The Best Parts of My Week 4/20/15--4/24/15

Hi everyone,
     Some weeks the big events dominate the "Best Parts" but this week it was the little moments that captured my attention, and in many ways my heart......

.....As school began one morning I heard some noise in the hallway outside of the gymnasium.  I went out to investigate and found a student that needed some guidance.  As I was walking with him back to the place that he was supposed to be (rather than the place I found him...) he said:  "You live in the gym right?"  While this is not the first time I have been asked this question, he said it with such conviction that it was meant as a statement rather than a question!  I explained to him that while I spent a lot of time in the gymnasium, I actually live in a house, just like he does.  He seemed to understand the clarification and went on his merry way!

.....I have a goal chart in my gymnasium that I use every day to post learning goals, essential questions, exit questions, and picture clues to help students focus on what learning should be taking place.  Not only does the chart help me focus on the lesson, but it also creates a "print rich" environment for students.  I had a kindergarten class that was working on striking skills and one group was near the goal chart as they were working with noodles and balloons.  Recently the warm-up included some leaping and a task card with pictures of the stages of leaping was clipped to the goal chart.  As a student was practicing his striking skills I noticed him looking at the task card and earnestly practicing each stage of the leap!  Learning happens in different times and spaces......Mission accomplished!

.....As elementary students my classes do not change for PE class.  However, one of the challenges that I face (and I am sure many others) is having students unprepared for PE class by not wearing sneakers.  I send home reminders and I have a sneaker box for students to borrow from but I am always happier when students have their own sneakers to wear.  This week one of my students who had trouble remembering sneakers wore sneakers to PE.  She arrived with a big smile and said:  "I finally remembered my sneakers!"  She was proud of herself and so was I!

.....As my primary students finished up a unit learning about striking skills I noticed that many had really improved their skills.  This week several students showed me creative tricks that they invented, and one kindergarten student even told me how she could use her favorite hand and her not so favorite hand!  At the end of each class I asked students to tell a friend if they were getting better and how they knew it.  I was very impressed with the responses that I listened to as well as those responses that were shared with me.  Many students used the count of consecutive hits as evidence of improvement and other used successful target hits as evidence.  How smart is that?  These are kindergarten, first, and second grade students after all!

....Speaking of practicing and improvement, my upper elementary students are working on fitness challenges and are warming up with jump ropes.  This week many students were proud to show me their progress on their partner and triple group rope tricks!

.....As small groups of students are working with me on the fitness challenges, others are choosing from a variety of activities.  Our essential question is:  "What does being a good sport look like and feel like?"  One of the games that students can choose from is a "Striker Sheet" game.  Basically it is a six-sided goal game with cloth flags attached to cones as goals.  Students must hit a ball with their hands to score and can defend any attempt at scoring.  This is a very exciting game and my students love to play.  Sometimes the enthusiasm gets the best of them and they need some reminders about sportsmanship.  I saw great progress in this regard this week as students worked so hard to be kind and good sports regardless of the situation in the game.  

.....At the end of the week I allowed my primary classes something called "Freedom with responsibility" while participating in striking skill stations.  I always tell students that the freedom part is easy because you are allowed to choose your activity and play freely but the responsibility part is harder because you need to be sure to do the right thing and move safely when changing activities.  Most groups take the responsibility seriously and enjoy the freedom tremendously.  I rarely use this approach with kindergarten but I have a group this year that I believed could handle it.  They did not disappoint!  I often tell this group that they are the "best fifth grade class that I have ever had!"  They know I am joking but they still remind me every time I say it that they are kindergartners!  It makes me smile every time!  

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 - 4/13/15--4/17/15

Hi everyone,
     When I think about all of the "Best Parts" for this week I wonder how it all fit in just one week! 

.....Monday morning my very first class was arriving as the announcements were being finished.  As they were listening they heard that their class had won the Big Shoe Award.  They were so happy they called out YAY!!  The Big Shoe Award is given to the class that has 100% of students wearing sneakers for PE the most.  This class has been struggling to get to 100% and it was so nice to see that they were happy about their progress!  

