The Best Parts of My Week - 9/21/15--9/25/15

Hi everyone,
      As Fall begins and the weather becomes cooler, we are settling in to a nice routine at school.  The beginning of the year is always exciting but I also enjoy the familiar routines and rhythm of the year when we are in full swing!

.....My student teacher and I began the week putting the class contracts together for grades 3-5.  This process takes time and energy but I am always impressed with the final result.  Creating the contract involves taking the completed hands and arranging them as a border on a large piece of poster paper and then writing the student-generated class rules and expectations in the middle.  The hands that students made as their signatures were colorful and many had healthy messages on them.  One hand was even designed to look like an apple and another said:  "PE Rocks!"  The rules and expectations that students came up with were thoughtful and relevant and I noticed that these rules and expectations reflect my passion for PE and the need for students to make healthy choices.  The concentrated effort that our school has made during the last 6-7 years to include character education, nutrition education, and place more of an emphasis on lifetime fitness and physical activity showed up as a guideline in each and every contract.  In fact, ten years ago these contracts did not include rules such as "Eat healthy food", "Stay hydrated", and "Play 60".  As I looked at the finished product I was struck by the uniqueness of each and I was proud of the efforts of my students!

.....Fourth grade students were asked to do some PE homework and return that homework to school this week.  As a school, we make it a priority to teach students how to set goals.  I asked my fourth grade students to set a goal for PE this year.  I started the sentence:  "I want to improve my....." and students were asked to complete the sentence as their goal for this school year.  The homework was returned on time and with quality in most cases.  As I read the goals I was impressed!  Students wrote that they wanted to improve their stamina, strength, push-ups, running, quickness, jump roping, and endurance to name a few.  These are great goals indeed and I am looking forward to helping them this year to meet their goals!

.....We held our first Healthy Highway assembly this week and it was so much fun!  This assembly reminds students of the importance of making healthy choices and we always begin our year traveling down "Courage Crossroads".  Students are taught that if you have the courage to do the right thing, even when no one is watching, you will be able to make the right choice no matter what road you are on.  I also shared my summer adventure story with my students.  Each summer I take Fitness Frankie on a summer adventure and chronicle this adventure by self-publishing a book describing the healthy choices we made along the way.  This year Muscle Missy joined us and we had a great time!  We traveled 913, 327 steps, rode bicycles, lifted weights, walked, went to a yogurt factory, kayaked, played golf, went to the National PE Institute in North Carolina, and even had some time to relax!  I always enjoy sharing our story.  Not only is it fun but it also gives me the opportunity to be a good role model for my students by showing them the healthy choices that I am making and asking them to make as well.  

.....Students in grades 3-5 are learning about the use and care of pedometers.  One of the activities we do involves using gel boards to record steps and add partner steps together at the end of PE class.  I call it "Gel Board Math" and I tell students that Math is everywhere!  While some students groan occasionally because Math is not their favorite subject, others get excited and enjoy it.  This week one student called out:  "I love Math!"  I responded that I love Math too!

.....Students in grades K-2 are learning how to move safely in our gymnasium and this week we were reading and acting out the story: "Ziny's Driving School" which was written by my friend and PE teacher Lynn Hefele.  In the story, Ziny learns how to drive her "Quasar", or space ship, safely at a variety of speeds.  One of the activities involves taking a Solar System Field Trip where students travel on the Inter-space Highway using hula hoops as their Quasars.  The idea is to travel to different planets and move in different ways when they arrive.  Students wanted to travel to Neptune, Mercury, Mars, and Pluto.  One student commented that Pluto wasn't a planet but wanted to travel there anyway!  As we were getting started, a student came over to me and said:  "Oh man!  I forgot my Quasar key!  Do you have an extra?"  I responded that I had an extra and I gave it to him.  He smiled, thanked me, started up his Quasar and went on his merry way!  It was so cute!  A few minutes later he came over to me again and said:  "Oh man!  I just got hit by a meteor!"  I asked him where it came from and he pointed it out to me.  After checking to make sure he was ok, I sent him back to the solar system.  What great fun we can have when students play along and use their imagination!  

