Sunday, June 14, 2015

The Best Parts of My Week - 6/8/15--6/12/15

Hi everyone,
     If you are an educator, you know that the end of the school year is crazy, exciting, busy, frenzied, stressful, happy, and amazing!  It's that time of year in my district but despite the frenzy (or maybe because of it) it was an incredible week!

.....Our school schedule runs on a cycle of A-F, not Monday to Friday.  I spoke in my last post about trying a new warm-up which is an active version of Rock, Paper, Scissors.  I continued with that warm-up this week because Monday was a "B" day, Tuesday was a "C" day, and so on.  I was so happy when I introduced the warm-up to one class and a student was excited to tell me that she knew how to play because her brother had learned it last week and taught her!

.....Third grade students in one class were practicing and improving their writing skills by writing about "noteworthy" people in our school.  They write about the things that a particular person does to make the school a better place.  They do some research, write a draft, edit, and then "publish" their work.  I am honored and humbled to have been chosen by two of the third grade students as their "noteworthy" person!  I was presented with their writing pieces this week and I had tears in my eyes as I read them.....All I want to do is teach and make a difference in the lives of my students and these writing pieces showed me that I am accomplishing my goal....

.....Tuesday was 5th Grade Track and Field Day.  This event is something that a colleague of mine and I have dreamed about for years and it finally came about as a result of an amazing collaboration and a tremendous amount of hard work!  I coached Track and Field at our high school a long time ago when we had only a dirt track and last year our community supported the installation of an amazing stadium with an eight lane all weather Track and Field facility.  Each time I set foot in this stadium I am in awe.  The 5th Grade Track and Field Day was a way to showcase and use this beautiful facility, introduce 5th graders to the sport of Track and Field, provide a way for high school students to mentor our elementary students, and work together with our high school PE staff to organize and promote the event.  Scheduling this event was nothing short of a miracle when all of the factors were considered!  If the event did not take place on Tuesday we were not going to be able to reschedule so I was keeping an eye on the weather forecast for days!  While it looked as if the weather was not going to cooperate (if you visit the link above and see the pictures you will understand what I mean....) we were able to hold the event with only a sprinkle or two during the entire three hours.  The high school students (some of them my former students) were so caring and were such great mentors and role models for our students.  Our students were so well behaved and excited about the opportunity!  Parents were generous with their time and chaperoned the event.  We had a visit from the high school principal, our own principal, our Director of Physical Education and the current Track and Field Coach, all of whom thought that the event was an amazing opportunity for all involved!  I was more than happy at the outcome and as I thought about the day and shared the details with my husband, the word that I kept coming back to was "Special".  It was truly a special day and it far exceeded my expectations!  Students were still talking about it as the week went forward and some students told me about their plans to join the middle school Track and Field team!  When I asked students about which event was their favorite, one student replied:  "All of them!"  One student was even interested in getting his own discus so that he could practice ahead of time!  The next day a 5th grade student came excitedly down the hall to give me a "thank you for field day" poster that she made.  Yes......a special day indeed!

.....As the week continued students were inside and outside working on some throwing and catching skills with a variety of different equipment.  I was encouraging students to explore when we were outside using scoops for catching and yarn balls for throwing.  A first grade student was so creative and made up some great moves for tossing and catching!  Another first grade group was working together to create a game and they called it "Switcheroo".  They had two yarn balls and two scoops and they tossed the balls in the air at the same time with the scoops and said "Switcheroo"!  They were having a great time!

.....At the end of the week a first grade group did their warm-up inside and then went outside to work on throwing and catching.  During this warm-up two boys had some difficulty getting along and agreeing on fair play.  After the warm-up I asked students to find a "good learning partner" which is someone who helps you learn and helps you to do the right thing.  I noticed that these two boys had chosen to be together.  I went over to them and asked them if they were truly going to be good learning partners because of their earlier disagreements.  One of the boys replied:  "Yes - we had a discussion!"  They went outside together and were actually good learning partners.  I guess their discussion worked!  

I hope you enjoyed the "Best Parts of My Week"!  Visit my website:  North Park Physical Education to find out more about our Physical Education program.