Fall Theme Stations!

Here are some of our 12 stations, all stressing various body skills, ie jumping, throwing, balance, upper and lower body coordination and strength, group cooperation and just allot of fun and excitement! The children learn to transition as they rotate stations, re-set their stations and work cooperatively to control their excitement.


The Bat Cave



The Witches Broom Ride


Spiders Web

Jumping spiders


Pumpkin bowling



Rattle those bones

New Studies show Fitness improves memory!!

Read the article on the Hippocampus part of the brain. The implications could be that with the fitness testing done at the Baker school using the Pacer test, could we identify children who have learning problems with memory. If so, could fitness training thus increase the size of the hippocampus and thus improve academic skills in the area of cognitive memory skills???? Just thinking our loud!

P.E Chatter!

Well the school year is off to a fun start. The children have been working on cooperative game skills, with the focus on soccer skills ( dribbling, trapping, passing, punting and throw-ins along with some basic soccer rules.) Along with soccer we have played various tag games and movement games with the younger children to help them with cardiovascular development and to learn movement patterns in a large, open space. The tag games also are important in helping children to listen to game rules, play by the rules and follow the rules when they are tagged, which can be hard for some of the children.

Along with the games we have tested all of the children for the cardiovascular endurance capability using the fitness gram. In this test the children run approx. 40ft. according to the pattern of music which prompts them when to run. This test is valuable because it provides us with a child's current physical condition level among their class peers, looks at their motivation and frustration capabilities, and thus giving us a snapshot in observing their ability to work thru being tired. At the end of the year we will again give the test to look at whether children did improve by a % after participating in a varied P.E program over the year.

Their performance is only one small aspect when we consider grading. The other factors are the children's attitude to try everything, their sportsmanship skills in playing games, their sense of fair play and their participation skills of good listening, not arguing, following directions and trying their personal best in all activities presented. Many children have asthma and for those children, it is valuable in observing their ability, attitude and progress in performing this task and over the course of the year.

BMI levels of children are done at the school by the school nurse. We feel this too is an important indicator for you to use as a tool in managing your children's health. The BMI scale can provide you with a picture of where your child is at in this point of time. Realizing that BMI does not account for muscle mass, nor cardiovascular conditioning. Both of those factors, should be considered along with BMI score to give you a more balanced picture of your child.

Please feel to call or inquire about any concerns, questions that you may have and we look forward to working with the children over the year.

We need sneakers!!!!

We have many children who come to physical education class without sneakers due to family budget constraints. Participation in physical education is thus affected and children cannot do their best without the proper foot ware.

If you have used children's sneakers that still have some life to them would you please consider donating them to our school to benefit our children. If you are in the position of purchasing or donating new sneakers that too would be terrific for "our kids".

Thanks so much for your consideration.

Bob and Kevin
Physical Education Staff @ Ezra Baker School

Do YOU Believe in ME!

This video was popular last year but very worth showing again! In Physical Education, we believe in every child's potential to reach healthy goals for a life time practice of good health strategies!

Mom's (Parents) believe in your kids!

The link to the You Tube video "Imagine" is truly inspirational! The power of your believing in your children knows no bounds! With all of the pessimism in today's world, this message can brighten your day!
Enjoy!

Avoid sports injuries!

For a healthy body and mind, "play — free play — is as important as competitive sports."

The new article provides some good reminders on not overdoing physical activity in a single sport!
Check it out!