BREWER – Last month Washington Street and State Street schools were hopping as 300 third-, fourth-, and fifth-graders jumped rope for the American Heart Association and raised $8,026 for the organization. That was $80 more than last year.

The endeavor had several purposes, said physical education instructor Teresa England. It raised the children’s awareness about the relationship between healthful food choices, exercise and healthy hearts; it encouraged children to talk with their families about heart health; and it honed the children’s jump rope skills, an activity that promotes cardiovascular health.

Some of the pupils jumped in memory of friends, family or other loved ones.

“They take it very seriously,” England said. The children wrote loved ones’ names on hearts that were displayed in their classrooms. Jumping rope in memory of someone, she said, fostered in the children a sense of community.

“The children discussed with their parents whether or not they would jump rope to fund-raise,” England said. Two hundred children received permission from their parents to participate in the fund-raising aspect of the project.

England said this is the fourth year the two schools have participated in the jump-rope program, which is sponsored by the American Heart Association.