Wednesday’s bike day was a major success! We had students from beginning level to advance participate. We a few students this past weekend, spend time learning how to ride their bikes for this event. We send a big ” Yahoo” to those achievers. We began the day with the 5th-grade students riding on the bike course and then off to Cornwall Park. We had three parent volunteers and we are so thankful for their help! Next, Mary from Smart Trips gave an assembly for the 2nd—4th grade students at the lower school. It was a perfect reminder about how to make sure you are safely prepared to ride your bike and to make sure your bike is safe to ride. 2nd—4th grade students had the opportunity to ride through “St. Paul’s Neighborhood” and practice obeying the traffic signals, riding on the right side of the road, and using hand signals when turning. Not only were our students practicing bike safety, they were also getting a great workout! More than one students said, “We should ride bikes EVERYDAY!” We couldn’t agree more. We reviewed bike safety with 7th grade then rode through Cornwall two times and followed up the ride with a student-led conversation about places they recommended to ride for a variety of skill levels. And finally, the 6th grade was the last class of the day reviewing again bike safety, riding to Cornwall Park, and finishing up with a discussion about places the students recommend to ride. All and all a very busy day, but highly rewarding for all.
We would like to thank the upper school staff and high school drivers for being so accommodating while the upper school parking in the back was closed for the course. The lunch staff also had to deal with bikes in the gym as well as bikes on the field. Thank you for helping support the safety of the riders and the lunch kids. Thank you to all the teachers who rearranged their schedules to accommodate the bike classes. And finally a big shout out to SmartTrips for making this possible. They do such a great job every year talking about bike safety, encouraging young riders, as well as accommodating the needs of our school (including the middle school on trail rides)! It takes a village to make an event like this successful.
Happy Riding!
