The Best Parts of My Week....4/4-4/8

Hi everyone,

Spring has finally arrived! (well, sort of anyway....) We had a great week here at North Park! Hope you enjoy the "Best Parts of My Week!"

.....Fitness Frankie spent the week in a 5th grade class. They were so excited when I delivered him on Monday!

.....At the end of a kindergarten class, a student noticed that I was wearing my jacket with one sleeve rolled up and the other down. She commented on it and I said that I guess I just didn't notice it. When she left PE class she had rolled one pant leg up and the other was down! I think she was trying to be like me! I was flattered!

.....As one of my second grade classes arrived for PE class this week they brought a present. They worked very hard to write about Jump Rope for Heart and created a book of their work with the cover illustrated by one of the students! I was so touched! They were so excited to give it to me and I was more than excited to receive it! I read the stories that night, which included pictures of Jump Rope for Heart. They were terrific and one of the things that I was impressed with was that the students expressed clearly why Jump Rope for Heart is so important!

.....Just like all teachers, from time to time I need to be out of school and need a substitute. I was fortunate this week to have a former student with a college degree in Physical Education sub for me! He did a great job!

.....A colleague of mine and I are doing a project this year to learn about and find a use for Skype technology. Skype uses video technology to allow real time conversations using a computer and web cam. This week we used Skype with our third grade classes. My colleague and I teach in different schools in the same district. We each have rock walls, but there are some differences and similarities in how we use them. We decided to conduct a Skype session with one of our third grade classes using our respective rock walls, and follow-up with a question and answer session with the students. It was amazing! Each group showed the other how the rock wall is used. Our students were terrific and impressed with the technology! I can't wait for the follow-up session so that I can hear the questions and answers!

.....We ended the week with our annual Student/Teacher Jump Show. This show began six years ago as a celebration of our hard work to make our first Jump Rope for Heart a success. It began with a commitment from our principal and myself to jump rope for students. Well, one thing led to another and many other adults in our building volunteered to jump for the students too! As the years went by we expanded the show to showcase the skills that students learned to get ready for Jump Rope for Heart. Not only do we have students in grades K-5 jump in a variety of ways, but also many adults in our school embrace this show and participate to jump for the students! This year was a wonderful success! We raised more than $2500.00 for the American Heart Association during our Jump Rope for Heart event and for the past six years of the JRFH events we have raised more than $21,000.00! The tremendous generosity of our school community is one of the many reasons we celebrate with our Jump Show! We all agree that our jump rope skills have improved! Our future goal is to someday master the Double-Dutch Jump Rope!

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