How can it be the end of February already! This week in the northeast was so warm that by Friday students were arriving to school in shorts and tank tops! Personally I hope that Winter is not over yet so I can take my students out snowshoeing!
…...I was walking down the hall at the beginning of the day when a student stopped and asked “Is today Wellness Wednesday?” When I replied yes he said: “Yay! I can eat this!” He was referring to a fruit cup on his breakfast tray!
…..We had the Science Fair this week and as a result I was not able to use the gym during part of the day. It is always an exciting day and I love to see the projects that students create. Despite the excitement, it is a day that requires an enormous amount of flexibility on my part as well as on the part of my students since half of the gym is used to display projects. I was in a 5th grade classroom and we were waiting for the gym to be available for the latter part of the period. While in the classroom, I planned to introduce them to snowshoeing with a video clip and then work on a coloring page that I made, which detailed how they should dress for outdoor activity. I was surprised to hear “YAY!” when I told them about the coloring page. I did not realize how much 5th graders like to color!
…..At the beginning of the week our PE Password was still Achievement and I was asking a fifth grade class to tell me about some of their most recent achievements. One student said: “I got up early enough to make myself breakfast!” I thought that was a terrific achievement and so did she!
…..One of my fifth grade classes is taking care of Basketball Betty and we decided to put her in some of our snowshoes while the students were practicing how to put them on. When they saw her in the snowshoes they all said: “Aww...so cute!” What do you think?
…..I spent a good part of my afternoons this week creating Buddy Heart and Buddy Bear posters from the hearts and bears that students created during Jump Rope for Heart. I was proud to put them on our “Why PE?” bulletin board in the hallway and I was pleased to see that students noticed and took time to enjoy them!
…..My second grade students were working on a portfolio piece this week and there are always a few students who finish very quickly and without as much effort as I would like. I have started telling students to add details if they think they are finished. I was very pleased with their work on this piece in particular because of the great details they added! The portfolio work was about jumping and many students added basketball hoops, outdoor activity spaces, and different colors and designs!
…..Yet another JRFH message was left in my office this week. I was out and about doing some work and came back to find a Jump Rope for Heart message on my desk. It was only later in the day that I found out who left it and was able to thank her!
…..I have had so much fun this week raffling off small gifts from the American Heart Association as a result of our Jump Rope for Heart event. Each day I have been calling names of students who are so excited to win a small trinket of thanks! While I was eating lunch one day this week I was watching a student jump rope on the playground. It just so happened that she was one of the students who won the jump rope from a raffle earlier in the day!
…..If you have read this blog before you probably know that I love to try new things. I love Math and try to incorporate it into my warm-ups and activities whenever possible. This week I added a “Number bond” warm-up. Now if you don’t know what a number bond is don’t worry! I did not know either until a first grade teacher helped me out by explaining that it is a way to teach students to add. Basically there are three circles set up in a triangle. One number is in each of two circles and the third circle is empty. The two numbers “bond” together in the third circle and become the total. I decided I could use hoops and craft sticks and have students “Bond” the numbers. Students then used the numbers to exercise. It was so much fun to try something new and it actually worked very well! It was also interesting to see the looks on the students faces when they walked in to see this activity ready to go. Some students were excited, others intrigued, and some were even a bit dismayed! One student walked in and said in a VERY disappointed way: “Number Bonds! Oh…..” I promised her that she would have fun doing Math this way and she did! When I was in college I learned that Physical Education is: "Of the Physical, By the Physical and Through the Physical"……...I taught students this week that they can learn Math in PE because they are learning “Through the Physical”!
…..Last week I used an app called “Swork-it for kids” as a warm-up. I told students that this is a free app and, with permission from their families, they might be able to download it and use it at home. One student came back this week and told me that she did! She said that so far she did 12 minutes one day and 5 minutes the next!
…..Later in the week we put Fitness Frankie in snowshoes that just about fit him! The response from my class? “Awwwwww……….” We do love our bears!
…..As a Kindergarten student walked into PE class this week he said: “You make the funnest games!”
…...I was helping a kindergarten student tie his shoes and my remote control for the music was in my hand so I put it on the floor. Usually I keep it in my pocket and use it from there. As I was tying his shoe he noticed the remote and exclaimed: “Oh…...that’s how you start the music! I thought your pocket was magic!”
…..I still love to hear students as they walk by the gym when they arrive to school in the morning. I usually have the doors open and the equipment set up for the day. This week the rock wall was down for the upper grade students and the number bonds activity was ready to go. I overheard many students walk by and say: “Look at the gym!”
…..At the end of the week a staff member stopped to tell me a story about how she overheard a kindergarten conversation when a class was outside running around and playing on the playground. Some of the students stopped to feel their heartbeat and told each other that their heart was beating fast but that was ok because when you exercise your heart beats faster and then it gets stronger! Knowing that students as young as kindergarten age are getting the message made my day!
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.
