Sharswood Elementary gets fit with Safe Routes Philly

Safe Routes Philly brought our unique blend of interactive pedestrian safety lessons, experiential learning demonstrations, crowd-engaging call-and-response songs and safety raps to Sharswood Elementary School at 2nd and Wolf Streets in South Philadelphia on Wednesday, October 27. The day was the keystone in Sharswood’s Spirit Week.

Dubbed “Get Fit Day”, Wednesday kicked off with a traditional Walk to School event, where parents were encouraged to walk with their children. Throughout the day, teachers led their classes on walks around the neighborhood, returning to do a walkability checklist. While some of those walks were postponed until Thursday due to rain, teachers were provided with in-class materials to help their students celebrate walking and doing it safely while staying dry.

Sharswood also hosted a community reception in their cybrary, welcoming representatives from the Philadelphia Urban Food and Fitness Alliance (PUFFA), The Food Trust, Street Smarts, and Philadelphia City Councilman-at-Large James Kenney’s office. The attendees then followed Safe Routes Philly staff to their in-class demonstrations.

Twelve classes received visits from Safe Routes Philly Youth Educator Cy Maramangalam, Community Representatives Emily Boerner and Steve Taylor, as well as Drew Preston, Physical Activity Coordinator at the School District. Cy brought fifth through eighth graders an eye-opening lesson in the importance of wearing a helmet while riding a bike. Students were paired up and given two eggs: one egg to drop with the protection of a styrofoam cup, “helmet”, and one without any padding. Needless to say the eggs without the styrofoam cup were shattered. Many kids vocalized they’d reconsider wearing a helmet from here on out.

In the kindergarten through second grade classes, Steve led fun discussions on the benefits of walking with the students and gave them a quick lesson in safe street crossing. The highlight of these visits was when Cy and Emily did vocabulary and street-sign reviews … in rap form over a funky beat!

Safe Routes Philly is excited to build on the great relationship it has developed with Sharswood and to bring these types of activities along with our custom pedestrian and bicycle safety curriculum to elementary schools throughout the City of Philadelphia.

Launch - In 3 - 2 - 1

Over the past few months our Safe Routes Philly, train the trainer, program has been developing a tremendous amount of momentum and material to begin spreading our message of pedestrian and bicycle safety to all public elementary schools in Philadelphia.

Next week we go live!

November 2nd; Safe Routes Philly presents our first professional development, in - service, day with the School District of Philadelphia at George Washington High School. We are scheduled for, 3 training sessions with Physical Education, K -8, teachers. Teachers that attend receive our teachers manual, DVD, activity books for their 2nd and 5th grade students, stickers and Act 48 credit.

Safe Routes Philly has submitted for more professional development days to be approved by the Office of Teaching and Learning at the School District for 2010.

More information and updates to come...

Back to the Schools - Safe Routes Philly at Project Learn School

The first school receiving our bike safety lesson this fall turned out to be a very special place with students who LOOOVE bikes. The Project Learn School!

The school piqued my interest when I first learned about it. This is a school that is successfully producing results through project-based learning! In fact, one class, led by Mr. Jason Huber, created an entry for the Kensington Kinetic Sculpture Derby and became the youngest team to win an award! Click here to learn more.

The school is situated in a small building, but looks are deceiving from the outside and the space inside is maximized. Sometimes, you can see quite a lot from the first impression, and a smiling face from both the staff and the students makes quite an impression, not to mention all the student work and pictures on the walls.

The group was an excited and respectful bunch of 50 students from grades 5 through 8. The lesson went very smoothly and a lot of students added to the lesson. After the lesson, I had a few interesting talks from the students. One in particular was at the end of the day with a student who was waiting for a ride. I sat next to him, and we spoke about the class, the school, and biking in general. He was very excited to show me their creation for the Kinetic Sculpture Derby. I told him how he is going to such a special school. He confidently replied, "It sure is."

Special thanks goes out to Ms. Lisa Pack helping to organize and plan for our lesson in bicycle safety. Here's to 50 more students that are now safer in the streets of Philadelphia!

Ride safe,

~Cy

Lessons are available for FREE to 5th grade classrooms in every Private, Parochial, and Charter School in Philadelphia! If you or someone you know would like us to visit a school, please contact Cy@bicyclecoalition.org. For public elementary schools, we've got a special program that will be coming to your school! Check out our website for more information.

Summer: Time to Relax? No…Time to STEP IT UP!!

At the end of the school year and the beginning of the summer season, I wondered what I’ll be doing for work. My main role with the Bicycle Coalition and with Safe Routes Philly is to go from school to school and teach 5^th graders safe and responsible bicycling. With school out of session, what was there to do?

