Hi everyone,
I am a bit late on the writing of this entry but in my defense I have been enjoying the winter break! It has been a wonderful week of time with family and friends, snowshoeing, enjoying the winter weather here in the Northeast, and taking some much needed time to rest and relax! Now, on to the “Best Parts!”
…..This week I taught my students how to play Castle Ball. We have played some versions of it in the past, but not with the hoop structure. Truth be told, I had tried it in the past but was not doing it correctly and it was frustrating for me and for my students. Now that I know how to build it correctly (you need hoops of the exact same size…..) my students were incredibly excited! I had made one and placed it in the middle of the gym and when students walked in they were so intrigued! Students worked together to build and defend the structures. In one of my second grade classes I had to make a group of three and after playing and enjoying the group one of the students said: “three is not so bad!” Another group even compared their work to an art term because of the way they put the colors together. This was cross curricular learning at it’s best! Fitness Frankie wanted to play too!
…..We held our holiday staff breakfast this week and my good friend always organizes a wonderful morning during which we enjoy each other’s company, share some delicious food, and give thanks to those who help us along the way each day. This year my friend added a component to the breakfast. I have kept this under wraps so far this year but I am going to let the cat out of the bag so to speak…...I am retiring at the end of this school year. I am excited and terrified at the same time! I have never worked anywhere else professionally and am in the middle of my 34th school year. It will be incredibly hard to leave but I know it is time to move on. I am still going to stay involved in the profession and hope to continue presenting and offering professional development. Well….back to the breakfast…….My friend wanted to acknowledge that there are four of us retiring this year and she wanted to begin the celebration by giving us each a key. This is a special key which is sold by an organization that helps people who are homeless and when you buy a key you are promising to “pay it forward” by giving the key to someone else who needs the message on the key. Our school theme is all about “Courage” and we were given a key with the word “Courage” on it. We were told that we all exemplified the word courage in so many different ways and we were asked to wear the key for the rest of the year and then pass it on to someone else who needed courage. I was almost in tears…...only my friend could have thought of this idea and delivered the message so eloquently. The rest of the year is going to fly by but now I have the “courage” to finish my career at North Park and move on to the next phase of my life…...
…..My student teacher finished up during the previous week and I always like to do something as a thank you from my students. This week I asked students to finish the sentence: “Thank you Mr. Cooper for_____________. Students came up with some wonderful thoughts! One student mentioned that she liked his color coordinated outfits, another said thank you for helping Mrs. Robelee, and many others said thank you for being awesome! I am excited to finish these and deliver them when we return to school next week!
…..We always finish the week before Winter break with a day called Winter Workshops. This idea came from our principal twelve years ago. The entire day is spent participating in different workshops. Thirty different workshops are offered and students sign up ahead of time for four different one-hour workshops. Everything from chess to woodworking to holiday crafts and games are offered and it is a wonderful way to spend the last day before vacation. A colleague of mine and I offered a new workshop this year and we had a terrific time! We offered a Creative Games workshop during which students worked in groups of about four people and could choose from a variety of equipment to create a new game. Students had to come up with an awesome name, choose equipment, write rules, play the game, and then teach it to the other groups. After all games were taught students could choose to play their own game or one of the other games. It was so much fun! Students were so creative and were really good at teaching other students their game. They were so proud of their work and I loved the names they came up with! We had an hour for each session and it was the perfect amount of time. I mentioned to my colleague (a classroom teacher) that I would love to do this during PE but our class time is not long enough. It was great to have an extended period of time with a smaller group! At the end of the first session one of the students commented to the incoming group that they were going to LOVE this workshop!
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.
