On arrival at school, each class parked their bikes and helmets carefully and safely and a day of bike related activities ensued. Classes had previously prepared for the day by doing cycle safety lessons. All classes from junior to 6th including our 3 classes for children with an Autistic Spectrum Disorder moved throughout many stations which covered a variety of learning opportunities across many curricular areas. These included a bike obstacle course, a slow bike race, writing tasks, word searches, hidden pictures, label bike parts, spelling and picture match relays, STEM task to create a bike that could stand alone, art task to design a bike that would stand out, shape match task for younger classes, bike safety song/videos, design/decorate a helmet art activity and map your route taken to school. Children who didn’t have bikes had the opportunity to engage in the obstacle course and slow bike race using borrowed bikes and great kindness and cooperation was shown. Some children reported feeling better about riding a bike and everyone had the opportunity to get involved. Tasks were differentiated according to class level and abilities.
Costs incurred on the day included craft and building supplies for 360 children as well as prizes of locks, lights, water bottles, bike gloves, pencil cases which were distributed per class as raffle prizes etc. Many thanks to Wicklow Co. Co for funding these costs
.
A great day was had by all. Huge success thanks to parent and staff support and of course the enthusiasm and energy of the children. We look forward to seeing our numbers of cyclists increase as local infrastructure changes to support them.