Hi everyone,
As my retirement draws closer people have started asking me if I am counting down the days. My reply is: "No, I am just trying to enjoy every day!" Acknowledging the “Best Parts of My Week” helps me to do just that!
…..Students were climbing the rock wall for most of this week. We are very fortunate and have a forty-foot horizontal wall for students to climb. The entire class can work on the wall at once with spotters and climbers working together as they climb from left to right. I always start with Trust Leans so that students understand the responsibility of trust and spotting as well as how to spot their climber. When demonstrating the technique I ask for a student volunteer. I had so many volunteers! As the students leaned back and I supported them I knew without a doubt that they were comfortable and trusted me with their safety. It made me feel good to know that students trust me……..
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| Basketball Betty enjoyed climbing too! |
…..Students spotted and climbed very well this week! In fact, I overheard so many positive comments as students finished their turn. I smiled when I saw students giving each other high fives and then heard comments like: “Good job spotting!”
…..As I left my house on Tuesday morning February 28th my husband remarked that I should tell my students that they should get a good night’s sleep tonight because tomorrow they will begin a 31 day March! He is quite the jokester and I laughed and replied that I would share the joke and that I was sure that some of my students would indeed get the joke. Well, the day was so busy and I forgot about it until my last class, which happened to be a second grade. I thought I would try it out but thought that I might have to explain the joke. To my surprise there were quite a few students who laughed right away, others who chuckled after a few seconds as they realized what the joke was, and only a few that I had to explain it to by acting it out and marching! We had a good laugh to end the day!
…..I made a mistake with Fitness Frankie to Go last Friday and never got him to his host students. For some reason Friday did not seem like the end of the week because it was a short week due to the President’s Day holiday. Anyway, I realized my mistake on late Friday afternoon and felt terrible since I know that students look forward to their weekend with him. Over the weekend I emailed their teachers and came up with a solution to offer them the choice to take Fitness Frankie on Monday and bring him back on Thursday or wait until the next weekend. Both students accepted the weekday solution and one of my students told me that he was excited to take Fitness Frankie to Karate that evening. The next day he came back with Fitness Frankie and a terrific picture of he and Fitness Frankie doing push-ups during Karate class! The other student brought Fitness Frankie back right on time with a picture of she and Fitness Frankie enjoying a healthy salad! Physical Activity + Nutrition = "Fitness Frankie Approved!"
…..A fourth grader made a point of telling me at the beginning of our second day of rock climbing by saying proudly: ”I’ve improved my climbing!” When students want to tell me about their achievements it tells me that they know that goals are important and that I want to hear about how they are challenging themselves to meet and exceed their goals!
…...As part of our rock wall lessons this week I was talking about the areas in the community where students can climb. We have a few places nearby that have indoor climbing walls and I was surprised at how many students have been there! We had a great discussion about the differences between our wall and vertical walls and some students voiced their opinions about which they liked better. I am so happy when students can compare and contrast experiences between PE and their outside activities!
…..During the second day of climbing I added a noodle obstacle course to our wall. It is a neat addition and requires students to really think about and plan their route. The climb tends to be slower but definitely more challenging. Some classes spent time planning and climbed carefully while others needed an incentive to be more careful so as not to knock out the noodles from their holders on the wall. At some point I decided to add point totals to the climb. Each climber and spotter started their climb with 20 points and the goal was to get to the end of the wall with as many points as possible. Knocking a noodle out of the holder meant that the climber had to subtract one point. Each time they started at the beginning their points reset to 20. It was amazing how adding those points made such a difference for some classes! While no winners were declared and there was no competition between climbers students were so proud when they got to the end of the wall with as many points as they did!
…..A second grader regularly tells me about her physical activities with her family at home. This week she shared this with me: ”I’m running a race this year!” She is so excited! She is running with her mom and is ready to go! When families exercise together everyone stays healthy!
…..I have a few second grade students who always get picked up at the end of the day and since they are dismissed from the gymnasium they usually help me clean up. This week there was a significant amount of equipment to clean up and while one student was helping me he said: ”Is it hard to set all this stuff up?” I answered: “Yes but it keeps me healthy!” It was nice that he noticed the effort that it takes to get the gym ready for excitement and learning!
…..As we continued with our “Number Bond” warm-up a second grader suggested: “We should count by 2’s!” We did just that and even extended the challenge to count by 5’s! I love it when students not only suggest challenges but are also excited by them!
…..A fifth grader came up to me to show me an exercise she was choosing as part of the warm-up and asked: “Is this an exercise?” She was doing a combination of jumping jacks and scissor jumps. I smiled and responded: “YES!” We decided to call them Scissor Jacks!
…..My former student who is continuing his Eagle Scout project to create fitness bags and a storage shed is hard at work and the project is really taking shape. This week I was at school while he was filming some videos for the project. I am so proud of him and have been enjoying seeing the results of his hard work……..
…..On Friday we had a Healthy Highway assembly to introduce our new road, which is The Road to Your Future. We decided to encourage students to think about how choices now impact what they may want to do or be in the future and that it is never too late to start thinking about what they want to be when they grow up. As always, we relate the road to Character Education, Physical Education and Fitness, and Nutrition Education. My role is usually to discuss the road in terms of Physical Education and Fitness (no surprise there…..). I spoke to students about this connection and asked students why it is important to their future to exercise now. One student raised her hand and responded that it was important so that they can become healthy adults. BINGO! I am so glad that at this young age they are recognizing the connection!
…..Our schedule is organized around a six day cycle rather than Monday-Friday. As a result, sometimes Friday is "A" day. This was the case this past Friday which meant that even though it was the end of the week, we were beginning a new cycle and a new unit. In the beginning it definitely took awhile to get used to, but we have been doing this for a number of years now and most of the time it goes very smoothly. That being said, a Friday being a bit like a Monday is always a bit confusing. At any rate, this past Friday was A day so I began a new cycle of warm-ups and a new unit of ball handling. The excitement was fantastic! Students immediately ask if we are playing a game of basketball (we aren’t). Most understand when I explain to them that if we play 5 v 5 basketball that means that 10 players get to play, everyone else gets to watch, and only one person gets the ball at a time! We are lucky because I had more than 30 basketballs and playground balls available so that everyone got a chance to have a ball in their hand at the same time! I happened to have a fourth grade class working on dribbling skills on Friday morning and a colleague walked by, popped her head in, and commented about how much control the students had. She was impressed by the number of students who were moving safely at the same time and that each one had a ball to work with! I thought to myself…..Yup! That’s what we do! I shared the compliment with the students and their classroom teacher and they were proud of themselves!
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.
