The Best Parts of My Week: 6/11/12--6/15/12

Hi everyone,
    As we get closer to summer vacation, the excitement grows and the celebrations continue!

.....My students have been enjoying a bowling unit recently and they have been so excited!  We are fortunate to be able to set up six bowling lanes and at times it sounds like a real bowling alley when the pins go down!  I loved the looks on the faces of my students when they were successful with a strike or a spare.  Many students this week looked both shocked and excited and exclaimed "I got a strike!" or "I got a spare!"

.....We were treated to a day long visit from chefs from the Culinary Institute of America on our Wellness Wednesday this week!  This event was made possible by our Fuel Up to Play 60 grant and a generous grant from a family which funded our Healthy Snack Cart.  Chef Rico and Chef Christina spent the day and taught our students how to make healthy snacks.  The variety was fantastic and each grade level made a different snack.  Students were able to participate in the creation of the snacks and then eat what they had made.  The students were so engaged and excited!  One of our fifth graders said:  "That was awesome!" after he made and ate a spring roll made out of rice paper and fresh vegetables. I could not help but think that this was an amazing opportunity for all involved!  Click here for a slide show of this event!

.....Most who know me know that I am a creature of habit and that I am a detail oriented person.  That being said, I do forget things sometimes, especially when there is so much going on at the end of the school year.  This week I forgot to put out one of our character bears - "PE Paddy", and our "Stop and Think About it Center".  One of my kindergarten students noticed and reminded me that I had forgotten to do both!  I appreciated another "detail oriented" person helping me out!

.....At the end of the week our principal, librarian, and myself had the opportunity to go to another school in our district and present a Healthy Highway assembly to the student body.  This particular school is closing, and while we are all sad that the school is closing, we are looking for ways to make the transition smooth.  Most of these students will be coming to our school so we thought it would be fun to introduce Healthy Highway to the new students.  We brought Fitness Frankie, our Courage Lions - Courageous Carlos and Courageous Cassie, our NP Healthy Highway car, and the book that I wrote about Fitness Frankie's Summer Adventure.  We had a great time introducing the program to the new students and they seemed to enjoy it.  At the end of the assembly we danced the Healthy Highway dance!  It was great fun!  I felt a little bit like a rock star when students came up to us to ask questions after the assembly!  I also was able to visit with some former students and I enjoyed catching up on their adventures!

.....Our Kindergarten Celebration was held on Friday afternoon and I had the pleasure of taking pictures for our school website.  This events celebrates the growth and hard work of our kindergarten students.  We are all so proud of how much they have learned and how much they have grown!  There were more than a few tears of pride and joy from parents and teachers alike!

Thanks for reading about the "Best Parts of My Week!"

Visit the North Park PE website if you would like more information about the PE program at North Park!

The Best Parts of My Week - 6/4/12-6/8/12

Hi everyone,
    The "Best Parts of My Week" can be summed up in two words:  FIELD DAY!  Well, alright, a little elaboration is necessary.......

The Memories
.....I recently spent some time with my son and some of his friends.   One of his friends and my son were students at North Park once upon a time.......We were reminiscing and the memory from North Park that came up time and time again was Field Day!  My son's friend said:  "Field Day was the best!"  These young men are adults now and have careers, but they still remember Field Day!  I start preparing for Field Day in late March and by the time the event arrives the excitement in the air is palpable, but somehow I am always surprised by how excited everyone gets!  I wonder if other alumni remember Field Day with the same excitement?

The Weather:
.....We divide our Field Days by grade levels to keep the event fresh as the years progress but also to be sure that age appropriate activities are included in the various Field Days.  Tuesday morning was Field Day for grades 3 and 4, Tuesday afternoon was Field Day for grade 5, and Wednesday morning Field Day was scheduled for grades K-2.  The weather was cool and cloudy (actually a perfect day for Field Day), and we hoped for the rain to stay away for both days.  It did and we were able to complete all Field Days in grand style!

The Families:
.....We have so many wonderful parents and adult family members that volunteer to help with our Field Days.  It makes me smile to see the excitement on the faces of the parents as well as on the faces of the students!

.....Every year we have moms, dads, grandmas, grandpas, aunts, uncles, and other family members come to Field Day just to watch their children participate.  It's great to see the pride on the students' faces when their family members cheer them on!

.....This year we had some North Park alumni who were parent volunteers.  I had fun reminiscing about Field Day when they were students.   (Yes, I was their PE teacher back then!)

