The Best Parts of My Week - 12/15/14--12/19/14

Hi everyone,
     It was a wonderful and busy holiday spent with family and friends so I am a little late with this posting of the Best Parts of My Week.  Nevertheless, it was a great week and I am happy to share the "Best Parts" with you!

.....The week began with an annual event to help others called the "Pageant for Peace".  Students and adults bring in food for those in need in our own school community and then we sing a variety of songs as a group.  It was started many years ago and is such a wonderful and charitable event.  In fact, our Healthy Highway road this month is called Charity Way and we have been encouraging our students to help so that others have enough.  Many families come to the event and this year I noticed that some of the family members in attendance had been students who had participated in the event when they were children!  How cool is that?

.....The week continued with an energetic Fuel Up to Play 60 Student Ambassador meeting!  We came up with a plan to increase classroom activity breaks and our ambassadors are ready to lead the way!  We ended the meeting with a few activities from Go Noodle.  During a warm-up activity, one of the athletes mentioned that your body is like a car and you need to take care of it and put good fuel in to get good performance.  One of the students said:  "Hey, you say that too!"  This made me smile because it means our Healthy Highway program is working!

.....Cardio Cal spent some time in a fourth grade class recently and one of the students in the class took him home during the Thanksgiving break.  She wrote a four page story about his adventures and this week she shared it with me!  

.....While I was in the Library working one morning during my prep time a student working on a project came over to ask me how many steps I had on my pedometer so far that day!  I am always happy to share my step count.  It helps me to set a good example and "practice what I preach".

.....One of my primary students had a birthday this week.  He brought in fruit kabobs and shared one with me.  He even helped to make them!  They were delicious and his healthy birthday treat earned a mile for his class!  

.....In support of the Common Core and learning that is happening in the classroom, I have increased the number and scope of the vocabulary words that I teach and reinforce during PE class.  One of those "teachable moments" happened this week with a first grade class when I was talking about the number of muscles that we have.  That discussion led to the number of bones we have and before I could even tell this class that they have 206 bones they told me!  Can you believe that first graders know this?  I was surprised and proud at the same time!

.....Our school was treated to a Winter Concert during this week before vacation.  I am always impressed with the musical talent of our students and our music staff!  The orchestra, band, and choral groups were truly wonderful!  It was obvious that a tremendous amount of perseverance and practice went into their performances!

.....The week ended with our traditional Winter Workshop Day.  This always occurs during the last day before winter vacation.  Students participate in four one hour workshops during the day that are led by teachers, administrators, and parents.  Some of the workshops included chess, healthy snack making, crafts, art, weaving, basketball, speed stacking, music, computer games, and circus arts and much, much more.  In fact, over thirty different workshops are offered during the day!  A colleague of mine and I organize the circus arts workshop and we had a terrific day!  We taught students how to juggle, spin plates, use angel sticks, balance feathers and other objects, and even walk on stilts!  I got to practice my diablo skills and for the first time ever actually caught the diablo!  It was a perfect time to remind students about the value of perseverance!  It was a day full of laughter, challenges, smiles, and accomplishments and it was a great way to end the week!  

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