Breen, our Education Director, quickly consoled me and said, “I’m sure we’ll find something for you.” How little I knew at the time of what the Bicycle Coalition could muster. This past summer turned out to be deliciously challenging, incredibly fun, and busy, busy, BUSY!

The summer started off with a full schedule of lessons to visit different summer camps throughout Philadelphia. Thanks to Jean Hunt and others from the Philadelphia Recreation Department, 385 children from 13 summer rec camps in the North, Northwest, South, Southwest, and West Philly areas were able to have our lesson in bicycle safety. I remember the commute on some of those days being beautiful, sunny summer days, and others in complete downpours with rain drops as big as my hand. Nevertheless, their trusty bike safety guy arrived on time and ready to teach regardless of weather conditions!

Two other special days included a lesson at New Foundations Summer Camp and at GirardCollege for a lesson with the Cadence Cycling Association.

Tiffany Searles of New Foundations invited both me and my colleague Megan Hanner – our bicycle and pedestrian curriculum creator extraordinaire – to come teach our “Egg Drop” post lesson along with our bicycle safety lesson! With eggs in ziplock bags, we had students place the eggs in Styrofoam cups (representing helmets). When dropped, many eggs remained intact! We then had them drop eggs without the Styrofoam cups. Megan counts to three and the students synchronously drop their eggs. What comes after was a unanimous exclamation of 35 students screaming “WOAAAHH!!!” The eggs were smashed. The kids visibly saw the difference between wearing a helmet and not wearing a helmet.

Cadence Cycling Foundation and Safe Routes Philly teamed up with a lesson for the cycling team on safe and responsible bicycling. Cadence is doing an awesome job in creating opportunities for youth through cycling! They are making young boys and girls into young athletes all over Philadelphia and Camden. Team cycling and racing is much different from street cycling. We had a fresh, engaging, and in depth conversation about just that.

For more information on the Cadence Cycling Foundation, visit www.cadencefoundation.org.

We were also requested by two summer camps to host a bicycle rodeo for their students. The first one was at Cohocksink Rec Center in Port Richmond, and the second at Northern Liberties Arts Camp. What a pleasure it was to see so many smiles! Check out our pictures!!

Lastly, our summer endeavors culminated with a new event which was hosted by Safe Routes Philly known as Safe Routes Philly Family Phest. Family Phest was held on the day before Bike Philly at Eakins Oval (in front of the Art Museum) an event that offered kids a chance to develop their bicycling skills, and a time for parents to connect with Philly-wide organizations that help promote healthy family living. As a first-year event, we were unsure of how the turnout would be, but in the end, we had nice showing of children and families! What a fun day. Check the pictures! The foundation has been set for years to come.

A busy summer, but wow…it was a great one! Now that we’re back in the school year, I’m back to visiting schools throughout Philadelphia. Here’s to over 450 children that are now safer in the streets of Philadelphia.

Lessons are available for FREE to 5^th grade classrooms in every Private, Parochial, and Charter School in Philadelphia! If you or someone you know would like us to visit a school, please contact Cy@bicyclecoalition.org. For public elementary schools, check here to see what's in store for you!

Another Round of Cyclist Profiles

Name: Zsuzsi
Occupation: Self-employed
Neighborhood: Queen Village
Use of bike: For work


Name: Emily and Jove
Occupation: I.T. Specialist
Neighborhood: West Philly
Use of bike: Daily commute, trips to the market
Favorite Part of Riding: No problems with parking and a feeling of freedom

Name: Darrylu
Occupation: Chef
Neighborhood: North Philadelphia
Use of bike: General transportation, commuting to work, and cross country
Favorite Part of Riding: Seeing all kinds of people while riding by…

I Bike PHL: In Action!

Here are some great action shots from the photo campaign:



Name: Matthew
Age: 25
Occupation: Bike Courier
Neighborhood: Point Breeze
Use of Bike: For work, getting' it done, fun and leisure
Favorite Part of Riding: Getting away fast



Names: Cory and Emily
Ages: 23 and 21
Occupations: Customer Service at Whole Foods Market and Babysitter
Neighborhoods: Bella Vista and Stadium District
Use of Bike: Transportation to work, to friends, and so I can show off my ripped legs
Favorite Part of Riding: It's the fastest way to get around the city



Name: Joe
Age: 42
Occupation: Bike Rider
Neighborhood: East Falls
Use of Bike: Commuting /Recreation
Favorite Part of Riding: Using the Schuylkill River Trail


Name: Emily
Age: 22
Occupation: Working at the Art Museum
Neighborhood: West Philly
Use of Bike: To get to work