By MOLLY DAVIDSON / Staff Writer

PELHAM—Physical education classes often teach sports such as soccer, basketball and kickball, but at Valley Elementary School, students get to learn how to bowl too.

Toward the end of the year, physical education teachers Ginger Aaron and Susan Jackson borrow equipment from nearby Oak Mountain Lanes and transform the VES gym into a bowling alley for the students.

“One of the things we teach is a bowling unit,” Jackson said. “(The students) learn correct form, the process of two roles and (rules of the game).”

Many students enter the unit with little knowledge of the skills and techniques behind bowling, Jackson said, and many show great progress throughout the weeks.

“You don’t have to be the best athlete to be a good bowler,” Jackson said, noting students’ hard work pays off in the sport.

Every year, Aaron and Jackson cap the bowling unit off with a special trip to Oak Mountain Lanes for the entire second grade and their teachers.

“They love it, it’s awesome,” Jackson said of this year’s May 1 bowling trip. “Every time we go, there are always students who have never been (to a bowling alley) before.”

The bowling trip not only reinforces the skills students learned during the physical education unit, it also is a fun end of the year experience for the entire second grade.

“It’s a great opportunity for them, it provides a different environment for them to be around their teachers and their friends,” Jackson said of the relaxed atmosphere of the trip.

Not only is bowling fun for the students, it also teaches them an activity they can carry with them.

“It’s something they can do for a life time and something they can do as a whole family,” Jackson said.