The Best Parts of My Week! 6/18/12-6/22/12

Hi everyone,
    This past week was the last week of school and it was full of "best parts"!

.....Our PTA treated our students and staff to an all natural fruit ice pop this week.  I was in charge of getting the ice pops and distributing them.  I had a second grade class at the end of the day and I thought they would like to be my "Pit Crew".  They did an amazing job and we distributed more than 350 ice pops in no time flat!  At the end of the distribution, my "Pit Crew" and I got to enjoy our ice pops!

.....I only had classes for the first two days of this week as there were special events and early releases for the rest of the week.  As a special treat, I took my primary classes to the playground for their last PE class for the school year.  One of my kindergarten students, not in my class at the time, was out at recess and she came up to me to show me all of the yoga poses she had learned this year!  She was very good at them!

.....My second grade students completed a PE portfolio for the first time this year.  They worked very hard all year long and I was getting the portfolios organized and ready to go home.  As I looked back at the work they had completed, I was proud of their efforts and knew that their families would be just as proud as I was!  It was fun bringing them to the classroom teachers to distribute!

.....Mid-week we held our moving up day ceremony for our fifth grade students.  I am always surprised by how much the students have grown and I am always proud of their accomplishments.  During this ceremony I am able to witness their accomplishments in so many areas as they are recognized for their hard work.  I am also privileged to be able to honor several students for exemplary work during PE class.  Not only were the families smiling and applauding, the students were smiling and applauding each other!  At the end of the ceremony, our principal asked our students to recite our school pledge one more time and asked them to take the message with them as they grow and learn.  I noticed a former student in the audience reciting the pledge right along with everyone else!

.....After school one day this week I had several former students come to visit.  I love catching up!  While they were visiting, a mom of one of the students came in to chat as well.  While we were chatting the students were reminiscing about their years at North Park and they even sat on the circle where they gathered as kindergarten students in PE class!

.....The last day of school is exciting, yet sad......we take pride in the learning and friendships that took place, but we are sad that a year is ending because we know that next year will always be different than this one, and never quite the same....We have quite the celebration on the last day, complete with streamers and bubbles!  Many of our fifth grade students, while happy to have completed elementary school, are in tears as they leave on the last day.  It is wonderful in a way because to me that means that we have had a positive influence in our students' lives......

.....There is so much work to be done to finish the school year and I always wonder how I will get it all done!  I am not alone and despite the deadlines and work to be done, there was much camaraderie among my colleagues this week.  Unfortunately we are saying good-bye to many who are moving on....some to other buildings and some to other ventures.....  We wish them all the best!

.....It was a great school year!  Summer vacation is upon us and I will resume this blog in September! Thanks for reading about the "Best Parts of My Week"!

Visit the North Park PE website if you would like more information about the PE program at North Park!

The Best Parts of My Week: 6/11/12--6/15/12

Hi everyone,
    As we get closer to summer vacation, the excitement grows and the celebrations continue!

.....My students have been enjoying a bowling unit recently and they have been so excited!  We are fortunate to be able to set up six bowling lanes and at times it sounds like a real bowling alley when the pins go down!  I loved the looks on the faces of my students when they were successful with a strike or a spare.  Many students this week looked both shocked and excited and exclaimed "I got a strike!" or "I got a spare!"

.....We were treated to a day long visit from chefs from the Culinary Institute of America on our Wellness Wednesday this week!  This event was made possible by our Fuel Up to Play 60 grant and a generous grant from a family which funded our Healthy Snack Cart.  Chef Rico and Chef Christina spent the day and taught our students how to make healthy snacks.  The variety was fantastic and each grade level made a different snack.  Students were able to participate in the creation of the snacks and then eat what they had made.  The students were so engaged and excited!  One of our fifth graders said:  "That was awesome!" after he made and ate a spring roll made out of rice paper and fresh vegetables. I could not help but think that this was an amazing opportunity for all involved!  Click here for a slide show of this event!