.....One of our fourth grade classes participate in "Fun Food Friday" once a month.  During this activity students learn how to create their own healthy snack and then they take the recipe home to their families.  Each month the teacher creates the snack using the time of year as a theme.  This past Friday they made Apple Quesadilla's and brought me the recipe at the end of the day.  What a great way to incorporate healthy snacks and help families to make healthy choices too!  I was so glad that they thought to share it with me!

.....I received a gift this week from a student that was so unbelievably thoughtful and generous and it was truly a gift from her heart.  This student brought me a stuffed animal to be added to our Fitness Bear collection.  The students know that I love stuffed animals and we have quite a few that travel around the building, with me, with students, and even our building principal.  This particular stuffed animal is a dog with a Mets' hoodie.  She named him "Baseball Brad"!  Almost all of our animals have alliterative names such as Fitness Frankie, Muscle Missy, Cardio Cal, Exercise Ernie, Healthy Hannah, and this student decided to continue the theme!  I can't wait to add him to our collection and get him started on some healthy adventures of his own! Isn't he adorable!  

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.  

The Best Parts of My Week - 9/14/15--9/18/15

Hi everyone,
     Well, it's the second week of school and in some ways it feels like we never left in June!  While Monday was a holiday, the rest of the week flew by!  Students and teachers alike are getting back into the rhythm and that means more "Best Parts!"  I realized though that in my last post I did not fill you in on some of the "Best Parts" of my summer so here goes in abbreviated form:

• An amazing opportunity to present at the National PE Institute in Asheville, NC
• Meeting and spending time with amazing PE professionals from all over the world at the National PE Institute
• Continuing a summer adventure with my Fitness Bears - Fitness Frankie and Muscle Missy which included exercising, a tour of a yogurt facility, and logging 913,327 steps on my pedometer!
• Kayaking on the Great Sacandaga Lake
• Bicycling on Cape Cod, in Saratoga State Park, and in the Adirondacks of NYS
• Spending time working on a new project with a friend and college - Lynn Hefele
• Spending time with family and friends.......

It was a great summer!  Now, on to this week's "Best Parts"!

.....At the end of each warm-up I ask students to show me how hard they worked by feeling their heartbeat with one hand and then squeezing their other hand open and closed as fast as they feel the beat.   This is an idea I learned from Physical Best.  After doing this with a third grade class one of the students exclaimed:  "I can feel my pulse!"  

.....Kindergarten students begin the school year later than students in grades 1-5 due to assessments.  As a result, the first day for kindergarten students was on Tuesday.  They were so excited!  The look of wonder, confidence, excitement, and for some a bit of wariness, was priceless and never gets old!  

.....Students in grades 3-5 were asked to decide on the rules and guidelines for their PE class this week.  Each class contract is individualized since I ask students to tell me what they think is important to include in the contract.  All of the contracts are always well thought out but this year a third grade class in particular had some amazing vocabulary to add to the wording of the contract.  One of the students said that "Stay Hydrated" should be included in their contract.  I agreed!

.....At the beginning of the year I ask students to play a game called Human Bingo.  This is a game where students ask questions of other students and collect names to create a bingo.  I like to use it so that students get to know each other better and it is a great activity to foster communication.  I am always fascinated by the way this game plays out.  Initially, students only talk to those they know.  Since each name can only be used once, eventually students must talk to others if they want to achieve a bingo.  Little by little, students are moving about the gymnasium and talking to anyone and everyone!  As a closure activity I ask students if they learned anything new about anyone in the class.  The hands go up immediately and I find that I have learned something new about the students too!

.....Late in the week a new student arrived who does not speak much English.  Her primary language is French and while I don't know too much French I knew enough to greet her and ask her how she was.  The smile that spread across her face told me that she understood what I was saying and that she was happy to be here!   I guess sometimes it does not take much to make a difference, if only for a brief moment or two......

.....The quest for the PE Password began this week and over the years I have created a bit of a friendly competition between the fifth grade classes to see who can tell me what the PE Password is most often.  Each year classes embrace the challenge in different ways.  This year the classes are taking the challenge very seriously and are taking every opportunity to tell me what the PE Password is.  Some students even called it out as they were walking by the gymnasium.  The gym was empty and I was in my office but I heard them loud and clear!   

