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"Bike to School Month is four weeks of events, workshops, and incentives to encourage students to bike or wheel to school. May 6 - June 5, 2019 Students and staff learn about active transportation, bike safety, healthy habits, clean air, and the fun of riding a bike! Bike to School Month is for everyone: students and staff can bike, walk, wheel or roll. Sign up your school to participate, and host an event for one day, one week, or the whole month! "

"Elementary school has always looked a little bit like training for a traditional office job: You show up at 8 or 9, sit at your desk, and fill out paperwork for most of the day. An average third grader might spend as much as six hours sitting in the classroom--only a little less time than the average office worker spends sitting at work. But as more offices realize that sitting all day long is actually pretty terrible for health and productivity, how long will it take schools to catch up? While some elementary schools no longer have recess, and people like New Jersey Governor Chris Christie argue that school days should be even longer, a few schools are already moving in a different direction. Some are testing out standing desks, and realizing that a little bit of activity can actually improve attention spans. Others, like Ward Elementary in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, are starting to fill classrooms with exercise bikes, so students can work out while they learn."

"In a new report, 24 researchers from eight different countries gathered to create a consensus on the impact of physical activity on kids' health. They focused primarily on studies that examined the health of children aged 6 to 18, and analyzed the effects of exercise on children's fitness, health, cognitive function, motivation, and mental and social health. The report defines physical activity as "an overarching term that consists of many structured and unstructured forms within school and out-of-school-time contexts, including organized sports, physical education, outdoor recreation, motor skill development programs, recess, and active transportation such as biking and walking." In short, they found that exercise was beneficial for nearly every aspect of a child's wellbeing: physical health, cognitive ability, motivation and psychological wellbeing, as well as social inclusion. First, exercise leads to improved cardiorespiratory fitness, which in turn improves brain development and intellect, they said."

"A group of children took part in a series of literacy lessons centred around the popular game Bike Baron by Qwibooand Mountain Sheep as outlined in detail athttp://mrandrewsonline.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/part-1-raising-standards-in-boys.html. The aim was to raise standards in writing. The work is based on the success of the Controllable Vehicle project which demonstrated that the iPad can significantly enhance pupil understanding and interest in a topic leading to accelerated progress in speaking, listening and writing."

"Video games get a bad rap. They are often portrayed as violent, addictive, and a mindless waste of hours that encourage laziness and make us fat. But that's not the full story. Most virtual games can be designed to have educational and physical benefits for players. Games that use repetitive actions, such as the swinging of a bat or targeting a moving object, train the brain and muscles to perform better in real-life activities. Video game brain training has the same effect as reading a book or riding a bike - when the brain is learning, thousands of new connections are being formed. The addition of a reward system motivates players to continuously improve their skills."

"Give your smartphone or tablet a workout while you and the kids head outside for some healthy, tech-infused fun. Apps designed for outdoor adventures let kids do everything from study bugs to identify constellations and create a compilation video of bike stunts. Whether you're interested in family fitness, DIY, or survival skills, you'll find plenty to keep kids active and engaged. So grab your device and head outside armed with these amazing tools."

"It really all started with the 20+ iPads we loan out to educators. Those suckers are constantly in demand and constantly in need of charging. They're each firmly encased in Fintie Kiddie cases, which, laugh all you want, those things can stop a bullet. And they stand up. And they recline, have carrying handles and come in neon colors, perfect for locating 20+ loaned out units during the chaos of an event, but that's a whole other blog post. Anyway, we've been loaning these iPads out in tote bags, and just tossing the chargers in higgledy-piggledy. Mainly because if you have done any shopping around for charging carts you likely have needed to be resuscitated at least twice when looking at the prices. The cheapest we could find that works with our beloved Fintie cases started at $399.00, and there was no guarantee everything would fit. We've borrowed another department's iPad charging tray a couple times, but a) it cost them closer to $1,000.00, b) weighed close to 25 lbs and c) had no wheels, thus entailing that their tech guy** lug it four blocks each way. The thing about the Fintie cases is that part of their magic durability is that they surround the iPad in thick molded foam rubber - perfect for tossing in bags and bike panniers (guilty!) but problematic for trying to buy a pre-made charging cart, as the slots in those are generally cut for slimmer, uncased iPads. Plus can we get back to the whole cost thing? Are school districts really running around with so much cash? I know I'm not. And thus, with no more rambling, I present: How to Build Your Own iPad Charging Cart Out of Office Supplies"

More information from NY TIMES - http://travel.nytimes.com/2010/08/15/travel/15Prac.html?pagewanted=2&th&emc=th

"The summer is a great time for kids and adults to get outside an ride a bicycle. Even though I don't do jumps and tricks like I did as a kid, I still love to ride my mountain bike. I'm sure that you have students that enjoy bicycling riding too. Here are a couple of good lesson resources to connect to your students' interest in bicycle riding."

"Most app-addicted teens (and younger) have no concept of leaving home early on a Saturday morning to meet friends for bike riding, pick-up ball games or just hanging out. With a world that is hyper vigilant about their children's safety (and for good reason), reaching for an electronic device has taken over the former scenario. Most parents are perplexed by this addiction when in reality we are the ones that perpetuate it. Therefore, the statistics are being tallied as a template to determine just where our children stand within this growing digital world."

" I heard a great talk a few months ago. It was Conrad Wolfram (probably one of the world's leading mathematicians) who suggested, that we should stop teaching our kids maths. Whoah! He said, and I'm paraphrasing, we needed to teach them computational thinking instead. What is that? He said every problem needs breaking apart, exploding it into its parts - if we are to begin to properly solve them. And better still that we explain to kids how to put that idea into practice. Explain to them, for example, that to make their bike go faster they might figure out how much bigger the peddle wheel needs to be than than the one on the back wheel. According to Wikipedia computational thinking is an iterative process based on three stages: 1. Problem formulation (abstraction) 2. Solution expression (automation) 3. Solution execution and evaluation (analyses) That REALLY works for me."

"I have to admit that, before a friend posted this video to my Facebook wall, I had never heard of repair cafés. I had no idea this was a trend, but I'm thrilled that it is. More on Repair: 6 Ways to Repair Broken Plastic Repair and Maintain Your Bike with These 6 Projects Zipper Repair for a Coat or Jacket I immediately thought of several appliances and motorized tools that I would love to repair, but I'm too clueless to troubleshoot and fix what may be wrong with them. If I could take them to one of these repair cafés and work with someone who knows what they're doing, I would get these devices fixed, learn more about them, and how to maintain and fix them in the future. I would also be supporting a local makery endeavour and the so-called "perennial philosophy" (trying to keep the material objects in your life alive for as long as possible). Pure win!"

Neat source for all your USB accessory needs

"Grown-Up Cyclists Need Helmets, Too"