Last week, Bicycle Colorado educators started the spring semester of teaching biking and walking safety at elementary schools.

We’re presenting our Safe Routes to School curriculum at six schools between now and the end of the school year:

• College View Elementary, southwest Denver (Denver Public Schools)
• Harrington Elementary, northwest Denver (Denver Public Schools)
• Schmitt Elementary, southwest Denver (Denver Public Schools)
• Foothills Elementary, Lakewood (Jeffco Public Schools)
• Prospect Valley Elementary, Wheat Ridge  (Jeffco Public Schools)
• Franklin Elementary, Littleton  (Littleton Public Schools)

We’re collaborating with BikeDenver on programming at the Denver Public Schools locations. BikeDenver is new to Safe Routes to School education, and we’re team teaching to help them gain the experience they need to broaden their education reach.

We are also helping the Littleton school district to secure a bike fleet, and we will train elementary school PE teachers on our curriculum. Teachers can then check the fleet out for ongoing education in their own classrooms. We will work with Pedal Bike Shop in Littleton to get the bikes.

Walkin’ & Wheelin’ Weeks

In late Spring, we’ll return to all 16 of the schools we’ve worked at this year to put on an encouragement program called Walkin’ & Wheelin’ Week. During this week, students can apply the bike and pedestrian safety skills they learned earlier in the year. It’s a great time, too, for school communities to start walking school buses, bike trains and remote drop-off programs.

Each of these encourages kids (and their teachers and parents) to get to school on foot or two wheels, which not only reduces traffic congestion and pollution around the schools, it also gets kids’ brains going for better learning and attention in class. And, of course, the physical activity is great for everyone.

May 7, 2014, is National Bike to School Day, and we hope to see many of the schools we’ve taught in since 2006 participate.

7,700 students

The only way we could teach 7,700 students this school year is with the help of our seasoned educators, Jamie Medina and Brian Gerwig. Jamie and Brian have an amazing ability to engage the students, parents and local community members who participate in our Safe Routes to School programs. They are creative, motivated and always looking for new ways to teach kids about biking and walking safely. (Thank you Jamie and Brian!)

Do you have a student who attends one of our spring elementary schools? Have your kids experienced Safe Routes to School education? We’d love to hear about it in the comments.