.....Fitness Frankie to Go came back right on time on Monday morning and had his first adventures after Spring Break.  I have two Fitness Frankie to Go packs that go home on Fridays for a weekend adventure with students.  This idea came about after the original Fitness Frankie became so popular that students asked to take him home!  This week Fitness Frankie in both packs had scooter riding adventures!

.....It was finally warm this week after a VERY long winter.  One of my first grade students had shorts on during PE and commented on it as I was walking by.  He said:  "I'm wearing gym shorts!  It's a perfect day to wear gym shorts!"  He was so excited that his outfit matched his specials schedule!

.....I am in my 32nd year of teaching and all of those years have been in the same school.  I still absolutely love my job and feel privileged to have been in a school long enough to see students grow up.  One of my former students came back this week to meet with me regarding his Eagle Scout project.  He wants to give back to the PE program at North Park by creating a project to benefit the health and wellness of our students.  I am overwhelmed at his generosity and sense of community and am so excited to work with him on this project!

.....I have some wonderful opportunities to meet other PE professionals as a result of conferences, my website, Twitter, articles I have written, and through friends and colleagues.  This week I was happy to have two young professionals from a neighboring district come and visit my program.  The energy between teachers who always want to learn and improve is infectious!  We had a great time talking about different ideas and lessons and I was proud (and a little nervous to be honest) to have them observe a few of my classes.  Of course, I used my disclaimer line:  "Every day is not a presentation".  While they laughed at the line, I wanted them to know that the reality of teaching is that it is sometimes hard and rarely perfect.  They agreed and appreciated the successful but "real world" lesson that they observed.  My students had a great time showing our visitors what North Park PE is all about and I hope to reciprocate and visit them soon!

.....While a kindergarten student was working on his striking skill with a lollipop paddle and a small foam filled ball he said:  "Never give up!'  I asked him what happens when you keep practicing and he told me that you get better.  Of course he is right and I am so glad that he knows that at such a young age!  

.....My students in the upper grades worked on the PACER fitness challenge this week.  Most were very excited and some were a little worried about doing their best.  I encouraged students to do their best and asked those who were counting laps to be very quiet so that the runners could hear the beeps.  I asked students to save their compliments until the end and they were terrific!  When it was time to switch groups the high fives and compliments made my heart smile.......

.....We have a group of students who come to school early and are cared for by an outside agency.  This group uses the gymnasium on most mornings so that students can be active.  I am happy to see the students beginning the day with activity!  Most of the time I am setting up for the day around the activity and very often the students help me with the set up.  At the end of the week I had some push-up tester pads out on the sidelines ready for the day.  I left to do some work and when I came back both students and their care takers were using the push-up testers to practice their push-ups!  It was great to see adults and students exercising together!  

.....The week ended with Family Fitness Night on Friday night.  Students and their families came to school to participate in physical activity and learn about healthy choices together.  It is an annual event that I started a few years ago with a grant from Fuel Up to Play 60.  Anything that is worth doing is, of course, worth doing well and so this event takes a considerable amount of work to plan, set-up, and run.  I have been planning it for a few months and was excited for the evening to begin.  I had so much help!  My colleagues, principal, former student teacher, and parent volunteers all came together to make the evening successful.  Families bowled together, played a physical activity based board came called Let's Move in School by Skillastics, practiced golf putting challenges, used heart rate monitors and stethoscopes, learned about healthy food with a My Plate Bingo game, and were treated to a healthy snack of sweet potato chips and/or granola that was made by a parent who is a chef at the Culinary Institute of America.  As a result of my membership in, and the generosity of, the Southeastern Zone of NYS AHPERD, I was able to send students and families home with a variety of materials advocating for quality Health and Physical Education.  It was so great to see families enjoying the activities together.  I had some terrific conversations with parents, former students, colleagues, current students, and even a few future students!  I am truly fortunate to be able to create and promote this kind of event and have the support of so many.  When I got home, I looked at my pedometer......26,177 steps for the day!  My sister was visiting for the weekend and asked how I could possibly get that many steps in one day!  It took me quite a while to explain!  

