Hi everyone,
This week was all about the future as we held College and Career Week! It was a wonderful week!
…..Last Friday I had scheduled a “Fitness Friday” activity with a first grade class and then realized that we were having an assembly. I spoke to the classroom teacher about it and asked if I could come in on Monday of this week instead. She readily agreed and I decided that we could call it “Move-it Monday!” I arrived as a surprise to the students on Monday morning and told them why I was there. We had great fun doing some Go Noodle and the idea of “Move-it Monday” caught right on! It’s a good thing we can be flexible!
…..As a follow up to last week’s assembly where we introduced “The Road to Your Future”, we held College and Career Week this week! On Monday adults were encouraged to wear college shirts. These were either colleges that the adults attended, local colleges, or a college that a family member attended. I was proud to wear my SUNY Cortland shirt and had a fantastic time explaining to students why I was wearing that shirt. I had a chance to explain that I knew when I was twelve years old that I wanted to be a PE teacher (I truly did!) and that SUNY Cortland was (and is) a great college to learn how to be one! I also had fun asking other adults why they were wearing a particular shirt. As well as I know my colleagues, I realized that I did not always know what college they attended!
…..As I was walking down the hall on Tuesday I noticed a first grade class sitting facing a graph on the wall. The teachers were describing the different career categories and each student got to pick which category they thought that they would like a career in. It was fun to watch!
…..Meanwhile, in PE students are learning about basketball and about how to dribble different kinds of balls. During one of the activities a fifth grader observed and remarked that all of the dribbling “sounds like music!” When I stopped to really listen to it I agreed! What a great observation!
…..At the end of the PE classes this week I made some time for students to shoot baskets. While it is not the major objective of the lesson students love it and we are fortunate to have six baskets in my gym. A fourth grade was leaving PE after having had a few minutes to shoot baskets. One of the students told me on the way out: ”I made my first basket today!” She had a great smile on her face and so did I!
…..As we continued to work on some dribbling activities we played a game called “Dribble Duel”. Basically this is like a game you may know called “Cleanies and Messies” or “Builders and Bulldozers”. The idea is to move a bean bag either on top of a cone or underneath it while you are dribbling. It can be quite challenging and so I was asking a third grade class about their strategy for the game. They had some fantastic answers. One student thought that as long as the ball was bouncing he could move the bean bag quickly and then return to dribble and another explained how he kept the dribble going and used his other hand to move the bean bag. I love that students are using their brains while they are practicing!
…..I have a fifth grade class this year that is particularly good at sportsmanship. This week they were cheering each other on as small groups were spending some time shooting baskets. All of a sudden it got very loud and I realized that one group was cheering on their classroom teacher who had come to pick them up and decided to play!
…..One day this week I walked out of the gymnasium door to get ready to meet a class and saw two people walking down the hall. I checked to make sure that they had visitors badges and then started to say hello. Suddenly I realized that one of the visitors was holding a snake! I reacted by backing up immediately and must have had a very shocked look on my face. I must admit I am not a snake person and she must have realized that. She kept walking and said: “Don’t worry….she’s gentle….” This was perhaps not the best part of my week but it was certainly the most interesting! :-)
…..A second grade class wowed me with their knowledge of basketball after reading the book Swish! by my friend Lynn Hefele. I asked them to remember the basketball words in the book and then tell me what they meant. They could explain what a crossover dribble is as well as a jump, stop, and pivot move!
…..As a warm-up this week I have been asking students to practice the PACER running challenge by taking turns with a partner. It is so hard for elementary students to understand the concept of pacing and when it comes time to do the fitness test later in the year it I want them to have had some time to practice. After the warm-up we had a nice discussion about the PACER and how it is not helpful to race during the activity. One of the students had a terrific explanation about why racing is not helpful. He said that racing wastes energy and that it’s better if you go slower so that you have more energy for later in the activity. YAY! He understands and helped his classmates understand too!
…..I was walking through our main office one day this week and our principal asked me if I had a minute. Of course I said yes and she asked me if I could explain how I made one of my Fitness Bear books to a friend who was taking a break in the her office. He was so impressed with the book about Physical Eddie and our trip to Lake Placid to learn about the Winter Olympics. He was amazed that I had created and written the book and wanted to know how I did it. I had a great time telling him about the trip and how I uploaded the pictures and created the book using an online resource. I was so glad that he was enjoying it!
…..At the end of the day on Thursday a student stopped to tell me how many grams of sugar is in a bottle of soda. He has been reading the food labels and knows that there is too much sugar in soda!
…..On Thursday night I had the pleasure of being a part of the NYS AHPERD SEZ Care to Share event with wonderful professionals who were excited to learn from each other. We had a great time playing and learning and I left feeling more energized than ever even though my FitBit showed that I had moved more than 27,000 steps that 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.
