
Ostrom also notices that it jump-starts their preparedness for school, and says, “For kids, the organizational piece of having to pull yourself together … There’s no doubt that you’re organizing yourself to start off the school day right and on the right foot. First off, biking wakes students’ brains up.

LB STEM Principal Ben Ostrom, a daily bike commuter himself, says he sees the educational benefits for students being twofold. “Riding a bike around the city can be a little bit intimidating because you have to understand the traffic patterns and the crossing … and how to coexist with the cars on the public street … So we get the opportunity to simulate crosswalks, simulate exactly where you should look, what the hand signals are, and everything so the kids can feel safe.” Though initially nervous at the thought of commuting to school on their bikes, Avery marvels at how many of his students “cross that barrier” during the program and remarks, “That’s something that I’m excited to pass on to the kids.” LB STEM PE teacher Tim Avery describes how he’ll begin preparing students for the freedom biking can provide. The “Let’s Go” bike program is funded for the next five years ($2.1 million) by the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT). Louisa Boren STEM K–8 elementary school students at the beginning of their first bike safety lesson. Suddenly you can explore a little further, you can learn your neighborhood.” Paul Tolmé, Cascade Bicycle Club’s media manager who pulled up at LB STEM on an e-bike to help unload the blue bikes, said, “Bicycles are just happiness, right? … As a child, learning to ride a bike is also this feeling of freedom and liberation. An SPS press release states, “In addition to the physical fundamentals of helmet safety, balancing, steering, pedaling, and stopping, Let’s Go teaches kids the rules of safe and courteous riding along with skills to cross a street at intersections.”Ĭascade Bicycle Club - a statewide bicycle advocacy group whose many youth bike initiatives include the Major Taylor Project, Bike to School Month, riding and maintenance classes, and various summer camps - provides the curriculum for SPS’ physical education (PE) educators, who then utilize their relationships with their buildings’ students to make sure it lands.



Knitting lessons los angeles.In early November, a big green trailer pulled up, parked, and disgorged dozens of blue kids’ bikes at Louisa Boren STEM K–8 (LB STEM) in West Seattle, the first of Seattle Public Schools’ (SPS) 71 elementary schools that will benefit from the Let’s Go bike program this year.įor the next three weeks, third to fifth graders will learn everything they’ll need to know about how to bike to school by themselves.