.....As kindergarten students were participating in a warm-up during the second day of PE class I noticed that they had improved so much just from the prior day's class.  I commented that they were working hard and one student said "Exercise!" as loud and as enthusiastic as could be!  What a great start!  

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.  

The Best Parts of My Week - 9/8/15--9/11/15

Hi everyone,
     It's great to be back!  School just began here in the northeast and just when I wonder how I will write this blog with new material new "Best Parts" occur!

.....On Tuesday our district held it's annual Superintendent's Conference Day to begin the new school year.  It was my 32nd opening day and it was great to see everyone and share summer stories.  It is always an exciting day but believe it or not I am always a little nervous.  I was actually like that as a student every single year from kindergarten to college.  Even though I loved school the beginning of each year terrified me.  I finally came to the realization as an adult that the anxiety and nervousness that I was feeling was more about my worry that I would not be able to meet the expectations of the new year.  I learned on this day this year that sometimes all it takes to try something difficult is "10 seconds of Courage".  The basis of our school character education program involves teaching students to have "the courage to do the right thing even when no one is watching".  Our principal found a TED talk video about finding "10 seconds of Courage" to get started when something is difficult.  We are planning to use this theme with our students this year.  It was an incredibly motivating video and I know it will motivate me when I find that I need it!

.....While it was my 32nd opening day it was my student teacher's first!  I could see the excitement (and nervousness too...) on her face and it made me remember that it was not that long ago (at least in my mind) that I was just starting out!

.....At the end of our conference day I stopped by my principal's office to say good-bye and ask if we were all set for the first day of school with students.  We chatted a bit about the preparations  and acknowledged that we both had been planning and working for weeks to get ready for the new school year.  We wondered together if anyone outside of the world of education really knows how much work goes into getting ready for just the first day!

.....On Wednesday the first day of school had finally arrived.  There is nothing like the first day of school!  There were smiles upon smiles, hugs to friends and teachers, excitement about new classes and new friends, and of course, a variety of new sneakers, backpacks and crayons!  I had my new sneakers on and was happy to wear them on the first day!

.....I have mentioned many times that our school is a Healthy Highway school and we use this program to support our school-wide focus on Physical Education and Fitness, Nutrition Education, and Character Education.  Each class has a car on a road in the hallway and cars move along the road when students earn miles for healthy choices.  I observed a third grade teacher introducing this to her students in the hallway.  This particular class has a weekly job called Nutritionist and the student whose job it is to be the Nutritionist check snacks to be sure they are healthy.  I was thrilled!

.....As a fifth grade class left PE on the first day of school we told the classroom teachers that the class was awesome and really started the year off well.  The teachers were very proud and awarded the class their very first Healthy Highway mile of the year!

.....During the first few days of school all adults pitch in where they can to help direct students to the right class, greet students off of the busses, and generally be available as needed.  My student teacher and I were in the lobby on Thursday morning and we witnessed two brothers entering the building together.  The older brother turned to the younger brother, they hugged and he kissed him on top of his head and said good-bye for the day.  It was precious, spontaneous, caring, and we were so happy to witness this quiet act of kindness.

.....We were introducing a new warm-up to a first grade class and we were teaching students that the heart is a muscle.  When I asked students what happens when you exercise your muscles, one of the students flexed her biceps muscles in a gesture of strength.  It was awesome!  I was so impressed we all did it together as a class!

.....As we were introducing the Healthy Highway PE Rules of the Road this week we were making connections between ourselves and cars.  For example, arms are car doors, hearts are engines, sneakers are tires, and so on.  One student asked "What about an oil change?"  We have been doing Healthy Highway for quite some time and I have never been asked that question!  I thought about it for a quick ten seconds or so and came up with the need to make sure that we don't eat too much fat and that the fat we do eat is the good kind so that our arteries and veins don't get clogged!  There is never an end to the connections to be made!

.....At the end of the week a few students from our high school came after school to visit.  It was so great to see these former students and chat with them about what they are doing and how the new school year had started.  They seemed happy to be back for a visit and we were so glad to see them!  It makes me realize the responsibility we have as elementary teachers as students begin their education with us........

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.