This winter has certainly been a bit of a challenge! It has been difficult to get into any kind of rhythm due to weather related delays, early releases, and closures and this week was more of the same.......a snow day Monday, a delay on Tuesday, a snow day on Thursday, and I was away at a conference on Friday! Some weeks I think that I am not going to have enough to write about but believe it or not, this is rarely the case. Despite the (really) short week, there were many great parts!
.....This week our Fuel Up to Play 60 Student Ambassadors sponsored a Brain Break Week. Our goal was to increase activity time and promote the idea that students who are more physically active do better in school. Each classroom was introduced to a website called Go Noodle which has an abundance of short activities for student use in the classroom. Student Ambassadors made posters to advertise the week and also helped out with announcements each day to remind everyone to be physically active. Even though the week was short, I received wonderful positive feedback about the event! Students and teachers stopped me in the hall to tell me which activities they had done and even our librarian added a brain break to her library class! In fact, most everyone wants to continue the idea of brain breaks in the classroom!
....."Fitness Frankie to Go" had an extended weekend with his host students. One student brought him back with new pajamas that her mom had made for him! I absolutely love it when someone takes an idea and goes above and beyond! She was so proud of his new pajamas her smile was a mile wide!
.....Students in my primary classes have been exploring balance and one second grader had a simple idea and shared it with his classmates. He said that when you start to lose your balance you "just lean the other way!" His advice was simple and effective!
.....Students in the fourth grade were given Fitness Wheels to complete at home. Students had been participating in fitness stations to learn the components of fitness and I wanted them to make real world connections to activities that they do on their own. One of the Fitness Wheels was turned in by a student who not only added her dance classes to the wheel but also described her need for perseverance to learn the dances! As a school we are traveling down "Perseverance Path" and I was so proud of her connection!
.....In the last few months I created a Twitter account and have become a part of an amazing Professional Learning Community! I have learned so much from so many great people! One of the things I learned about on Twitter is an app called Comic Life. This week I created a balance assessment for first grade students. It was simple, but it gave me great information about whether or not students learned about balance. I am pleased to say that they indeed learned about the concept of balance! You can follow me on Twitter - @mrobPE
.....At the end of the week I was fortunate to be able to attend and present at the SHAPE America Eastern District Convention in Springfield, Massachusetts. It was a great conference and not only did I meet some really great professionals (some that I knew only through Twitter so it was great to meet them in person) but I also learned some new ideas that I can't wait to try out! After 31 years of teaching it would be easy to maintain the status quo, but working constantly to improve my teaching and practice is my goal and I am grateful to my district and my colleagues who support my professional development!
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
