The Best Parts of My Week: 9/22/14--9/26/14

Hi everyone,
     Every once in awhile, I am reminded why it is so important to find the positive moments in each day.  This was one of those weeks....There were some great moments to remember!

.....Sometimes my classes arrive just as the morning announcements are being made.  This week my class arrived and we said the Pledge of Allegiance in the hallway.  Another student noticed and stopped in his tracks to say the Pledge too!

.....We spent time outside this week as we began a soccer unit.  One of my second graders was so excited to share his soccer experience with me.  He had a smile on his face as he talked about how he scored a goal and I was so glad that he wanted to share this moment with me!

.....At the beginning of the first class involving soccer skills with my 3rd grade - 5th grade classes I asked students how many played soccer on a team and many of them raised their hand.  I was impressed not only with the level of skill, but the students willingness to help others!  One of the activities involved students taking turns being a player and a coach.  The coach's job was to give feedback to the player regarding his/her dribbling skill.  So many of the students were so positive in their feedback and comments to their player!

.....Our current PE Password is "Flexibility".  After discussing the meaning of the word as it relates to PE, I asked my students if they knew another meaning for the word since this is a word with multiple meanings.  A third grade student said that he thought another meaning was to have flexibility in your brain.  When I asked him to tell me more he said that flexibility in your brain means thinking of things in many different ways!  Now that's thinking out of the box!

.....As I was returning from lunch one day this week a fifth grade student was waiting for his teacher to pick up the class.  He was munching on carrots and seemed to be enjoying them!

.....My primary students were learning about and practicing offensive and defensive skills as part of our soccer unit.  The game involved taking turns guarding a cone to practice defense and dribbling and kicking a soccer ball to knock down a cone.  One of my students said: "This is great!  I think I want to do this everyday!"

.....Friday afternoon I was chatting with some students who were waiting to be picked up.  School was closed the day before due to a religious holiday.  I asked students if they had played outside on their day off.  One student remarked that of course he did because it was Nickelodeon's World-Wide Day of Play!  Who knew?  I am glad that he did!

....I hope you enjoyed the "Best Parts of My Week!"  To find out more about the PE program at North Park, visit my website:  North Park Physical Education

The Best Parts of My Week - 9/15/14--9/19/14

Hi everyone,
     As September moves right along, and we are enjoying the full effects of Fall, our students are settling in and we are having a great start to the school year!

.....This was our week for Meet the Teacher nights.  We have two separate nights; one for students in grades K-2 and another for students in grades 3-5.  I always enjoy these nights because I have the opportunity to talk about my program and meet the parents of so many of my students.  We had a great turnout and, as usual, I met some parents who were my former students!

.....Pedometer use is a significant part of my program and it is always exciting to see students use them for the first time.  This week some third grade students were amazed at their step counts!

.....A fifth grade student worked very hard to get 3,000 steps during one PE class!  Students were challenged to get 2,000 steps together as a partnership with another student - 1,000 steps each.  Students took turns walking for one minute and then jogging for one minute.  This particular student thought that goal was too easy and took it upon himself to make a new goal!

.....I have talked about our mascot bears - Fitness Frankie, Physical Eddie, and Cardio Cal.  This week a kindergarten student wanted to know why I did not have the bears out during PE.  He had just been introduced to them last week.  I told him they were taking a nap and would be out next time!

.....Last year I received a grant to purchase Ipad minis to use during PE class.  This week students began to use one of them and they were so excited!  I was too!

.....Kindergarten students were incredibly creative this week during an animal walk activity.  One was even floating gracefully like a butterfly!

.....A week does not go by without students smiling during PE, being proud of a newly learned skill, or commenting about how much fun they were having.  This week was no different.  It never gets old.......and always makes me smile too!

....I hope you enjoyed the "Best Parts of My Week!"  To find out more about the PE program at North Park, visit my website:  North Park Physical Education

The Best Parts of My Week - 9/8/14--9/12/14

Hi everyone,
     It was the first full week of school and it was a full week in more ways then one!

.....Our kindergarten students began on Monday!  It was so much fun to see them arrive!  Many were confident and excited, a few were a bit hesitant, but all were ready to begin!

.....Students in grades 3-5 create class PE contracts.  This week students told me the rules that were important to them so that the contracts could be created.  I am always impressed with the mature responses!

.....As a school we have increased our focus on the creation of goals and I decided that I would ask my fourth graders to come up with a PE goal this year.  I assigned this as "PE homework" after students had a chance to "walk and talk" about the goals with a friend.  I half expected a groan or two when I told students about the assignment but there were no groans at all!  In fact, students seemed eager to complete this assignment and more than 95% of students handed it in on time!

.....5th grade students completed a "How did you Play 60?" bulletin board this week.  They were busy this summer!  

.....I was able to introduce the use of pedometers to my third grade students this week.  The excitement was incredible!  The look on their faces when they see how many steps they move during PE is priceless!

.....I always smile when a student leaves PE saying "this was fun!" ; no matter how many times it happens!

.....We finished the week with our first Healthy Highway assembly of the year!  Our students were so well behaved!  We introduced Courage Crossroads, I was able to share a book I wrote about Fitness Frankie's summer adventure, and our students learned about something called the Four Step Apology.  I had a chance to talk with students later and they enjoyed it!

....I hope you enjoyed the "Best Parts of My Week!"  To find out more about the PE program at North Park, visit my website:  North Park Physical Education

The Best Parts of My Week - 9/2/14--9/5/14

Hi everyone,
    We are back!  It was a great summer but I am ready for a new school year!  It is hard to believe but this is my 32nd school year!  It was a great first week!  We started the week with the usual meetings and it was wonderful to see colleagues that I have not seen all summer!  During the opening day we were treated to a musical performance by two of our high school vocal groups and it was gratifying to see students from North Park that are part of these amazing and talented groups!  During the afternoon, students came to visit school and drop off school supplies and I enjoyed very much catching up with students from last year as well as meeting new ones!  I think it is going to be an exciting year!  I hope you enjoy reading about the Best Parts of My Week this year!  

.....While this actually happened at the end of the summer, I have to share!  I received a letter at the end of the summer from one of my first grade students.  He wrote to tell me that he had been running during the summer to stay healthy!  How amazing is that!  I enjoyed writing back to him to tell him how proud I was!

.....There is nothing better than the smiles on the first day of school.  We were treated to our share of them on Thursday!

.....We received word this week that North Park is on the list of nationally recognized schools as a Let's Move Active School! We are one of 698 schools nationwide and one of only 21 in New York State!  Go North Park!

.....It was great fun introducing Fitness Frankie to our new friends at North Park!  This week I am planning to share his summer adventure during one of our assemblies.  Stay tuned!

.....I always begin the year with a slide show of last year's PE program.  At the end I asked students to share with the class what they noticed.  One student shared that she noticed that we have many activities and opportunities to be active during PE!  We do and I feel very grateful!  It's going to be a great year!

I hope you enjoyed the "Best Parts of My Week!"  To find out more about the PE program at North Park, visit my website:  North Park Physical Education