Monday, December 27, 2010

The Best Parts of My Week....12/20-12/22

Hi everyone,
As the holidays approach and the excitement grows in our school, as in many others I am sure, the best parts of my week keep getting better!


......On Monday we held our annual Brotherhood Pageant. This event was started by a former music teacher who sadly passed away this past summer. This event is surely a big part of her legacy here at North Park and while there are few of us left who remember that it began with her, I could not help but think how proud she would be to see that the Brotherhood Pageant lives on! During this event, students and staff alike donate food to those in need. We all sing a variety of holiday songs and this year several "North Park alumni" came back to enjoy the holiday spirit!

.....Well, Fitness Frankie (Our Healthy Highway Race Car Bear) enjoyed his first week in a third grade class and during our morning announcements, two students from that class read about his adventures to the entire school. After the announcements, I was stopped in the hallway by some kindergarten students who asked me if I had heard about Fitness Frankie's week! They told me that they had heard that he was eating healthy snacks! Fitness Frankie is on vacation this week, as am I, but our office staff offered to take care of him. I can't wait to hear about his adventures next Monday! Click here for Fitness Friday pictures with Fitness Frankie!

.....Winter Workshops was a great event on Wednesday this week. Our principal created this day several years ago as a way to celebrate the holidays, include all students, and use the last day before our vacation in a productive and enjoyable manner. During this day students attend four one hour workshops that are facilitated by staff of our building, parents, and administrative staff in the district. Many different workshops are offered which include activities like chess, cheerleading, music, making healthy snacks, painting winter murals, jeopardy games, holiday crafts, woodworking and more! A colleague of mine and I offered a circus activities workshop. It was great fun! A former student volunteered to help us our and we taught students how to spin plates (plastic of course), juggle, walk on the "high wire", balance feathers, use angel sticks and have fun with the diablo! We even learned a few tricks ourselves! Circus music in the background and a parachute big top helped to make this a great day and definitely one of the best parts of my week! Click here for Circus Activities pictures!

Thanks for reading about the "Best Parts of My Week!" I will be enjoying vacation this week, and will be back in 2011 ready to begin the new year!

Sunday, December 19, 2010

The Best Parts of My Week....12/13-12/17

Hi everyone,
"Fitness Frankie" is a big part of the "Best Parts of My Week" this week! Here's why.......

......On Monday we held our third North Park Healthy Highway assembly. Based on an idea I had while attending a conference awhile back, I created "Fitness Frankie"! Fitness Frankie is a bear that my husband brought back for me from Indiana when he was visiting friends a few years back (I love bears!). I have had him in my office for a few years but he did not have a name or a purpose until recently. He has a race car on his stomach so I thought that I might use him for our Healthy Highway program one day. Well, one idea led to another and now we have Fitness Frankie! I introduced him at our assembly this week and our students were very excited! Fitness Frankie is going to spend one week in each classroom so that he can learn about Healthy Highway and participate in Wellness Wednesday and Fitness Friday, He travels in a small sack with a binder so that students in each classroom can help him to keep a journal of his adventure! One of our third grade classes was the first to host Fitness Frankie and I had a ball visiting the classroom and talking to students about how he was doing! On Tuesday I reminded the class that the next day was Wellness Wednesday. One of the students asked me about what Fitness Frankie likes to eat! I answered that he likes anything healthy of course! On Wednesday I visited the class at the end of the day and had the pleasure of listening to one of the students read what he had written about the healthy snacks that Fitness Frankie had eaten! Fitness Frankie also attended Fitness Friday in the gymnasium (where else would he be???) where students, teachers, and I danced the Peanut Butter and Jelly Dance and the Cupid Shuffle!

.....During the North Park Healthy Highway assembly, our principal announced how many miles that students had earned for good character (traveling down Respect Road) and healthy choices by participating in Wellness Wednesday and Fitness Friday. Our students traveled 264 miles this month! We are all very proud of their efforts!

.......While talking to some students during bus duty Fitness Frankie came up again. These students are not in the class where Fitness Frankie was this week and they were talking about the exercises they were going to have him do during Fitness Friday when it was their turn to host!

.....Unrelated to Fitness Frankie, but related to bears and zoo animals, my kindergarten students were participating in a Zany Zoo activity to practice moving in different levels. I created a "Zoo Ring" using some foam noodles and noodle connectors. I was watching the activity when a student jumped out of the "Zoo Ring" and said "Look! I escaped!" I laughed out loud!

Have a great week everyone! Thanks for reading about the best parts of my week!

Sunday, December 12, 2010

The Best Parts of My Week....12/6-12/10

Hi everyone,

It seems to me that the best parts of my week are a little bit like snowflakes.....no two weeks are exactly alike!

.....One of the things that I love about technology, having a website, and blogging is that I get a chance to connect with people that I would have otherwise never met! Early this week I received an e-mail from Paul Stasso who is the founder of P.A.C.E. Trek. P.A.C.E. stands for Promoting Active Children Everywhere. Paul asked me if I would mention his program in my blog. I had heard of P.A.C.E. Trek before, but wanted to find out more about it. I learned that this program invites students to virtually "tag along" as he completes amazing journeys all over the world. Schools sign up and pledge to complete the same mileage as he runs along a particular route. Student mileage is accumulated and students can log on to the P.A.C.E. Trek website to view Paul's progress and learn about his trip. This program is a great way to encourage student activity while introducing students to places they most likely have not been! Paul's next trip is a journey across the Mohave Desert in April, 2011. This program is free to students in grades K-12. Check it out and learn more at www.pacetrek.com!

