New rock climbing wall gives students a leg up on independence
New rock climbing wall gives students a leg up on independence
Colonial Elementary School students are scaling their way to strength, stamina, and resilience, thanks to a new rock climbing wall in the gym.
The traverse wall — funded through a $5,000 grant from the Colonial School District Education Foundation, a $10,000 donation from the CES PTO, and a $6,000 donation from Linda and Tom Doll — is something students were excited to try during a recent physical education class with teacher Geoff Bram.
Mr. Bram began class by explaining to the students that a traverse wall is different from a bouldering or lead climbing wall, which are meant to be climbed up and require harnesses. Instead of going up, students climb from side to side by holding onto green, yellow or red holds positioned above a red line. They rest their feet on green, yellow, or red holds below the line. The different color holds or “rocks” indicate different levels of difficulty while climbing, with green being the easiest. Since students don’t get very high off the ground, there is no spotting of climbers by classmates, but there are mats in case of a fall.
“I love doing it, I think it’s, like, very challenging, because the second time, you can pick only one color to do,” said London Holmes, a fourth-grader. “It was kind of, like, tricky, but we still did it.”
Poetri Lawson, also a fourth-grader, said she enjoys the challenge of climbing the rock wall. While using it, she tries to imagine she is really outside scaling a peak.
“I thought it was like a mountain and I couldn’t let go of it,” she said.
Maria Knepp enjoys the freedom she feels when she climbs, because she gets to pick her own path.
“I like that it’s just like fun to play on and you can just, like, do whatever you want on it, and you don’t have anyone telling you want to do,” she said.
Getting stuck may be part of the challenge, but several students noted that they simply jump off and then start again, or ask a classmate for help.
Independence, resilience, and teamwork are just some of the many lessons and skills that students can learn while using the climbing wall, said Mr. Bram. Climbing enhances physical strength and endurance, but also helps with goal-setting, since students need to do some planning to make it across the wall without having to jump off mid-way.
He anticipates being able to use the wall regardless of the unit of study, since it builds in so many different skills. On a recent March day, students were traversing the wall and also taking part in an obstacle course where they needed to army crawl under a pole, roll down a ramp, walk along a balance beam, and zigzag through cones while pushing a large ball. A third activity involved sitting on scooters and using only their feet to launch a huge volleyball into the air to knock down pins perched on top of cones.
For students like Logan Aglidjan, the variety of activities during gym class keeps things interesting.
“I like how they’re kind of challenging and it’s just fun to do,” he said.
Maria added that the obstacle course is not as repetitive as more traditional sports like soccer or basketball.
“You’re not doing the same move over and over again,” she said. “For the obstacle course you’d use every part of your body.”
