Eight-year-old Ryan O’Connor with teacher Karen Dakak.
Several Matheny students recently visited the HealthQuest Fitness center in Flemington, NJ, to experience a “Jacques Cousteau” lesson that included science, language arts, health, physical education and mathematics. Among the activities were:
• Learning about the habitats of animals and plants and ways that humans might harm those habitats.
• Using props and objects to develop spatial and coordination skills.
• Using equipment to see and feel some of the things Jacques Cousteau did during his times of exploration.
• Developing and refining gross motor skills.
HealthQuest is a family fitness, wellness and athletic facility. In addition to aquatics, it offers dance, gymnastics and martial arts. The visit there by Matheny students is an example of how skills and behavior learned in school are practiced during interactive trips to various community resources.
Eight-year-old Patrick Conmy with his mother, Kerry.
They also did a demonstration of SCUBA equipment that was invented by Cousteau!