Teachers and students at Mack Benn Jr. Elementary School plan to walk between every elementary school in the city in their new walking program.

They won’t literally be hoofing it down Holland Road on their way to Pioneer Elementary School, though. They’ll be walking in and around their own school, tracking their mileage and aiming to walk “50 miles in 50 days.”

“We’re challenging them to go from one school to the next,” said Richard Linyear, a health and physical education teacher at the school. “People are logging in their miles.”

For a mile to count, the teacher and the entire class must do it as a group, and it must be measured. They have been walking five times around the bus loop, three times around the school building or 19 times around the gymnasium for each mile.

Cutouts of teachers’ heads are moved along a map of Suffolk with the school locations marked. The distance between each school is, on this map at least, judged to be five miles, so they will have done 50 miles by the end of the program.

“The goal for next year is to add in the high school and middle schools,” Linyear said.

Deborah Nadell, the walking coordinator for Healthy Suffolk (formerly the Suffolk Partnership for a Healthy Community), said she approached the school system about doing some creative programs in the schools. It’s part of a grant funded by the Obici Healthcare Foundation.

Gifted resource teacher Megan Farabaugh said some classes are up to 10 miles already, and this is only the third week of the program.

“Now that it is warmer, they’ll be able to go outside more,” she said.

Many classes have been participating during recess time, she added. Some of the older students sometimes just sit on benches or stand around and talk during recess, she said.

“This makes them get up and run around and get that exercise,” she said. “They’re burning those extra calories.”

“And hopefully establishing lifelong patterns,” Nadell added.

The winning teacher and class will get gift cards at the end of the program. Participants chosen in random drawings also will win prizes throughout the program.