Cathie Smith, Physical Educator extraordinaire is retiring!

Cathie Smith, Physical Educator extraordinaire is retiring!

On Wed. June 22, Cathie will teach her last physical education class at the
Ezra H. Baker Elementary School in Dennis, MA. After 25 years of being a Physical Education professional and teacher who cares for all her students, and who has been such a great motivator and wonderful role model, has decided that it’s her time to say goodbye and pass on the torch to spend more time with her family.

To say that Cathie will be missed is such an understatement! She cares about children’s physical and emotional development, and is such a positive motivator who instills within the children that she works with a belief in self that all is possible. For Cathie, it was always about the children having fun while getting fit and developing a life long love for active movement and a healthy life style.

I know you will all join me in saying goodbye and any personal notes can be sent to this blog and will be delivered to her.
We will all miss her, and I will miss her friendship and council!

Happy Retirement Cathie!!!!!! A Community Thanks YOU!
Bob

An Oprah moment that speaks to us all!

As a teacher, I think this message has a special significance when we teach to the subject but forget about the heart and how do we make each child feel that they are special!

"One of Oprah's favorite lessons comes from Nobel Prize-winning author Toni Morrison and the question she asked of all parents: When your child walks in the room, does your face light up?

"When my children used to walk in the room, when they were little, I looked at them to see if they had buckled their trousers or if their hair was combed or if their socks were up," she told Oprah in 2000.

"You think your affection and your deep love is on display because you're caring for them. It's not.

When they see you, they see the critical face. But if you let your face speak what's in your heart...because when they walked in the room, I was glad to see them. It's just as small as that, you see."


Another "Oprah life lesson" reminds me as well to help teach children the "how to" in making changes that will make them better people!

Another Oprah Show lesson came in 1994 when actress Tracey Gold appeared on the show with Rudine—a woman who was battling severe anorexia. Tracey, who had overcome her own eating disorder, encouraged Rudine to take control of her health.

When Tracey told her to "make the little steps to fill your mind so that you can fight back," Rudine looked at her and said, "But how do you do it?"

Rudine lost her battle with anorexia in 1996, but to this day, Oprah says her question is still one of the most powerful things she's ever heard. "When I heard her say, 'But how? How do you do it?'—that was it for me. I realized that we can't just tell people what to do, but we have to offer the how," Oprah says. "That moment with Rudine forever changed the way I approached every show."

Temple of Doom! The Adventure....

Mrs. Smith created this adventure based on the Indiana Jones series and the Kids just love it. As a matter of fact, a former student returned to our school to volunteer and she recalled to Mrs. Smith how great of a memory she had of the Temple of Doom. So here are just some of the 9 adventures that must be accomplished without being stung by a scorpion, or falling into a river of piranha, or not being successful at swinging across the river of alligators or not surviving the Temple of Doom with all of the creatures in there!!! Ask your children about what they felt going thru this challenge!!!!!!

YOU DID IT!!! Jump Rope For Heart Huge Success!

This year fundraising total collected was $ 3640.35, surpassing last years total of approx, $2400.

Of the approx. 425 students at the Ezra Baker School 76 Children or roughly 18% of school voluntarily participated and raised money. All children who brought in any amount of money, regardless of their fundraising amount earned at least 2 prizes as a thank you for their efforts to try to do what they could do in this effort to raise money and awareness. But, all 425 children in the school, participated in their physical education class in the school’s week long Jump Rope For Heart activities involving 12 stations of varied fun activities focusing on a jumping theme.

We had 16 donations made “in memory of” which is very special. This fundraising effort promoted the discussion that we had hoped for among family members and a focus for reaching out to people to do the fundraising. We had one family report to us that it gave their daughter a chance to feel special in her effort to raise money for a loved family member who passed away due to heart problems, very special family time!
Because of YOU...The "Baker School" children and their families, along with this donation to the AHA, our school qualified for a $200 equipment voucher from the AHA, for the purchase of new equipment, which in return, will benefit the children at our School and our community, SO THANK YOU SO MUCH!

Cathie and Bob

Thanks to the kids and families!

It Takes Heart to be a Hero!

When you Jump Rope For Heart, you can help other kids - kids who have special hearts. Some kids have hearts that don't exactly work right. These kids need help from doctors and medicines to get better. And they need your help too! The money you raise will go to the American Heart Association to help pay for new medicines and treatments to be discovered.

Our school is excited to participate in Jump Rope For Heart and you are an important part of this special program. We will have fun and learn about your own heart - how it works and how to protect it! Together, with your classmates, we will increase awareness for heart disease and stroke in our communities and spread the word on steps that we can take to lead healthier and longer lives!

YOU + 1 jump rope = a BIG difference.

We will be adding up our totals this week and we are so pleased with what has come in so far, that with this economy, many families have found this fund raiser to be dear to them and have gone beyond anything we could have expected. What a great effort by a wonderful community!

We will post our totals later in week.
Best wishes with our appreciation.
The Staff!

Exercise and Calories

The Importance of Getting Kids to Be Active
By Vincent Iannelli, M.D., About.com Guide

Check out full article in LINKS section to the left!

Regular exercise is good for kids. It has been shown to help them build strong self-esteem, sleep better, have more energy, decrease anxiety, and decrease depression. And as most people know, along with a healthy diet, regular exercise is the best way to lose weight and prevent childhood obesity.

Since your child likely isn't going to be getting his exercise by running on a treadmill or using an exercise bike, it can be hard to always tell how many calories he is burning while exercising. Fortunately, it doesn't really matter, as long as your child is getting his 60 minutes or more of moderate physical activity each day and maintaining a healthy diet.

If your child is very active and is still gaining weight, you should likely look to his diet as the cause -- not his level of exercise.

Still, it can be helpful to understand how your child can burn more or fewer calories in different physical activities, such as:

•bicycling at 5 mph burns about 174 calories an hour
•jogging at 6 mph burns about 654 calories an hour
•playing recreational basketball burns about 450 calories an hour
•playing recreational volleyball burns about 274 calories an hour
•playing tennis (singles) burns about 450 calories an hour
•playing vigorous, touch football burns about 498 calories an hour
•roller skating at 9 mph burns about 384 calories an hour
•swimming burns about 288 calories an hour
•walking at 2 mph burns about 198 calories an hour

Keep in mind that these are estimates based on a person weighing 150 pounds. A child weighing less will burn fewer calories, even at the same level of activity. Also realize that a child riding his bike for an hour around the neighborhood with his friends is likely not going to keep up a 5 mph average speed, so he will likely burn even fewer calories. You can, however, use the above list to estimate how many calories your child burns and as a guide to which activities burn more calories.

Restoring Playtime For Children

This article in the Cape Cod Times is timely in that, MCAS testing is about to start and its easy to forget that unstructured play time is crucial!
Read the article in the LINKS section.