Learning lifelong skills on two wheels

Youngsters at Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn Elementary are learning that you don't need to be outside to enjoy biking.

For the past two years, PE teacher Janet Prins has been engaging TK-K students with a unit on bike basics. Children learn how to balance and steer on pedal-free Strider Bikes before the pedals are added towards the end of the unit.

"The kids absolutely love these bikes," Prins said. "It doesn't matter if they know how to ride or not, they like being able to use the bikes in the gym."

H-M-S's two-wheeled fleet was made possible by the All Kids Bike Kindergarten PE Program and community support. Prins in 2020 solicited donations from local businesses and district patrons, and quickly reached her $4,000 goal.

"The response was overwhelming," she said. "I thought it would take me 3-4 months to raise the money, but I had it raised in four weeks."

Once the fundraising threshold was met, the All Kids Bike organization provided teacher training and certification, a structured eight-lesson curriculum, a fleet of Strider Bikes, pedal conversion kits, fully-adjustable helmets and a five-year support plan. Prins spent a year developing curriculum for the program, which covers a variety of basics for beginning bikers like safety, the importance of helmets, balance, spatial awareness and motor skills.

H-M-S is one of only a handful of schools in Iowa to participate in All Kids Bike Kindergarten PE Program. Prins said the value of the bikes is "huge."

"You'd be surprised how many kids don't have access to a bike or need extra help in learning how to ride," she said. "Strider Bikes let children of all abilities learn to ride on two wheels while at the same time instilling confidence in them to do it."

Prins noted that learning how to pedal isn't the main objective of the bike unit – it's all about balancing.

"Pedaling is not the most important thing, and it does not define riding a bike. Pedaling is just one means of getting the bike to move forward," she said. "If I can get a couple kids from each section to learn how to ride by the end of the unit, then that's just a bonus."