The Best Parts of My Week - 3/27/17--3/31/17

Hi everyone,

This week was all about celebrating March as National Nutrition Month! It was a busy week but despite feeling a bit overbooked I feel like I accomplished a great deal and hope I made an impact......

…..On Monday morning one of my second grade friends brought Fitness Frankie to Go back.  I was in my office and she walked in with the pack.  I thanked her for bringing him back on time and she explained that she had fun with him and showed me pictures of her healthy weekend adventure.  All of a sudden she noticed another Fitness Frankie on my desk.  She stopped mid-sentence and said:  “You have another Fitness Frankie!!!!”  I explained that there are a few of them (I affectionately call them the “stunt doubles” because years ago I bought a few extra in case something happened to the original....) so that each second grade class can participate in the Fitness Frankie to Go program.   Then she asked:  “Please can I have him for one more day??  Please?  Please?  Please?”  She was so persistent I almost said yes but did not want to get into that habit with all students.  I told her he needed a bath to get ready for his next adventure!  She reluctantly understood and went off on her merry way back to class!

…..This week’s PE Password was Nutrients.  As part of the discussion I asked students to share what they had for breakfast that day.  It was very interesting to listen to what students had for breakfast.  It was nice to see so many hands go up to share!  Some of the breakfast items were: oatmeal, bagel, strawberries, and a few sugary cereals that made everyone think twice….  Those who had the sugary cereals hesitated to share and then realized that maybe they should be having something else for breakfast.  I think it was a good thing that saying it out loud made them think!  

…..Since March is National Nutrition Month I teach several lessons to students that help teach the value of good nutrition in an active and fun way.  This week students were learning to “Eat a Rainbow” and I asked students to tell me about different colored foods using the colors of the rainbow.  When we got to the color purple someone mentioned an eggplant.  One of the kindergarten students was so interested what an eggplant looks like.  He had never seen one and was so excited when I was able to show him a picture!

…..I have one particular second grade class this year that sees the joy in just about everything and very often they are reduced to giggles when they find something funny.  This week we had some exercise leaders in the middle of the gym for a warm-up.  Students could follow either leader and the leaders were facing in opposite directions.  They giggled so much when both of the leaders picked the same exercise without seeing each other that it made me giggle too!  

…..Another nutrition activity that I teach students involves balancing out healthy and unhealthy foods with exercise.  We participate in Healthy Highway as a school-wide program.  In this activity students pick cards from the center of the gym and exercise for different repetitions based on whether the food is a Red (Stop and think), Yellow (Slow down and think), or Green (Go) Light food.   Of course, the red light foods required more exercise than the green light foods and when students picked the Green light foods they all exclaimed “YAY!”

…..Another Healthy Highway game is called “Fill Up Your Tank”.  This game involves food as fuel and as part of the game students exchange unhealthy food for healthy food by sneaking it on other students’ plates.  I overheard one student say “I don’t want a brownie!” when he returned to his plate to find one there!  I love teaching the value of good nutrition because I think it helps students to think and then make connections to balance their plate. We always tell students that treats are fine but that it is always good to think about foods that you choose.  This week I saw a great Cheerios commercial.  The basic message was that healthy hearts start young.  When I saw the commercial I said “YES!” to myself and felt good that in Physical Education we are helping to make that happen!

www.healthy-highway.com

…..During one of my third grade classes this week a pedometer cover came off and a student needed help with putting it back on.  A few other students noticed and were fascinated by the inner workings of a pedometer.  One student said:  “Oh….so THAT’s what it looks like!”  Another said:  “That’s so cool!”

…..During my duty supervising students who were being picked up this week a student was leaving and on her way out she took the time to say:  “Tag was fun in PE today!”  She was talking about a game that we played that I made up and called “My Plate food tag”.  It made me smile to know that she enjoyed it!

…..As we continued to celebrate National Nutrition Month I mentioned food labels to a fourth grade class.  I had an example on my goal chart and explained the different sections.  They told me about a project they did in class using food labels that involved predicting which food would be the healthiest.  At the end of PE class I told the classroom teachers and they were so happy that they remembered!  I was happy about the connection and the transfer!

…..I asked a Kindergarten class about healthy and unhealthy foods.  Each student got a chance to speak and share one kind of food in each category.  This was in preparation for a tag game during which they would need to tell tagger a healthy food in order to continue the game after being tagged.  They were very correct in their food choices!  I was impressed that they already know the difference between healthy and unhealthy foods at 6 years old!

…..One of our assistants who works in a primary class came down to me this week with an empty package of apple slices from the cafeteria.  She told me that the students wanted me to see it because they noticed that the My Plate symbol was on the back of the package and they remembered it from PE class this week!  The next time I saw this class I told them how proud I was that they noticed and remembered!  

…..This year I have been making my way around the building visiting different classes on Fitness Friday.  Each week I pick a different classroom to visit and do some activity to start the day and help classes earn a Fitness Friday mile.  This week I visited a 1st grade class.  Most often the teachers know that I am coming, (I ask permission ahead of time) but my arrival is a surprise for students.  When I walked into the first grade class and the teacher explained why I was there they all smiled and said “YAY!!!”  It was a wonderful way to start the day and warmed my heart……..

…..I am a proud member of NYS AHPERD and our zone (Southeastern) hosts an annual Elementary/Middle School Award ceremony.  Outstanding students are nominated by PE teachers and are given the award during a wonderful ceremony in May.  This week I had the pleasure of sending letters home with students who are receiving the awards for this year.  When I arrived at their classroom doors and asked to see them in the hallway they were curious and a bit anxious it seemed.  I smiled and said to them:  “You are not in trouble!”  That helped!  

…..At the end of the week I brought out some vegetable puppets as props for a nutrition activity.  “Broccoli Brad” and “Erica Eggplant” are part of a series called Super Sprowtz.  As you may know by now I love stuffed animals in general so I had great fun with Broccoli Brad and Erica Eggplant!  Students loved them too and wanted to know more about them!

…..My husband loves a good joke so on Friday he reminded me that I should say the following to my students:  “You must be tired!  Why?  You just finished a 31 day March!”  I did just that to a fifth grade class.  Most of the students thought it was hilarious!  A few students needed the joke explained, and one said:    “That’s a knee slapper!”  

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.