Edgewood Elementary School
Location: Yardley, PA
Contact: Joe Gallo, Justin Fee, Tom Stoddart

Students at Edgewood have been using POLAR heart rate monitors for many years now. The focus of the program is to teach the children about their heart and that it is their individual behaviors that effect this important muscle. It is their personal responsibility to learn how to take care of it for a lifetime.

Grades 3 to 5 use the machines to help to get this health-related fitness message across. The students begin in the 3rd grade playing games and activities that will illustrate their direct effect on the heart. These games are designed to increase and decrease the heart rate and provide the children with immediate feedback. We tell the kids that "they are their own video game." "Try to score some bonus points and raise your level." The students collect data and then discuss the results. The classes learn the basics of how to train your heart muscle successfully. They also learn good habits of exercise as they play activities long enough to get their heart rate to a variety of levels. These lessons establish a basic understanding for future heart rate analysis.

The 4th and 5th grade students bring their heart rate knowledge to a higher level. These upper elementary classes begin to learn more about F.I.T.T. and target heart rate. WE use the Fitness Education Pyramid to teach exercise zones/levels for different results. The Pyramid colors are easy to remember and visual for the children. Fitness units include daily use of the heart rate monitor, collection of heart data, and analysis and evaluation of the information. The students will relate the types of activities that they perform and the effect on heart rate and long term fitness. In class comparisons are made between specific fitness activities as well as sport-related activities. How will these help us to create the most desired level of health?

4th and 5th grade classes play heart rate basketball, heart rate hockey, heart rate handball, the science of soccer, and other sport related games to retrieve data and play at levels that can benefit their cardiovascular fitness as they play. Students wear the heart rate monitors for a variety of different lessons throughout the school year. We also use the heart obstacle course developed by Beth Kirkpatrick to help extend the knowledge of the parts of the heart.

Heart rate monitors are a terrific tool that are easy to use even at the elementary. My students have class only once per five-day cycle so it is vital that these students learn to apply concepts of fitness to help them be healthy adults. I do not have the opportunity to directly effect their fitness level during the limited class time. This is often an argument to not use the machines. On the contrary it is exactly why we need to use them. It is very apparent to students how they influence their heart rate and even where they stand "fitness-wise." My 3rd to 5th graders are expected to get ready to play in under 3 minutes when using heart rate monitors. They are given some instant activity as an incentive to get ready and most are playing in under one minute. My favorite quote is " Mr.G, what can't we use these machines for?" That is a good question.