Kindergartner Gia Coda knows what many office workers know — “Sitting is boring.” She might be just 6 years old, but Gia doesn't like sitting at her desk any more than grown-ups at their 9-to-5 office jobs. Fortunately for Gia, her school, Curtisville Primary Center in the Deer Lakes School District, started a new program this school year that does something about that. It has a big, fancy name, “kinesthetics,” but the meaning is simple — kids are moving while they're learning. “I like it,” Gia said while in the kinesthetics lab with her class recently. Deer Lakes received two grants totaling $3,500 — from Action for Healthy Kids and Let's Move Pittsburgh — to set up the kinesthetics lab in a classroom at Curtisville, which teaches about 470 students in kindergarten through second grade in West Deer. It's used every day, and each student gets in about once a week. The room has no desks and no chairs. Instead, there are hula hoops, a ladder, scooters and other things the kids use to learn language and math.

The lab is meant to increase physical activity during the school day and give students another way to work on their learning. “No one's ever just sitting out,” Principal Jen Cavalancia said. “One of the rules of the class is the adults need to move with the kids.” The lab is the brainchild of the school's health and physical education teacher, Ron Nichols. A wellness team of teachers and parents was looking at Curtisville's health, and found it lacking in physical activity. “The children didn't get to move enough,” he said. “It's in their nature to want to be up and be able to move and not have to sit, especially kindergartners, first- and second-graders. I saw it as a way to enhance their educational experience. I wanted teachers and students to have another way to be physically active.” The lab allows students to get that activity while not losing instructional time. Nichols said people have to get past the idea that learning can only happen in a quiet classroom.

“Research shows your brain is much more stimulated once you get up and get active,” Nichols said. “That's where the educational system is missing the mark. We just sit so much. Our brain just goes numb. Adults need to get up and take a walk and stretch a little bit to reactivate their brain.” When kindergarten teacher Jamie Juran recently had her class in the lab, they were split into several sections doing different things. For example, while one group threw balls at words on a blackboard, then said the words, another group was taking steps on a ladder lying flat on the floor, reading out the numbers between the rungs. “I think it's great for this age group,” Juran said. “It meets their need to be out of their chairs and moving around while still learning.” Juran said coming to the lab is one of her students' favorite parts of the week. “I think it is effective as a review strategy,” she said. “It really increases their interest and engagement.

It's not natural for kids at this age to be sitting all day long.” Gia's classmate, Logan McWilliams, also 6, said he liked the station where they threw balls at words on a blackboard. The purpose of the lesson is get them to recognize words on sight.glider chair covers sale “I didn't know what it would be like,” Logan said. wedding chair sashes pictures“It ended up being fun.”used wooden chairs mumbai What do teachers think? “Initially, everyone was nervous about giving up some of the control and letting the kids move around so freely,” Juran said. “Within the first five minutes, they settle into their stations. It's chaos, but it's very organized chaos that matches the way they think and move.” Nichols said the program is sustainable and can continue as long as the room is available.

District spokesman Jim Cromie said the early results have been encouraging. The district may consider expanding it to other schools and grades. “It's fun for them,” he said. “They get to be kids.” Brian C. Rittmeyer is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Fitness fads come and go—or so we thought. It turns out plenty of infomercial-worthy equipment, which we assumed was banished to basements and dumpsters, is still available for purchase online. Whether these devices work or are just good for a quick laugh (we dare you not to lose it during the Hawaii Chair video) is another matter entirely. Nothing screams 90s exercise fad quite like the ThighMaster. The device—two metal tubes bent into teardrop shapes, connected on a hinge—is supposed to be placed between your knees to work the muscles in your thighs. And if you watch Suzanne Somers strut around in a high-waisted leotard in her living room—as we all do—in the infomercial, you’ll learn that the ThighMaster can also tone your chest and biceps (how versatile!).

If that wasn’t enough, the company just came out with a vibrating version to, shall we say, help stimulate your body down there. 2. NordicTrack Classic Pro Skier Want to get the feel of cross-country skiing without leaving the comfort of your living room (or whatever space you store large fitness equipment in your home)? Look no further than NordicTrack’s Classic Pro Skier. The machine put the company on the map in the mid-1970s, and amazingly, you can still buy it today. Just slip into the foot holds and start walking, running, or skiing—minus the snow and frigid temperatures, of course. The Shake Weight looks like an ordinary dumbbell, until you pick it up and realize the device pulsates in a way that is highly suggestive of an activity that usually takes place in the bedroom. So it was no surprise when Saturday Night Live parodied it. We could probably get past the public humiliation of using a Shake Weight if it actually delivered results, but in our experience, it didn’t work.

If you've ever been unable to sleep and ended up watching late-night infomercials, chances are you’ve seen trainer Tony Little hawking the Gazelle, a machine that’s like an elliptical with more range of motion. The Gazelle supposedly provides a full-body workout, but it’s hard to pay attention to any specifics with Little’s on-screen antics, including flirting with fitness models and yelling “buttocks” every time it comes up in the script. Americans spend most of their day sitting. Wouldn’t it be great if we could somehow turn that into a calorie-torching activity without ever lifting a finger? That’s the selling point of the Hawaii Chair. It looks just like an ordinary chair, except the seat moves in a circular, hula-like fashion (now you see where the name comes from), which forces you to engage your core. Make sure you strap in or risk getting tossed off. At first glance, it looks like an ordinary outdoor folding chair, but don’t be fooled. Another piece of fitness equipment from Tony Little, the Ab Lounge adds a twist to the traditional sit-up.