.....Some of our parent volunteers for our 5th grade Field Day remarked that it was their last Field Day at North Park.  They have volunteered unselfishly for so many events at North Park for so many years.  We will miss them and their children!

The Students:
.....Our students were amazing during Field Day!  Our Field Day events are non-competitive and meant for fun and exercise.  Students know this and it was heartwarming to hear our students cheering for each other!

.....As I was moving from station to station at our various Field Days, I participated in some of the stations with the students.  I was included in each event enthusiastically and students were happy to share that they were having a great time!

.....My wonderful husband helps me to set up for Field Days very early on each scheduled day.  When the event is over, I always marvel at how quickly the equipment is cleaned up.  I had some wonderful help from students and families!  This help made it easy to get ready for the next one!

Fitness Frankie and Exercise Ernie
.....I had a terrific time taking Fitness Frankie and Exercise Ernie to each of the events!  Students were happy to see them and smiled for the camera along with FF and EE!  I was even able to introduce them to some of our parents who had not yet met them!

My Colleagues
.....I work with an outstanding group of professionals who work incredibly hard everyday to teach our students.  Field Day requires a school-wide effort and I am so grateful to all of my colleagues who helped in so many ways....supervising stations, helping to set up, cheering, being flexible with daily schedules, and so much more!  I can not do it without them.......Thank you to all of my wonderful colleagues!

Thanks for reading about the "Best Parts of My Week!"

Visit the North Park PE website if you would like more information about the PE program at North Park!

The Best Parts of My Week - 5/28/12--6/1/12

Hi everyone,
     All I can say about this week is:  WOW!  It was terrific!

.....Exercise Ernie spent the weekend with a staff member and her family.  He had a terrific time and on Monday I was presented with a book of his weekend adventure!  It was complete with pictures and a story which included being part of a Memorial Day Celebration and remembering those who served.....

.....A primary student was exercising to warm-up and said:  I'm sweaty!  I said:  sweaty is good!  He agreed!

.....As the end of the month comes near, many students return their completed Fitness Calendars so that they can be included in the list of Fitness Fanatics.  One student brought me a stack of Fitness Calendars completed by her entire class!

.....Operation Healthy North Park was coming to a close this week as well.  I received many, many "Coop Cars"in the inter-office mail this week.  I was thrilled to see that one pile of these cars came from our middle school.  I recognized many of the student's names as North Park alumni.  I wrote an e-mail to the Health teacher that promoted this project in her class to thank her for supporting the project.  She responded by saying that she thought it was a great project and that many of her students remembered participating in the project when they were North Park students.  I realized that sometimes it is possible to continue to make an impact long after students leave the building.......

.....Students in the primary grades have been participating in activities called Movement Sentences and Locomotor Go Fish.  Both activities require some reading on the part of the students.  The students have learned so much this year and I was proud of their work as I watched them read and help each other with words that were challenging.  My kindergarten classes surprised me most of all when they read words that I was sure they did not know!

.....As many of you know, our school is a pilot school for a program called Healthy Highway.  Wendy Cooper is the creator of this program and we have become colleagues and friends throughout the years. Wendy offered to create a station for our Family Fitness Night and also wanted to spend the day at school with us on Friday.  We had such a good time!  Baking Bella was in attendance and our students and staff were happy to see her again!

.....Our first ever Family Fitness Night was scheduled for this past Friday - June 1st.  This event was made possible by a Fuel Up to Play 60 grant that was obtained as a result of the efforts of our Food Service Director and several others.  We had been planning this event for quite some time and I will admit that I was a bit nervous......I wanted everything to go well, of course, but it was also the first event that our new students - from a school that will be closing - were invited to.  It is a difficult situation for everyone when a school closes and we wanted to make all of our new families feel welcome.  I have to say that it was an amazing evening!  I was worried about having enough help, but our PTA, and my friends came through in fine fashion!  We played, laughed, learned about nutritious foods and physical activity, and even had a chance to hear our hearts beat! We hosted 137 people  and had a terrific time with all of the different events, one of which included a healthy snack made by chefs from the Culinary Institute of America!  As I was taking pictures of Exercise Ernie and Fitness Frankie during the event, one of our new moms asked about our bears.  She said that she had looked at our website and that the bears were EVERYWHERE!  I enjoyed telling hear all about their adventures!   I met so many new students and families and I look forward to September when we will begin the new school year with all of our new friends!

