Children hear about and feel our pain.......

The Jump Rope For Heart pamphlets have all been sent home and within the physical education class we have talked about this fundraising effort. During each class we talked about the spirit of fundraising, the nature of heart disease in language that they, hopefully, might understand and discussed the"how to" of doing the fundraising. We emphasized safety in asking only family and close friends and helped them to understand that not all people can give money for many of their own personal reasons. We have highlighted our appreciation of their effort and willingness to try to help in this worthy effort.

As we discussed these issues with each class, the children asked questions and/or shared stories about their families medical experience with heart problems. Some students talked about their own personal heart problem, which makes us, as teachers, feel privileged to have been trusted by these students t0 talk about their personal situation.

But, over the past week we have also been asked about the heartbreaking nature of students thinking about their home life and asking if, "they could keep the money collected because their family needs money for a broken down car, for food or other things." As you can well imagine, the children hear about the economic strains impacting their family and carry those "feelings" and emotions to school. Within the physical education class, there are numerous "teachable moments" to help children learn about their developing self concept and this certainly was worthy of our time and discussion. As we addressed this emotional question, we focused on the type of person that they wanted to become as they grow up in life and that people respect them for their honesty, trustworthyness, and having good character. The fact that their families need money, we explained could be helped in many other ways and that taking money in the name of this charity was not the way to help their family.

We always debate whether we want to do a fundraising activity every year, but its opportunities like this that make us feel that it is a worthy effort, for not only the American Heart Association, but also, a special time for us, as teachers, to help children to explore and develop their own sense of values as they try to understand difficult issues.

Jump Rope For Heart....Coming

The Jump Rope For Heart link provides allot of information about this program that we will commence in March at our school.

Please feel free to contact the P.E staff should you have any questions. Thanks so much for your continued support.

March Madness !

Well, as March roars in with a winter storm, we look back over what the kids did in the month of Feb. Our big unit on bowling was allot of fun, make sure to ask you child how they did in the competition among their grades. Unfortunately, there can only be one winner per grade but it sure generated allot of excitement and team work in the class effort to knock down as many total pins as possible. We also had a unit on 12 circuit training stations, each different and hopefully fun and challenging for the children.

March madness time is a fun time to pick our favorite college basketball teams (Go B.C.), which hopefully the children will learn to appreciate. They can learn geography as they learn about where the college teams are located and can perform math computations in looking at scores and points won and lost by, along with learning about how brackets work!

During our physical education time this month we are planning to set up a "Mission Impossible" circuit, with each station presenting varying sets of challenges! We also will begin our annual fundraiser with Jump Rope For Heart, which the children learn about the spirit of fundraising and illness in peoples life. Given the state of the economy, we are very conscious of the hardships that exist locally in our school but we feel going through the fundraising process to heighten awareness is an important learning tool for our children. Over the years, many of the children have felt comfortable and shared their own families personal medical stories and we, as staff, feel good about the fact that the children feel comfortable with us to talk about their families situations. Our message to the children is that not all families can give and whatever they can do to ask for donations is an important lesson for them to learn. We always have fun and the children look forward to the activity stations and the potential to earn prizes for raising money.

Again, we hope that you will talk with your child about their days activity in physical education, what they learned and had fun doing and we hope that their time with us will serve as a source of motivation to develop an active and healthy life style!

Report Cards are here!

In Physical Education we try to observe all of the children to assess how each child is performing a variety of skills, assess their cooperating and interacting skills with others and determine if they have a positive attitude and are making a good effort in all classes.

This is never an easy task when assessing so many children in an environment in which learning is often based on their previous experiences, to some degree. In other words, children play sports outside of school and have established many habits based on their experiences. What the child brings to the P.E. class is a reflection of those experiences. As physical education teachers we try to help each child develop and expand their interest and potential in activities and learn respectful ways of playing with others in a competitive atmosphere. Sportsmanship is a difficult concept to teach because it requires a child to make a quick decision while in a competitive situation often involving some form of emotion, aggressive play and possibly some body contact. Also, no two situations are the same and so previously learned behaviors might not be transferred to new situations because the experience might be different. Then when you add in the factor of peer influence, self image and esteem, and the expectation that every child likes to be seen as "a star", and when that doesn't happen, children sometimes have a behavioral reaction because their skill "self image" did not live up to what they want their friends to see and believe about them.

So, as parents sit down and go over their P.E grade, please talk about these issues and what they can do to improve. Its not so much about the actual grade but more about your talking with your child about their feelings and expectations. P.E. staff are always available to discuss these issues and explore various ideas as to approaches to develop your child as an athlete, who is competitive, yet displays good sportsmanship and who enjoys having their parents at the game because its fun.

Also, check out some of the links relating to sport psychology and when at the site look for associated videos and links which might offer some help as well.

Physical Education Chatter!

Dinner table talk is important to allow children an opportunity to talk about themselves and their days experiences and for parents to find out just how their child's day went....good and bad!

So, here are some topics to help your child to chat about their day in P.E.

This past week we climbed the cargo net (safety, safety, safety), swing on the rope (fun, fun, fun)and played games. The class games in grades 2 & 3, were: scooter hockey & toxic ball and for grades K & 1 we used the hula hoops, ball shooting, and played Eagles and Vulture tag as well as GO CELTICS tag, using math questions or rock, paper, scissor to get back into the game!

Ask your child which game they participated in and about the games. Ask how they did during the activity, was the activity hard for them? Did they see good sportsmanship (any arguing, unfair play etc)? Ask how they think they did in the game or were they afraid of climbing the cargo net? Did they get to be on their friends team? Did they learn a new skill or did they get to practice an old skill! Did they have fun?

This week we start bowling!!! In this unit, the children will learn to keep score using their math skills and will learn proper bowling technique which will start their foundation for a life long skill!

Talking about your child's day helps them to feel valued and make them feel important!!!

A Life Style Plan for living!

The Physical Education Program is promoting the Jump Up & Go program for the Ezra Baker School! This exciting program offers a balanced approach for helping children to learn about healthy eating habits, being active for some part of the day and helpful suggestions for limiting TV/computer time. The basic concept of 5-2-1 provides for families a simple guide for approaching how the family can best use their time to promote a healthy life style!

Physical Education-Elementary Style!

Elementary physical education requires a creative and fun way to teach children about a healthy life style. Sportsmanship continues to be an important element in helping children to interact with their peers in a respectful manner. Playing by the rules involves many aspects of human interaction which must be taught and supported by the physical education instructor.
Helping children to learn to be active and understanding their bodies reaction to exercise and movement is a crutial aspect for children to learn about their developing bodies!
Games which promote academic skills, skill development and movement exploration can be introduced in a fun and creative manner which complement academic requirements.
Helping children to learn how to positively interact with peers when in a competative atmosphere is a unique and important aspect of teaching for the physical edcuation professional.