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 - 4/6/15--4/10/15

Hi everyone,
     We had a wonderful Spring Break but it was great to get back to school!  It was such a busy week that at the end of the week I felt like we had been back for two weeks instead of one!

.....The week began with a group of staff playing in the gym.  Let me explain.  As a reward for student participation in Read Across America, the staff is putting together a video.  Scenes have been filmed in every part of the school!  For the gymnasium scene I invited the staff to come and play with chickens, gorillas, parachutes, pigs, and more!  It was so much fun no one wanted to leave!  Everyone agreed that it was a great way to start the week and asked if they could do it again!  Oh, by the way students don't know about all of the scenes that we have filmed so .......Shhhhhhh.......It's a secret!

.....As students returned to school I asked if they had been active during vacation.  A fifth grade student told me that he had the most "Fitnessy" vacation ever!  He explained that he and his family and friends took walks and were very active!

.....I love music and I always have some kind of music playing when students are being active.  This week the music I chose encouraged all kinds of dancing, even when dancing was not the primary objective!

.....I had a terrific discussion with a fifth grade class about food labels early in the week as we finished up our unit on nutrition activities.  Fifth graders participated in an activity that I call Food Label Frenzy.  They run and pick up food cards that have actual portion sizes and a food label on the back of the card.  One of my students told me that even McDonald's has food labels on their bags now.  We all agreed that it was great information and would help us to make healthy choices!

.....Third grade students played a game I call Nutrition Tag.  Half of the students are "it" and attempt to tag as many people as possible.  Those who are not "it" have cards with questions about nutrition.  When tagged, they must ask a question of the "it".  If the question is answered correctly, the "it" gets to keep the card.  If the question is answered incorrectly, students are encouraged to "teach" the correct answer so that learning is always happening.  Students who need more cards come to me.  As I was observing the class, I overheard a student tell another student who had not gotten the question correctly say:  "Nice try, though."  That statement made me smile!

.....This week I renamed the Physical Fitness Test.  Students (and adults) can have such anxiety over testing so I decided to explain to the students that we would no longer be calling it a test.  Instead, it will be called the Physical Fitness Challenge.  I wanted students to understand that the value in completing these "challenges" (I almost typed "tests".....) is the knowledge that can be gained, the goals that can be made and achieved, and the purpose of Physical Fitness as a lifelong journey.  I was pretty impressed at how students received this approach.  Many agreed that tests make them worry and liked the idea of a challenge!

.....The PE Password is in the hallway in different locations so that students can be exposed to PE vocabulary even when they are not in PE.  In addition to the word and picture clues, I include a QR code that gives information about the word.  Students scan the code during PE and discuss the word as part of our lesson for the day.  This week our band teacher came into the gymnasium to show me that he scanned the QR code and learned all about Carbohydrates!  It came about as a student was looking at the word in the hallway and needed some help to read it.  He stepped right in.  Now that is absolutely fantastic!  

.....In the middle of the week I had an amazing opportunity.  I met with the staff of one of our state senators to advocate for some legislation regarding quality Physical Education and Health Education that is currently being considered.  It was my first time advocating in this capacity and I must say I was more than a little nervous.  At the same time it was exhilarating!  

.....I have a sneaker box with gently used sneakers available for students who need them.  This week a student came to the gymnasium with a bag.  He said:  "Carbohydrates" (the PE Password) and then opened the bag to show me some sneakers he was ready to donate!

.....Students in the primary grades are beginning to practice striking skills with a variety of equipment.  We always start with balloons and the students were so excited to practice!  Who doesn't like playing with a balloon?  It was hard asking them to stop practicing when it was time to go back to class!  

.....At the end of the week a class of fourth grade students were getting ready to a PE Pack home for the weekend.  This pack includes a pedometer, jump rope, and log card and encourages students to exercise at home.  They were so excited!  I can't wait to see how many steps they logged and add that data to my website! 

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