroom they connected the exercise to its roots in Brazil. The teachers brought art into the mix as well, with students drawing healthy hearts and tracing different yoga poses.
The immersive units culminated at ASCEND’s year-end Expo, during which the kindergarteners performed a medley of songs that incorporated all three forms of exercise and paid homage to the cultures that inspired them. The students also hosted exercise “stations:” yoga in Marangella’s classroom (with students teaching parents poses); capoeira in De Castro’s room; and track out on the yard.
Based on the kids’ enthusiasm, it’s clear that the fitness focus will have the lasting impact their teachers hoped for. “I think I will do capoeira when I’m a grown-up,” reflects Nadia, “because it keeps us healthy.”
This story originally appeared in the Summer 2011 ASCEND Voice.
