The Best Parts of My Week....2/21-2/25

Hi everyone,

The excitement about our Jump Rope for Heart event is growing! We are gearing up by practicing jump roping and jumping skills! I hope you enjoy the best parts of my week as much as I did!

.....My kindergarten students are often somewhat apprehensive when I tell them that we are going to begin to get ready for Jump Rope for Heart by learning how to jump and jump rope. Many of them have not had much experience jumping rope and worry that they will not be able to do it. I LOVE the looks of happiness and joy on their faces when they jump rope for the first time in our long turning ropes while I turn for them. They are so surprised and proud of themselves! Many of them start counting for each other to see how many jumps they can do!

.....After our Jump Rope for Heart event, we celebrate with a Teacher/Student Jump Show. It is a really fun event that started with our principal and myself offering to jump after our very first Jump Rope for Heart. Well, one thing led to another and now we have an annual show where we showcase jumpers from kindergarten to fifth grade and end with our faculty and staff jumping for students! This week some students began showing me their jump tricks in the hopes of being in the show!

.....Fitness Frankie spent the week in a primary class this week. I had the pleasure of seeing how well they took care of him! They brought him to PE each day and treated him with care and respect!

.....This week I taught a new warm-up that I learned at my conference last week. It is a warm-up that has been around for awhile, but not one that I have ever tried. It is called "Ship to Shore". The idea is that the students are sailors and I am the captain. I give directions to the sailors such as Ship (go to the ship), Shore (go to the shore), Swab the deck (mop the floor), Sharks (swim like a shark), and Treasure Chest (act like a treasure chest). When I gave the direction of "Open Sesame" when students were Treasure Chests, they spontaneously made music like trumpets or harps as if a real treasure chest full of treasures opened and golden rays of sunshine emanated from the chest! It was delightful! Both the students and I loved the warm-up!

.....I was finishing up snowshoeing activities with my upper elementary classes this week. The weather was beautiful and for many classes it was the second experience outside with the snowshoes. One of my students said: "The first day it took so long to put on the snowshoes, but this time I put them on and said: I'm done already?" We had a nice discussion about perseverance and how sticking with something helps you get better at it!

I hope you enjoyed reading about "The Best Parts of My Week"!

Visit the North Park PE website to learn more about our program!

E-mail me with comments or questions at: northparkpe@yahoo.com

The Best Parts of My Week....2/14-2/18

Hi everyone,

We started this week off with Valentine's Day! There was excitement in the air as students dressed in red and pink, and shared valentines with classmates and teachers alike! I hope you enjoy the best parts of my week!

.....enjoying the excitement of fifth grade students as they learned that Fitness Frankie was going to spend the week in their class!

.....snowshoeing with third, fourth, and fifth graders! All of the snow in the northeast is finally paying off!

.....watching students help each other put on snowshoes and help each other up from a tumble in the snow!

.....snowshoeing with Fitness Frankie! Check out his blog soon for updates and pictures!

.....awarding miles to classes who showed "Perseverance" during this past week!

.....I recently encouraged our primary students to say "I'm learning" instead of "I can't" or "This is hard". This week I heard many students spontaneously use the "I'm learning" phrase when attempting a difficult task!

.....traveling to New Jersey to attend and present at the NJAHPERD/EDA of AAHPERD annual conference! I met some new colleagues, enjoyed a keynote speech by Dr. Oz, connected with many future professionals, shared some of the lessons that we use at North Park, and learned some new ideas to bring back to my school! It is so energizing to attend conferences! I am fortunate to be able to have that opportunity. It helps me become the best teacher that I can be, and improves the delivery of Physical Education services so that we can impact in a positive way the health and wellness of our youth!

I hope you enjoyed reading about "The Best Parts of My Week"!

Visit the North Park PE website to learn more about our program!

E-mail me with comments or questions at: northparkpe@yahoo.com

The Best Parts of My Week....2/7-2/11

Hi everyone,

We made it with a full week of school this week! It feels like we are settling in once again! There were so many great moments this week! I hope you enjoy them.

.....While finishing up gymnastics early this week I was at the junior turning bar when a kindergarten student asked me if she could do a "spaghetti roll". I was confused so I asked her to show me what she meant. She did what Kidnastics calls a "possum hang". I don't know how it translated to a spaghetti roll, but she knew exactly what to do!

.....I had finished class with a group of fourth graders and one of the students showed me his personal pedometer. We use pedometers often during PE so students are aware of their use. I asked him where he got his pedometer. He told me that it was part of a video game where the more steps he took, the more points he got to use toward his game. What a great idea to encourage children to move!