.....Most who know me know that I am a creature of habit and that I am a detail oriented person.  That being said, I do forget things sometimes, especially when there is so much going on at the end of the school year.  This week I forgot to put out one of our character bears - "PE Paddy", and our "Stop and Think About it Center".  One of my kindergarten students noticed and reminded me that I had forgotten to do both!  I appreciated another "detail oriented" person helping me out!

.....At the end of the week our principal, librarian, and myself had the opportunity to go to another school in our district and present a Healthy Highway assembly to the student body.  This particular school is closing, and while we are all sad that the school is closing, we are looking for ways to make the transition smooth.  Most of these students will be coming to our school so we thought it would be fun to introduce Healthy Highway to the new students.  We brought Fitness Frankie, our Courage Lions - Courageous Carlos and Courageous Cassie, our NP Healthy Highway car, and the book that I wrote about Fitness Frankie's Summer Adventure.  We had a great time introducing the program to the new students and they seemed to enjoy it.  At the end of the assembly we danced the Healthy Highway dance!  It was great fun!  I felt a little bit like a rock star when students came up to us to ask questions after the assembly!  I also was able to visit with some former students and I enjoyed catching up on their adventures!

.....Our Kindergarten Celebration was held on Friday afternoon and I had the pleasure of taking pictures for our school website.  This events celebrates the growth and hard work of our kindergarten students.  We are all so proud of how much they have learned and how much they have grown!  There were more than a few tears of pride and joy from parents and teachers alike!

Thanks for reading about the "Best Parts of My Week!"

Visit the North Park PE website if you would like more information about the PE program at North Park!

The Best Parts of My Week - 6/4/12-6/8/12

Hi everyone,
    The "Best Parts of My Week" can be summed up in two words:  FIELD DAY!  Well, alright, a little elaboration is necessary.......

The Memories
.....I recently spent some time with my son and some of his friends.   One of his friends and my son were students at North Park once upon a time.......We were reminiscing and the memory from North Park that came up time and time again was Field Day!  My son's friend said:  "Field Day was the best!"  These young men are adults now and have careers, but they still remember Field Day!  I start preparing for Field Day in late March and by the time the event arrives the excitement in the air is palpable, but somehow I am always surprised by how excited everyone gets!  I wonder if other alumni remember Field Day with the same excitement?

The Weather:
.....We divide our Field Days by grade levels to keep the event fresh as the years progress but also to be sure that age appropriate activities are included in the various Field Days.  Tuesday morning was Field Day for grades 3 and 4, Tuesday afternoon was Field Day for grade 5, and Wednesday morning Field Day was scheduled for grades K-2.  The weather was cool and cloudy (actually a perfect day for Field Day), and we hoped for the rain to stay away for both days.  It did and we were able to complete all Field Days in grand style!

The Families:
.....We have so many wonderful parents and adult family members that volunteer to help with our Field Days.  It makes me smile to see the excitement on the faces of the parents as well as on the faces of the students!

.....Every year we have moms, dads, grandmas, grandpas, aunts, uncles, and other family members come to Field Day just to watch their children participate.  It's great to see the pride on the students' faces when their family members cheer them on!

.....This year we had some North Park alumni who were parent volunteers.  I had fun reminiscing about Field Day when they were students.   (Yes, I was their PE teacher back then!)

.....Some of our parent volunteers for our 5th grade Field Day remarked that it was their last Field Day at North Park.  They have volunteered unselfishly for so many events at North Park for so many years.  We will miss them and their children!

The Students:
.....Our students were amazing during Field Day!  Our Field Day events are non-competitive and meant for fun and exercise.  Students know this and it was heartwarming to hear our students cheering for each other!

.....As I was moving from station to station at our various Field Days, I participated in some of the stations with the students.  I was included in each event enthusiastically and students were happy to share that they were having a great time!