Thanks for reading about the "Best Parts of My Week!"

Visit the North Park PE website if you would like more information about the PE program at North Park!

The Best Parts of My Week! 5/21/12--5/25/12

Hi everyone,
     What an exciting week!  Summer is quickly approaching but we have many special events yet to come!

.....Exercise Ernie spent the weekend in Buffalo at a NYS Gymnastics Championship!  I had a great time looking at pictures of his adventure!  It's so amazing when others have so much fun with our special bears too!

.....Fitness Frankie spent the weekend in Florida at an Ironman competition!  Our director of PE, Health, and Athletics took him on this amazing journey!  I am looking forward to seeing some pictures and hearing more about his amazing adventure!

.....One of our teachers came to see me this week and told me that her daughter, who goes to another school in a different district, politely corrected an adult in her building when Physical Education was referred to as "GYM".  Her daughter has visited our school on several occasions, and has even participated in some of our events.  I told her how proud I was of her daughter!  We call Physical Education "PE" here at North Park and I was thrilled that her daughter knew this and received the message that PE is not GYM!  My colleague commented that she must have the "North Park Vibe"!  I responded that it was a great vibe to have!

.....We have been fortunate to receive a Fuel Up to Play 60 grant through the efforts of our Food Service Director and many others here at North Park.  We are busy planning our first-ever Family Fitness Night and this week I had the pleasure of meeting with some chefs from the Culinary Institute of America!  They will be teaching our families how to create a healthy snack and will also be back to North Park to teach all of our students all about healthy snacks during a day-long visit!  It was so great to meet them both!  They are so enthusiastic and knowledgeable.  I can't wait to taste their healthy creations!  What a great resource to have in our own backyard!

.....While finishing some Yoga activities with my primary students this week, several students commented that Yoga helps them get better at karate, basketball, and dance!  What a great connection!

Thanks for reading about the "Best Parts of My Week!"

Visit the North Park PE website if you would like more information about the PE program at North Park!

The Best Parts of My Week! 5/14/12--5/18/12

Hi Everyone,
     It was a busy week chock full of best parts!

.....When my primary students walked into the gymnasium this week and saw the Yoga mats on the floor, they exclaimed:  "YES!  One of the activities we do for our Yoga unit involves a breathing and relaxation activity.  When we got to that part of the lesson, one of the students said:  I LOVE this one!"  It was great to see the students relaxing and enjoying the benefits of Yoga!  One of our second grade classrooms has a class mascot:  Bono the stuffed monkey.  Bono attends every PE class and he participated in Yoga with one of the students!  He had a great time too!  During the week one of the primary teachers told me that one of her students noticed that she was stressed and suggested that she do some Yoga to breathe and relax!  She told her teacher that it would make her feel better! 

.....Our Operation Healthy North Park project continues through the month of May.  This week I spent time hanging up the"Coop Cars" that students, staff, and families submit when they have exercised.  It was great to read the many different activities that participants are engaging in!  This project has grown over the years to include staff and community from across our district and this year we have had participation from our school alumni who have moved on to middle school!

.....One of my students this week asked me how fast the fastest human could run. I did not know the answer, but I told him that I would research it to find out.  I found out the answer:  27.79 mph, and told him the next day.  He was impressed!  I was impressed that he was interested enough to ask the question!

.....During a warm-up activity this week a class of third graders was jumping rope.  One student came over to me to say:  "I've made a lot of progress jumping rope since kindergarten!"  What a great observation!

.....Our school is fortunate to have received a Fuel Up to Play 60 Grant through the efforts of our Food Service Director and our staff.  This week we held our monthly North Park Healthy Highway assembly and announced the grant.  Our students were very excited and learned that we would be holding our first ever Family Fitness Night and that we would also be hosting chefs from the Culinary Institute that would be teaching us how to make healthy snacks!  We told the students that the "60" means that we should play 60 minutes per day and we encouraged students to pledge to do so.  Right after the assembly one of my students added up the minutes of exercise for that day and decided that PE (35 minutes), Recess (20 minutes) and our Healthy Highway Dance at the assembly (5 minutes) added up to 60!  It was great to see that the message was received!

.....As I have mentioned previously, staff are invited to take Fitness Frankie and Exercise Ernie on different adventures during the month of May to celebrate National Physical Fitness Month.  This weekend, Exercise Ernie was off to Buffalo for a gymnastics championship and Fitness Frankie was off to Florida to watch an Ironman competition!  How cool is that!  I can't wait to hear about their adventures! 

