The Best Parts of My Week - 10/19/15--10/24/15

Hi everyone,
     The theme of this week's "Best Parts" is connections......My school has approximately 500 students.  I have five to seven classes a day and teach between 150-200 students a day.  The school day is so very busy that sometimes it is hard to connect with students on a one-on-one basis.  This week I had some rare opportunities to do just that.....

.....Fitness Frankie to Go came back on Monday morning when a student delivered him to my office.  I asked about his weekend adventure and was told that he played basketball and had a healthy dinner.  The student drew a wonderful picture depicting the adventure and was proud of his contribution to Fitness Frankie's journal!

.....Physical Eddie and Muscle Missy started their classroom adventures this week!  I delivered them to the classrooms and can't wait to see what adventures they have!

.....On Tuesday we took our 5th grade classes on a field trip to the Walkway Over the Hudson.  It is a pedestrian walkway that was built from an old train bridge over the Hudson River and is 1.28 miles each way.  This trip is truly a highlight of the year and a collaborative effort.  The classroom teachers and I work together to organize the trip.  Students share pedometers with a partner and each student wears a pedometer one way over the bridge.  Classroom teachers ask students to make predictions of step counts, teach students about the history of the walkway and the area, and students write about the trip when they return to school.  In addition, students are provided with a healthy snack of apples and log step counts on a data recording sheet.  It was a beautiful day and we were afforded the opportunity to view the amazing fall colors of the Hudson Valley.  I love this trip because of the collaboration but also because of the connections and conversations that I get to have while walking across the bridge.  I spend time with each of the classes as they walk and talk and have the privilege of chatting with students about their experiences on the walkway and their lives in general.  This year I had the opportunity to share my fear of heights (the walkway is really high!) with students who were feeling that same fear, to hear students talk about family trips they had taken on the walkway, and to talk about what I remember about the bridge being an actual train bridge when I was their age.  I witnessed the courage of students who had not been on the bridge before and had a genuine fear of heights, and then I witnessed amazing friendship as their friends and classmates helped and encouraged those same students.  We finished the trip and as students were given apples to snack on there were many smiles and some students said:  "Yay apples!"  When we returned to school one of the students was getting off of the bus and stopped to tell me that this field trip was one of the best field trips she had ever taken!

.....Students in grades 3-5 finished a new unit on Flag Football this week.  My student teacher took on the responsibility of creating and teaching this unit and I was impressed this week with the progress students made and the skills they learned!

.....Since my student teacher is doing most of the teaching as she finishes up her placement at my school I had the chance to interact with students while they were practicing different skills.  One of my kindergarten students is a twin and I had so much fun talking with him about being a twin because I am a twin too!  He was really surprised that I had a twin brother and said:  "I have a twin sister!"

.....As I delivered Fitness Frankie to Go at the end of the week the student who was taking him home said that he already knew what he was going to do with him for the weekend!  He had it all planned out and was going to play soccer!

.....I was chatting with a teacher about Fitness Frankie and a student came up to talk about homework.  The teacher has a homework system and students earn stars which can be turned into Go Noodle minutes.  How cool is that!  She told me that they actually do Go Noodle everyday!  What an active classroom!

.....I learned two new ways to do jumping jacks this week!  A first grade student taught me "Crazy Jacks" and a PE teacher friend of mine taught me "Wacky Jacks!"  Who knew there were so many different ways to do jumping jacks!  I never stop learning so I always have fun!

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.