...."Healthy Highway" continues to grow and take shape at North Park! This week a student spontaneously told me that he had strawberries for lunch. I asked him if he brought them for lunch or if they were served as part of the school lunch. He answered that they were served as part of the school lunch. He was very proud of his choice! I asked the class if anyone else chose strawberries during lunch and many students raised their hands. I then asked if there was a green circle near the choice (Green Light foods). They responded that indeed there was a green circle near the strawberries and we entered into a great discussion about green light foods and making healthy choices!

.....We had some fun (actually, a lot of fun) with our parachute this week. I learned a few new activities at a recent conference that I attended and I was eager to try them out! One of the activities involved a ball "surfing" on the parachute while I played a song about surfing in the background. The students were so very excited and had a great time working together to make the ball "Surf". One of the students said "This makes me think of Hawaii!"

......Another parachute activity involved soft music playing in the background while students took turns laying down on the parachute while the rest of us moved the parachute gently as if it were a cloud. Our parachute is rainbow colored and each handle corresponds to a color. I called colors for student turns. During one class, students were sure to encourage me to have a turn when my color was called! It was great to experience the activity and to enjoy and encourage the fairness that students were displaying while allowing everyone - including me - to have a turn! After all had had a turn, I asked students to share what that experience felt like. Students were so willing to share and were so creative in their responses! Some mentioned that it felt like they were floating, others shared that it felt relaxing! I think many would have stayed in the parachute relaxing all day if time allowed!

.....Older students had a chance to share feelings this week too! I use something called "Feelings Cards" (Project Adventure) with my older students at the end of our cooperative unit to discuss how they felt during particular activities. These cards are terrific because not only do they display words, but they also include pictures to describe many different feelings. Cards describe feelings from sad to happy to frustrated to confused to worried and so on. During one class this week, I placed about 25 cards on the floor and asked students to pick (in their mind) one card that best described their feelings during each of three final cooperative activities. I then asked students to create small groups to discuss these feelings. I gave the groups a few minutes to discuss the cards and feelings. I was impressed at the discussions that were taking place and the willingness of students to share. I then asked if anyone wanted to share with the class one of the feelings and the reason for their choice. I thought maybe one or two students would want to share with the full class group, but there were so many hands up we took extra time to share! It proved to me (once again) that cooperative/adventure education is a powerful tool to teach problem solving and cooperation in addition to building trust!

.....This last entry had nothing to do with my PE classes this week, but still makes the list of "The Best Parts of My Week! Our PTA is wonderful and very generous and was able to schedule a special assembly for our school this week. We enjoyed a full hour of a performance by a group of dancers and drummers from West Africa. This group was awesome! The energy and talent displayed during the assembly was incredible! Students were engaged and excited, but also respectful to the performers. (Our principal was so impressed with the respect that our students displayed that each class was given permission to move their class car - part of Healthy Highway - one mile down "Respect Road".) They were especially excited when the teachers were up in front learning and performing a dance! Without the generosity of our PTA, many students and staff would never have had the opportunity to experience this inspiring performance!

.....Remember, feel free to e-mail me the best parts of YOUR week! I would love to hear from you! - northparkpe@yahoo.com

Sunday, December 5, 2010

The Best Parts of My Week....11/29-12/3

Hi everyone,
Well, the holiday excitement has begun! Experiencing the holiday season in an elementary school is wonderful and exhausting at the same time! Here we go!


.....This year I am assigned to bus duty in the upper elementary wing. Those of you who have read my blog before know that I actually enjoy bus duty! It gives me a chance to interact with students in a different setting and wish them well as they leave school at the end of the day. This week one student had a big smile on his face as he passed by me and spontaneously said (he knows I ask) "I had a great day today!" and wished me a nice evening. It made me feel good that my school was able to elicit that kind of response at the end of a day.

.....I am finishing up my unit on cooperative activities with my older students. One of the final activities is using our traverse rock wall. Students must spot each other on the wall after they learn the spotting commands. This year we were able to add a challenge course accessory to the wall which includes foam noodles in noodle holders. Students choose the level of challenge by climbing over, under, or through noodles and noodle arches. When the students walked in they were beside themselves with excitement! I was impressed at the level of cooperation during this activity! One student commented that we should use the wall more often and suggested that it be available during our warm-up sometimes. They are always thinking! In addition to the rock wall another final activity involves "noodle bits". These are small pieces of foam noodles. The task was for students to balance as many "bits" as possible on a partner, count the number of bits, and then record their best score. This was a great activity to observe! Students were so creative and enjoyed this activity! You can view pictures of all of the cooperative activities on my website: North Park PE

.....We had a great time during Fitness Friday this week! I invited my kindergarten and first grade students to the gymnasium. I taught them the Peanut Butter and Jelly Dance and the Cupid Shuffle! They and their teachers were terrific dancers and agreed that dancing is a great way to exercise! Some adults passing by the gymnasium stopped in to see what all the excitement was about and joined in too!

Have a great week!