Hi everyone,
It was a week of starts and stops as the weather in the Northeast began to look a lot more like winter! As a result of ice and snow we had one snow day and one delay this week and technically it is not even winter yet! Still, there were some great moments!
.....Fitness Frankie to Go came back on Monday after having some holiday adventures! He helped to cut down a Christmas tree after a hike with one student and exercised, had a healthy dinner, and met some grandparents with another! Not only are students taking photographs to include in his journal, but they are also writing about the adventures to go in the journal as well!
.....Primary students began to practice throwing skills playing a game called "Clean Up Your Backyard". This is a classic game and one that I have played for many years. This game has been enhanced by a book of the same title written by a creative and talented PE professional - Lynn Hefele - through her company called LEPE - Literature Enhanced Physical Education. The book sets up the game and reinforces good throwing techniques with a great story and surprising ending! I read the book this week to my students and they were so excited! The basic premise of the game is that students clean up their own backyard by throwing "garbage" over a fence into a neighbor's backyard. Now of course, this is a story and students are told that this is only a pretend game. When asked where garbage is supposed to be put they all know that it should be thrown in garbage cans and recycle bins. I use baskets to store the balls and at the end of the game students actually clean up by putting the balls back in the baskets. One of my kindergarten classes decided to actually clean up during the game. I did not realize this at first but then I started wondering where all of the balls had gone because it seemed that there were not enough for the game. I finally discovered that they were already being put in the baskets before the game ended! Students had so much fun playing and their throwing skills are getting better already!
.....Recently, I have been supporting learning that is going on in the classroom by including some of the new NYS Domain vocabulary words for first grade in my PE classes. This week the two words that I had on display were "muscles" and "voluntary". Before I even had a chance to ask how these two words are connected, one of my first graders gave a wonderful description of what voluntary and involuntary muscles are! I am quite sure that I did not know that when I was in first grade!
.....I absolutely love the "WHOA!" effect. This is the reaction that students exhibit when they arrive at the gymnasium and see what is set up for their class. I had the pleasure of this reaction many times this week as students in the upper grades were beginning to play small group games in Volleyball with a variety of different balls and court set-ups and my primary students were playing "Clean Up Your Backyard" and balloons filled with helium were ready to be used as targets!
.....Sometimes the little moments and small gestures are the once that touch my heart the most. I received a handmade sign this week from one of my students. She is one of our Fuel Up to Play 60 Student Ambassadors and she made me a Fuel Up to Play 60 sign for my office door!
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
