Through a satellite program of Eastern Oregon University, students are taking elementary education classes at Southwestern Oregon Community College. They were using tiny preschoolers as educational tools last week in the gym on campus. The idea was to interact with little people, and learn from them while teaching them a few new words and actions. The preschool students were from the Newmark Daycare Center. World Photo by Madeline Steege

COOS BAY - With no screaming audience in the bleachers to cheer them, nor multimillion-dollar endorsements, dozens of athletes still gave it their all as they kicked, hit and hurdled their way across the gym.

Stopping at eight physical activity stations with student teachers or their regular instructors, the participants, all 3 to 5 years old, spent an hour on Jan. 23, learning how to use their bodies. Children from Southwestern Oregon Community College's Family Center attend the physical education class on campus twice a week.

Dan Neal, a professor of physical education, who offers the program in his free time to teach children core skills and body awareness, said it also is attended by student teachers enrolled in the Curriculum for Undergraduate Elementary School Teacher Education program. The two-year satellite program is offered through Eastern Oregon University at Southwestern. “This is something that I have the skills to do and I really enjoy it,” Neal said, as he watched the 40 children and teachers work together to successfully kick balls, swerve past and over hurdles, and wave a colorful parachute in the air. The activities may sound simple, but all teach basic motor skills.

“It helps develop coordination, plus they just have fun doing it.”

Because budget cuts have often chopped physical education specialists from schools, the duty of teaching body awareness falls to teachers who already have plenty to do in the classroom. He said showing student teachers how to handle this task will better prepare them for the future.

“This will be beneficial to these people, because by having an understanding of the very core skills, they'll be able to guide the kids through the activities that meet competencies and bench marks,” Neal said, explaining that the Oregon Department of Education requires students to be able to perform certain physical activities with a degree of competency.

If children don't learn how to do these basic physical activities they may never develop the ability to do so, Neal said. Schools can only do so much, and if parents don't take time to teach their sons and daughters, the children will go without.

“They don't know how to play,” Neal said, adding because the children in the class are so young, they feel no pressure to outperform their peers. “Every kid who comes in here loves this stuff.”

Neal said while all students won't become elite athletes, it is important to teach them skills to live healthy lives while giving them an appreciation for sports. At one station, where two adults and three children waved the ends of a parachute to toss colorful balloons into the air, the children danced and jumped in place before running to chase two errant balloons.

Emily Shaffer, 6, a little girl sporting long, blond pig tails, happily ran after one, while a classmate nabbed a pink balloon in his hands and happily shouted: “I got it!”

After playtime was over, Emily said coming to the gym every Tuesday and Thursday is fun. “You get to hit the balls, you get to run, you get to jump,” Emily said. “The jogging is best because you can get your exercise.”

Student teacher Mary Chess, 26, of Coos Bay, said Neal's class is just one of many courses she must complete to reach her dream of teaching elementary school. However, it is unique in that student teachers get a chance to interact with children prior to working at a school.

The class was the last of six attended by Chess and her schoolmates.

“I think it's a great experience. You learn more from being with the kids than just sitting in a classroom,” Chess said, adding she learned how to work creatively with only a few pieces of equipment to teach physical education. “This program is awesome for the kids.”