By Cole Manor Healthy Comet staff | Editor’s note: The Healthy Comet recently surveyed Cole Manor staff to find out what their favorite outdoor activities were when they were growing up. Here are some of their answers.
Mrs. Armour, a fourth-grade teacher, said she spent about an hour a day outdoors when the weather was nice. She played with the neighborhood kids. They rode bikes to the nearby streams and sometimes played soccer. She also often played on her friend’s swing set, she said.
“I loved exploring and being with local friends,” Armour wrote in the Cole Manor survey.
Dr. Speicher, a music teacher, said he used to play army every day after school when he was a child.
His friends and he would put on army clothes and go on long hikes in the woods pretending they were on a mission. When they would hear a car or motorcycle they would pretend it was a bad guy and hide. “It was a lot of fun to pretend with my friends, and we looked forward to doing it every day,” he said.
Mrs. Kim, a third-grade teacher, said she spent time outdoors every day when she was a child. She said she spent her time “making pretend food with sticks and leaves.”
Mrs. Snyder, a positive behavior intervention spe-cialist (PBIS), said she spent almost every day outside. She liked playing in the leaves. “I felt free and invincible,” she said.
Ms. Festa, a fourth-grade teacher, said that “as a child, I loved to swing on the swings. It made me feel relaxed and thoughtful.” Mrs. Rafter, a paraprofes-sional, said she spent from 3 to 8 hours a day outside as a child. “I loved to roller skate and ride my bike,” she said.
Ms. Foster, a learning support teacher, said she was always outside as a child. She liked to go camp-ing at a state park every summer, she said.
Cole Manor Principal Dr. Poncheri said she spent several hours a day outside as a child playing sports and swimming.
“When I was little my brothers and my sister and I loved to ride bikes and play in the woods near our house.” said Mrs. Vail, a first-grade teacher.
Mrs. Smull, a third-grade teacher, said “I was outside all of the time when I was a child.” She loved to ride her bike with her friends. “It made me feel excited and happy to get to be outside and spend time with them,” she said.
Mrs. Moorehouse, a third-grade teacher, said when she was a kid, she liked to play tag and hide and seek with friends in the neighborhood. She said she spent more time outside than inside.
Mrs. Sharpe, a second-grade teacher, said that she liked to play tag with her friends.
Lead Teacher Mr. Turner said “I was always out-side until dinner time.” He and his brothers would play sports like football, hockey, and baseball.
Mrs. Regan, a paraprofessional, said she liked to play on the playground and shoot a basketball as a child.