Fun and Games Are All Indoors at Richey Elementary

Alyia Bierworth stood in a classroom at Thursday and danced.

It was the first physical education class of the new semester for Alyia and others in her 5^th grade class. The day’s first activity was a round of “Just Dance,” a Nintendo Wii video game in which players try to mimic the dance moves of a game character.  The students on Thursday danced to "I Like to Move It" by Reel 2 Real.

Richey Elementary School doesn’t have a playground or outside athletic field anymore. They were razed to accommodate the roughly two-year construction of the new Richey Elementary campus.

The project has consumed space on part of the property as students continue classes on the current campus. There are portables where the playground once stood, and the only grassy areas to run around in are little patches outside classrooms.

So, physical education classes are being held indoors all school year. There's basically no recess.

This is what the first P.E. session for Alyia and her 5th grade classmates looked like:

A dance and a demonstration of “Wii Sports” videogame (Wii bowling today) in an air-conditioned room. The introduction to another air-conditioned room full of workout machines. A discussion of what’s to come.

It’s going to be a challenge to hold P.E. classes indoors all year, said Emily Butler, a physical education teacher. But there’s no longer anywhere on campus for kids to run around.

So the kids will do athletic activities inside. And exercise with active games on the Wii consoles. Students in 3^rd, 4^th  and 5^th grades can use the workout machines, which were donated by the franchise owner of a local Curves gym that went out of business.

“We’re going to make the most of it,” Butler told the students. “But we’re going to need your help.” She needs to kids to keep up a good attitude, she said.

Butler and , a former Gulf High football coach who now also teaches P.E. at Richey Elementary, will alternate use of the exercise machines for their classes.

Students will be able to make a circuit around the room and use the exercise equipment at each of nine stations. Donated equipment include a leg extension and curl device, hip adductor, squat machine and a bicep and tricep machine.  

At each station, one student uses a machine for 30 seconds. Another jogs in place for 30 seconds. And a third rests for 30 seconds.  Then, the students rotate so that one moves onto the next machine, one jogs, and so forth. The circuit takes nine minutes to complete, not counting breaks.  

Alyia said she likes “everything” about the new setup. With one misgiving: She said she wished “we could have, like, a little area where we could just run around in a little circle.”

Sierra Hesketh, Alyia’s clasmate, concurred, but said:

“I love the Wii, and I love the fitness, and I love the air conditioning.”

Elijah McGovern joned another student in asking what would become of the end-of-year teachers vs. 5th graders kickball game. He plays kickball in his spare time.

The school will have to figure that out, Butler replied.

"I do like it (the new set-up)a lot," he said. "I just miss the full space."

The new Richey Elementary campus completely replaces the aging current one, and the three-phase project will cost $15.6 million. When the 2012/2013 school year starts, the new campus’s classrooms, media center and administration offices will be open.

Richey Elementary, a Title One school, is to add a playground to the new campus. Principal Ken Miesner said roughly $35,000 has been raised so far. Another $15,000 is expected to come from a Pasco School district matching donation. The minimum the school needs for the playground is $60,000, but Miesner wants to buy shade canopies for the area. The extra cost raises the total fundraising goal to $90,000.

The school is also looking for stationary exercise machines and Wii games. If anyone would like to make a contribution toward anything, they may call Miesner at (727) 774-3500.