.....I was presented with a book about Fitness Frankie this week! This book came from a kindergarten class that took care of him a few weeks back. It included a sentence about what each student experienced with Fitness Frankie, and a drawing of the activity! They were so proud of their work! I thanked them and told them my heart was smiling! They smiled back!

.....I was showing different classes our new Jump Rope for Heart banner as we are beginning to get ready for this year's event. Our banners from past years are displayed on the gymnasium wall and we are getting ready to go around the corner! My fifth graders were impressed and started asking questions about how far around the wall I thought we could go. Somehow that led to questions about my age! I deflected the questions, of course, but not before guesses were made. Students guessed everything from 21 to 82! I finally answered that I was older than 21 but younger than 82!

.....Fitness Frankie came to PE every day this week because he is being taken care of by a combination class of first and second graders who come to PE as separate groups. It was great to have him in class. The students were excited and proud to be taking care of him! One of the activities this week was "Scooter Driving School". Students who were driving safely were allowed to give him a ride. He smiled all the way!

.....Students were looking forward to snowshoeing this week, but the weather did not cooperate for most classes. Oh, there was snow alright, but most mornings it was 3 degrees or less......way too cold for snowshoeing. I must give our students credit. While they were disappointed, they handled it well and I gave them some alternative choices for our indoor activities. One group chose to shoot some baskets and invited me to play with them. It was great to be included! I took a shot (basketball is not really my strength) and "swished" it! My students were impressed and so was I! Other students chose to play with Speedstacks (cup stacking). Some students even organized the whole box of cups for me! Finally, one of the students in this class had been absent the day that students practiced with the snowshoes. I invited her to try them on and practice on a mat indoors as one of the choices during this class. Without being asked, another student went right over to her, showed her how to put them on and stayed with her while she practiced. It was truly an example of having the "Courage to do the right thing" - our school motto. This student could have done many other activities during this class, but she chose to help a classmate instead..........definitely one of the "Best Parts of My Week"!

.....I think I can be funny sometimes (who doesn't really?) but there are times when what I think is funny is not the same as what my students think is funny. I made a joke or two this week at the beginning of class and no one laughed. I told them (in a funny way) that I thought I was being funny, but apparently was not. One student (one of the quieter students in the class) raised her hand and said "Mrs. R. - I am rolling on the floor laughing on the inside"! I laughed out loud and so did everyone else!

Hope you enjoyed reading about "The Best Parts of My Week"!

Visit the North Park PE website to learn more about our program!

E-mail me with comments or questions at: northparkpe@yahoo.com

The Best Parts of My Week....1/31-2/4

Hi everyone,

Would you believe another week of multiple snow days????? It has been an exceptional winter here in the Northeast but Punxsutawney Phil predicts an early spring so..........

I hope you enjoy the best parts of my week! (I certainly did!)

.....While we are coming to the end of our gymnastics unit the enthusiasm from our students is still in full force! When I watched the students enjoying the activities of rolling, balancing, jumping, and hanging (I use the Kidnastics approach to gymnastics), I thought about the benefits of these activities. Our school is so fortunate to be able to provide this kind of wonderful activity for our students!

.....My students continue to impress me with their compassion and their willingness to help each other. Every week, there are students that instinctively reach out to help by tying shoes or demonstrating activities, or genuinely encouraging classmates with words of kindness and support!

.....Fitness Frankie attended PE this week with the students who are taking care of him for the week. They were so excited! I asked what they had done with him so far and in addition to feeding him healthy snacks, they read him a story! Fitness Frankie's popularity continues to grow! Read his blog at The Adventures of Fitness Frankie!

.....During our gymnastic unit, we stretch at the end of class using a technique that I call "Share Count Stretching". It is so much fun! The students and I choose a stretch to complete and we "share" the counting. I count "1" and the students count "2" - I count "3" and the students count "4" and so on. I vary the count by changing my voice and the students follow and change their voices too! I count in Spanish sometimes and they follow in Spanish too! I recently taught them how to count in French and some of my students who attend Karate class taught us how to count in Korean. They were so proud of themselves! I was too! This is always a great opportunity for me to create an interdisciplinary activity that is fun and accomplishes multiple goals!

I hope you enjoyed the "Best Parts of My Week!"

Visit the North Park PE website to learn more about our program!

E-mail me with comments or questions at: northparkpe@yahoo.com