.....My wonderful husband helps me to set up for Field Days very early on each scheduled day.  When the event is over, I always marvel at how quickly the equipment is cleaned up.  I had some wonderful help from students and families!  This help made it easy to get ready for the next one!

Fitness Frankie and Exercise Ernie
.....I had a terrific time taking Fitness Frankie and Exercise Ernie to each of the events!  Students were happy to see them and smiled for the camera along with FF and EE!  I was even able to introduce them to some of our parents who had not yet met them!

My Colleagues
.....I work with an outstanding group of professionals who work incredibly hard everyday to teach our students.  Field Day requires a school-wide effort and I am so grateful to all of my colleagues who helped in so many ways....supervising stations, helping to set up, cheering, being flexible with daily schedules, and so much more!  I can not do it without them.......Thank you to all of my wonderful colleagues!

Thanks for reading about the "Best Parts of My Week!"

Visit the North Park PE website if you would like more information about the PE program at North Park!

The Best Parts of My Week - 5/28/12--6/1/12

Hi everyone,
     All I can say about this week is:  WOW!  It was terrific!

.....Exercise Ernie spent the weekend with a staff member and her family.  He had a terrific time and on Monday I was presented with a book of his weekend adventure!  It was complete with pictures and a story which included being part of a Memorial Day Celebration and remembering those who served.....

.....A primary student was exercising to warm-up and said:  I'm sweaty!  I said:  sweaty is good!  He agreed!

.....As the end of the month comes near, many students return their completed Fitness Calendars so that they can be included in the list of Fitness Fanatics.  One student brought me a stack of Fitness Calendars completed by her entire class!

.....Operation Healthy North Park was coming to a close this week as well.  I received many, many "Coop Cars"in the inter-office mail this week.  I was thrilled to see that one pile of these cars came from our middle school.  I recognized many of the student's names as North Park alumni.  I wrote an e-mail to the Health teacher that promoted this project in her class to thank her for supporting the project.  She responded by saying that she thought it was a great project and that many of her students remembered participating in the project when they were North Park students.  I realized that sometimes it is possible to continue to make an impact long after students leave the building.......

.....Students in the primary grades have been participating in activities called Movement Sentences and Locomotor Go Fish.  Both activities require some reading on the part of the students.  The students have learned so much this year and I was proud of their work as I watched them read and help each other with words that were challenging.  My kindergarten classes surprised me most of all when they read words that I was sure they did not know!

.....As many of you know, our school is a pilot school for a program called Healthy Highway.  Wendy Cooper is the creator of this program and we have become colleagues and friends throughout the years. Wendy offered to create a station for our Family Fitness Night and also wanted to spend the day at school with us on Friday.  We had such a good time!  Baking Bella was in attendance and our students and staff were happy to see her again!

.....Our first ever Family Fitness Night was scheduled for this past Friday - June 1st.  This event was made possible by a Fuel Up to Play 60 grant that was obtained as a result of the efforts of our Food Service Director and several others.  We had been planning this event for quite some time and I will admit that I was a bit nervous......I wanted everything to go well, of course, but it was also the first event that our new students - from a school that will be closing - were invited to.  It is a difficult situation for everyone when a school closes and we wanted to make all of our new families feel welcome.  I have to say that it was an amazing evening!  I was worried about having enough help, but our PTA, and my friends came through in fine fashion!  We played, laughed, learned about nutritious foods and physical activity, and even had a chance to hear our hearts beat! We hosted 137 people  and had a terrific time with all of the different events, one of which included a healthy snack made by chefs from the Culinary Institute of America!  As I was taking pictures of Exercise Ernie and Fitness Frankie during the event, one of our new moms asked about our bears.  She said that she had looked at our website and that the bears were EVERYWHERE!  I enjoyed telling hear all about their adventures!   I met so many new students and families and I look forward to September when we will begin the new school year with all of our new friends!

Thanks for reading about the "Best Parts of My Week!"

Visit the North Park PE website if you would like more information about the PE program at North Park!