Students Use Sports to Power Brain Muscle

Before exercising their brains with new math problems and vocabulary words, Hallowell Elementary School students take to the school's fields, flexing and strengthening their muscles, and, according to teachers, getting the learning juices flowing.

The school's wildly popular twice-weekly morning workout program–in its third year–tackles football, hockey, soccer and more during hour-long sessions held 90 minutes before the school day begins.

Besides having fun, third-grade teacher and program mastermind Nicole Miletto, said she and organizers Eric Glemser, Hallowell's health and physical education teacher and Tami Eldridge, a literacy specialist, intend to undertake studies to prove what they already believe: That physical fitness spurs better absorption of new material. 

"It helps them stay focused," Miletto said of exercise's ability to stimulate learning.

Students are certainly paying attention to opportunities having fun playing sports with their friends. Since the morning workout began with just a dozen third-graders two years ago, it has grown to include 51 students in third- through fifth-grades this year.

Plus, 30 kids are on a waiting list, Miletto said of the volunteer-run activity, which begins in October and continues through the end of the school year. 

Fifth-grader Hannah Gurt, who began the workout program as a third-grader, said the morning exercise helps her feel more awake and ready for the tests that are typically scheduled on Wednesdays and Fridays, the same days as the workouts. 

"That's good for me too because I'm not a really good school person," Hannah said. "I'm not a girly girl. I'm a sports person and I like to exercise."

In between instructing students about how to pass a football, Glemser said that while he's seen an improvement in gym class performance from the morning workout crew, being a top-notch athlete isn't required to participate. 

"Some of the kids here aren't really great athletes," Glemser said. "We really push being active."

And Miletto, who competed in the Rock and Be Well marathon, practices what she preaches. 

"They're kind of understanding the importance of being healthy," she said. "It's great that they want to do this."

In classrooms, Miletto and Glemser encourage students to alternate sitting on exercise balls and standing on balance boards to sitting at a desk, "just so they're being active," Miletto said. 

Regardless if the physical activity helps him to learn more, fifth-grader Sam Smith said participating in the morning workout was a no-brainer.

"I did it two years in a row and I thought it was really fun," said Sam, whose favorite activity is football, or as Glemser calls it, "Covey ball," in honor of author and youth leadership proponent, Sean Covey. "I'm usually the quarterback or the running back."