The Best Parts of My Week! 5/7/12--5/11/12

Hi everyone,
     As the year winds down, the special events wind up!  It was a terrific week!

.....This week was Teacher Appreciation Week and while our PTA always does a wonderful job making us feel appreciated the whole year through, there were some extra special events this week that made us feel even more appreciated!  The week began with breakfast for all and then students and parents brought in small tokens of appreciation during the week based on a particular letter for the day.  At the end of the week we were treated to a delicious luncheon, flowers, and raffles!  We appreciate all that our PTA does for our staff and our students!  THANK YOU!

.....As I was passing a student in the hallway coming back from lunch, she showed me her carrots that she was saving for later.  She said:  "Carrots!  Healthy and Yummy!"

.....Peter, Paul, and George, of Homespun Dance are a wonderful dance group that bring community dancing to many, many schools and communities.  This week we were treated to their live music, dancing, and knowledge of dances throughout the world from times past.  Our PTA generously funds this event as an enrichment program for our students and each year that we are able to invite them back, they enrich the lives of our students, teachers, and families!  Our students were completely engaged and mesmerized from the moment they arrived for their turn to dance!  We culminated the week with a Family Dance Night on Friday night and we had our biggest turnout ever! Students and families from all grade levels were represented and we had so much fun dancing that it was hard to stop!

.....As the week drew to a close, many students were making gifts for their moms in preparation for Mother's Day.  I was touched by how many students wished me a Happy Mother's Day with a smile and a hug!

Thanks for reading about the "Best Parts of My Week!"

Visit the North Park PE website if you would like more information about the PE program at North Park!

The Best Parts of My Week! - 4/30/12-5/4/12

Hi everyone,

It was an exciting week of fun and fitness!

.....Fitness Frankie and Exercise Ernie spent last week in "The Body Shop", aka the Health Office.  Our school nurse is wonderful and she took great care of them!  She wrote a terrific journal entry for their blog all about the importance of washing your hands and eating breakfast!  I had the pleasure of reading it during morning announcements on Monday!  You can read it by visiting The Adventures of Fitness Frankie and Friends!

.....Since May 1-7 is National Physical Education and Sport Week and May is National Physical Fitness Month, we kicked off the beginning of the month with a project that I call "Operation Healthy North Park".  During this project, students and adults are encouraged be active and make healthy choices and can turn in one "Coop Car" (The theme car for Healthy Highway, which we have adopted!) each day that they are physically active for at least twenty minutes.  This is the eleventh year of the project and it has grown to include many of our administrators, district employees outside of my school, and community members!  We display the completed "Coop Cars" on a bulletin board in the hallway and it has been fun to hang them up and have everyone notice them!  We are off to a great start!  A parent told me this week all about their family exercise plan and about how Operation Healthy North Park motivates them to exercise more!  You can participate too!  Download the information by clicking Operation Healthy North Park!

.....Fitness Frankie and Exercise Ernie have enjoyed spending time in our classrooms, but during May I invite the adults to take them home and create a healthy adventure!  They have so many offers for "play dates" that I have to keep a separate calendar just for them! :-)

.....On Wednesday afternoon we participated in Project ACES (All Children Exercising Simultaneously). This is a nationwide project started by Len Saunders.  I found some old pictures of the very first year that we participated in Project ACES - 1989!  It was fun passing them around to some of our staff who were in attendance and younger staff who were not!  During Project ACES the entire school community goes outside to our beautiful field and I lead them all in some dances and other silly and fun activities.  We had a blast!  It was so amazing to see more than 360 students and adults exercising and smiling!  On the way back inside every single fifth grader in one of our classes gave me a high five!  Click Project ACES at North Park for pictures of our event!

.....We have also begun fitness testing in our upper elementary classes.  Students complete the FitnessGram test which includes the PACER; a test of aerobic fitness.   Students challenge themselves to run and do their best while completing laps in the gym to a particular pace.  We make a point of telling students that the fitness test is not about BEING the best, it is about DOING your best.  It seems that students took this to heart as they congratulated each other with high fives after completing the test, regardless of the number of laps completed!  It was so amazing to watch this great sportsmanship unfold.  I told them how proud I was of their behavior and they smiled in agreement!

Thanks for reading about the "Best Parts of My Week!"

Visit the North Park PE website if you would like more information about the PE program at North Park!