Well, after an exciting circus week it was back to the regular schedule. It is always good to return to a routine and I enjoyed this week as there were many great parts to it!
.....I had the pleasure of congratulating our fifth grade students on their hard work and perseverance during Circus Week. As I told the students how proud I was that they worked through the frustrations and challenges of learning the circus skills in such a short time, I was touched by how they received my message. Many heads were nodding up and down and the smiles on their faces told me that they were proud as well!
.....I was teaching a kindergarten class this week and I introduced a picture of the circulatory system and had cards with "blood vessels" and "circulatory system" posted in my goal chart. New York State Domain 1 includes these vocabulary words for first graders and these kindergarten students are part of a K-1 combination class so they have been exposed to this in their classroom. When I asked the kindergarten students to tell me what they saw on the goal chart one student read the words "blood vessels"! I was so impressed I asked them if they could point out the heart and lungs on the chart and of course they could!
.....My upper elementary students are learning about the components of Physical Fitness and this week I had six different stations that focused on different components of fitness. I always like to play some upbeat music during PE class and this week I used some dance music. One of the songs that came on during a fifth grade class was the Cha Cha Slide. As the song played, students did the dance steps while they were doing the fitness station! Students were dancing while stepping up and down on fitness steps, using medicine balls and exercise balls and even jumping rope! I told the students that I was going to rename the song to Cha Cha Fitness!
.....As my broken foot continues to heal I am without crutches but my leg/foot are still in a boot. Several students during the week made me get well cards. The cards were colorful with thoughtful messages. Not a day went by this week without a card or a get well wish! I feel better already!
.....Our PE Password this week is Challenge and our exit question is "Did you challenge yourself?" When I asked students at the end of class how they challenged themselves during PE they came up with some great answers! My principal even got into the act this week when she thought I was walking on my foot too much. She challenged me to move UNDER 10,0000 steps per day! It was hard and I came very close! Next week I will have to rise to the challenge!
.....As I walked through the cafeteria this week several students stopped to show me that they were eating apples! How healthy is that!
.....Our Fuel Up to Play 60 Student Ambassadors have been working on promoting our "Brain Break" week which begins on Monday. We are encouraging our classes to use Go Noodle activities for at least one brain break every day. They made some amazing posters to advertise the event and this week a colleague and I put them up in the hallway. One of our student ambassadors thanked me for putting them up! She was proud of her work and so am I! I am looking forward to the week!
.....Primary students were participating in an "Alphabet Stretch" warm-up. The idea is to move and then stop by a letter and make your body look like that letter. A second grade class was doing this warm-up and I asked students to say the letter's name, say it's sound, and say a word that begins with that letter. One group was at the letter "F" and when asked for a word that begins with "F" said Fitness Frankie loud and clear!
.....The week ended with Fitness Friday and as I was getting ready for my first class two third grade students came into the gym because their teacher needed help for a Fitness Friday activity. They were so excited they were talking at the same time and I had to slow them down to find out what they needed. I went down to the class to help out and it was so great to see that classroom teachers were including exercise in their day and participating in Fitness Friday!
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
