Students stack up!

Fourth grader Michelle Taylor makes a tower of cups during the cup stacking unit in elementary P.E. class.

by Cami Shaver

Parents, you might be wondering what in the world physical education students, kindergarten through eighth grade, are talking about when they say they are sport/speed stacking in gym class.

Elementary gym teach- er Megan Carlson said, “This is the first year for the [Guinness] world re- cord here at Montezuma, but I plan to continue being part of it as long as possible.”

She said cup stacking is great because it requires students to use both sides of the brain. This fact is very true and even proven with a University of Wis- consin study by Dr. Brian Udermann. He found that by cup stacking, a child’s hand-eye coordination and reaction time im- proved by 30 percent.

When a child is cup stacking they develop a greater percentage of the right side of the brain, which includes aware- ness, focus, creativity and rhythm.

Also this sport helps train the brain for oth- er sports and activities where kids use both sides of their brain, such as us- ing a computer or playing an instrument.

Sport stacking also in-

volves elements like pat- terning and sequencing which helps with math and reading skills.

The students start do- ing a 3-3-3 stack where cups are “up stacked” and “down stacked” from left to right or right to left (in- dividually) in three stacks made up of three cups in each stack.

Then students move on as quickly as possible to the 3-6-3 where cups are “up stacked” and “down stacked” from left to right or right to left in three stacks made up of three cups on the left, six cups in the center, and three cups on the right.

After they finish the 3-6-3, they go on to the cycle stack, a sequence of stacks combining a 3-6-3 stack, a 6-6 stack, and a 1-10-1 stack, in that order. Stackers end the cycle stack with cups in a 3-6-3 “down stacked” position.

This event is actually hosted for Guinness World Records to break the re- cord for “Most People Sport Stacking at Multiple Locations in One Day. ”

Their record for this year was 300,000 and Guinness beat it by 16,757 people. Just in our school about 100 kids helped Guinn