I celebrated Memorial Day on Monday and enjoyed a wonderful day with family and friends. The work week began on Tuesday and despite the shorter week, my notes pages for "Best Parts" were overflowing!
.....We are continuing with our Gymnastics unit and began the week using the bars to hang and strengthen using a "possum hang". Students were asked to wrap their legs around a single bar and use their arms to pull-up and travel along the bar. Students were so excited to use the bar this way and one student said: "This is SO Cool!". One of my students remarked that possums actually use their tail to hang! I learned something new and thanked the student for the information!
.....My Fitness Frankie to Go project finished up for the year this week as all my second grade students have had a turn to take him home. He had a great Memorial Day adventure going to Karate class and fishing on Lake Ontario! Sometimes he travels more than I do!
.....As the week continued students were introduced to the high balance beam. Even though I know that this is a highlight of our gymnastics unit, it is always so great to feel the excitement in the air! While many students are indeed excited, others are a bit scared of the height. I am always available to hold students' hands while they walk on the beam (sometimes both hands) but some students are still a bit reluctant to climb aboard. I promise students that I will not let them fall but I always allow them to choose whether or not they want to take a turn. It always amazes me that some students have no fear at all and others hold on to me so tight that I can barely feel my hand when they are finished! One student commented: "That wasn't so bad!" and another said: "That was scary and fun at the same time!" I always feel so happy that students trust me to keep them safe......
.....As we continue to travel down Kindness Way I continue to notice random acts of kindness. A first grade student this week was kind enough to notice a piece of gymnastic equipment at another station that was in need of adjustment. He quietly went over to the area, fixed the equipment, and returned to his group (who was kind enough to let him back in his spot) without drawing any kind of attention to himself or his act of kindness.......
.....I was lucky enough to have some visitors this week! On Wednesday a PE teacher from another district came to visit our program. I had the pleasure and privilege of visiting her wonderful program last year! It was great to introduce her to my students and explain that adults are interested in learning too! My students were happy to meet her and it was wonderful to have her jump right in during our warm-up and interact with my students in such a positive way! I love the collaboration that comes from visiting other programs. As a profession, we are made stronger by our willingness to share our successes and learn from others! Later in the week a student who will be my student teacher in the Fall of 2015 came to visit and learn a bit about the program. I love the energy that student teachers bring to our building! When I introduced her as a new student teacher to a group of students they exclaimed "YAY!" It was great to meet her and I think I am as excited as she is to get started together!
.....Speaking of collaboration, I learned about how to use sentence starters from a colleague this year and this week I decided to try it out with students during the gymnastics unit. Simple statements such as: "I noticed that....... You are doing really well with...... and I have a suggestion to help you with......" were placed on cards at various stations. Students were asked to work with a good learning partner and help each other using one, two, or three of the sentence starters. At the end of each station, I randomly picked a student to share what they said or what they heard. What a powerful tool! The conversations that were created were amazing and when I asked students if a particular suggestion helped, it very often did!
......Once in awhile I hear about something that makes the list of "Best Parts" even though it did not happen during PE class. This week our principal came down to the gymnasium after school to ask me about purchasing soccer goals. I helped her out with some catalogs and choices and asked her about the reason for the purchase. She told me that third grade students were learning to write persuasive letters and they had written to her about the need for soccer goals at recess to increase activity time and decrease arguments and lost soccer balls. They were so persuasive she found a way to make it happen!
.....I used a warm-up this week called Deal or No Deal. It is played in a variety of ways but basically an exercise is chosen and students pick a card to determine the number of each exercise to do for the warm-up. When a student picks a card he/she can decide Deal or No Deal. If the deal is taken, the class uses that number to perform the exercise. If the student decides No Deal, another card is picked and that number is used. Sometimes the number ends up higher, and sometimes the number ends up lower. During one class a student did not take the deal when the card was a low number for an exercise called mountain climbers. The next card was higher and the student was happy about it. Another student asked why he did not take the deal for the lower number. He responded: "Because I LOVE mountain climbers!" I smiled and so did he!
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.
