Name: Gym60 Wyoming Walking Plan
Purpose: To get kids excited about clocking miles on their pedometers, and to learn about their home state.
Appropriate Grades: K-6.
Materials needed: Gym60 web app, Gym60 pedometers for each student, large map of Wyoming, construction paper, markers.
Help your students to get motivated about walking, as well as to learn more about Wyoming, by charting their walking progress on a large map of Wyoming.
Wyoming is 280 miles in width. If your students regularly walk, they should be able to collectively walk the length of the state. Have them track their miles on the Gym60 web app, and submit their totals to you weekly. Add the totals together. For every twenty miles your class walks, mark it on the Wyoming map with one of Wyoming’s state symbols. Draw the state symbol on construction paper, and affix it to the map. Your students will enjoy learning more about Wyoming, as well as seeing their progress over time. Use the following list of symbols:
- Represent 20 miles with Wyoming’s state butterfly, the Sheridan’s Green Hairstreak Butterfly.
- Represent 40 miles with Wyoming’s state flower, the Indian Paintbrush.
- Represent 60 miles with Wyoming’s state grass, Western Wheatgrass.
- Represent 80 miles with Wyoming’s state fish, the Cutthroat Trout.
- Represent 100 miles with Wyoming’s state bird, the Meadowlark.
- Represent 120 miles with Wyoming’s state reptile, the Horned Toad.
- Represent 140 miles with Wyoming’s state tree, the Plains Cottonwood.
- Represent 160 miles with Wyoming’s state mammal, the Bison.
- Represent 180 miles by singing Wyoming’s state song, “Wyoming,” and affixing the lyrics to the map.
- Represent 200 miles with Wyoming’s state coin, the Sacajawea.
- Represent 220 miles with Wyoming’s state gem, Jade.
- Represent 240 miles with Wyoming’s state sport, rodeo.
- Represent 260 miles with Wyoming’s state dinosaur, the Triceratops.
- Represent 280 miles with Wyoming’s state flag.
Whenever possible, integrate information about Wyoming’s symbols into your lesson plans. For instance, a lesson on American history could easily include a discussion of Sacajawea, while a unit on plant biology could discuss the Indian paintbrush. Connecting the symbols to both the students’ walking and their other classwork will help them to feel a stronger sense of history, pride and community.
