This afternoon the third and fourth graders are doing team building. Mrs. Keily has been working with the children in their grade levels to improve their cooperation, collaboration, decision-making, and problem solving skills. Today the children will be trying up to 5 games where they will work with their team to complete a challenge. I am actually sitting in the gym right now with the teachers and children, hopefully to record some of their observations and comments. The children were very excited when they came into the gym and saw all of the equipment out. The teachers are excited too because the children have really given us some thoughtful feedback about their experiences with the challenges.
Here are some thoughts from our third grade friends:
"I liked the Lifeline the best of all the games because I think it was fun that we had to encourage each other and we had to have teamwork to do it. It was really fun. I hope we can do it another day. My teammates said "keep going, keep it up, and don't give up!" - a third grade girl
"We used good teamwork and encouraged each other. I liked the one where we had to get the colors (balls) in the basket. People said "good job and do your best and stuff like that." - third grade boy
"In Mission Possible, we couldn't get the ball in the bucket but we still had fun. We had to hold the ropes that were attached to the crate and turn it so the balls would go into the bucket. I heard someone say "We can do this!" - third grade girl
"People cheered other people on and said we can make it and keep trying. I liked the Lifeline because we used a lot of teamwork and it was a fun game. It was hard not being able to put body parts on the ground and going the whole length. We got 3 people across out of 5, but it was fun trying." - third grade girl
Wow, what great observations from the third graders. What a positive experience the children had today. Lots of encouragement, interesting ideas, and working together physically and mentally. Now the fourth graders are arriving for their games.
"I liked the game because you have to use memorization and you had to remember where you were supposed to go and make a choice. My teammates pointed or said what number was on the dot." - 4th grade boy
"The Juggler's Carry was hard because we had to touch the ball with a body part along with the people next to you without tripping over the ropes or dropping the ball" - fourth grade boy
"The Maze was really fun but really difficult at the same time. At first you had to guess where the spots were and when you found out, the person who made it first would help you. They would say good job or go to that circle. And when you made it everyone was cheering and it felt really good." - fourth grade girl
"i liked the Pearl game because it was really fun but also the smallest mistake could mess it up, but we got to try a lot of times. We encouraged each other and I liked that too." - fourth grade boy
"People were very kind to each other and they worked together nice and they were not mean and they were not being sarcastic. When we made mistakes people laughed with us and not at us, and that is pretty much what made it successful." - fourth grade girl
"Well, at first it was sort of like figuring out where to go but as the game progressed it was more like getting to the end of the maze you had to figure how to remember it. Your teammates helped you where you needed to go and encouraged you saying things like "good job, nice work, and yeah yeah yeah! " - fourth grade girl
Friday, January 30, 2009
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Gymnastics, Throwing, and More!
The Pk children really had a fun time this week in the gym. We had the children do 2 stations: the balance beam and the floor mat. Everyone was so brave and went across the blue balance beam. Some children went across by themselves, and some needed a hand. of course when they jumped off the end, they landed on their feet on the big red mat. On our floor mat, the children worked on rolling, jumping, climbing, hopping, and moving in lots of other fun ways. They love to do a pencil roll down the incline mats. They work very hard at being straight with their entire body. I think gymnastics is probably one of the favorite things the PK children do in Physical Education.
The first and second graders finished up their throwing and catching units last week. We did a couple days of stations, and a couple days of big games so I could assess the children on their throwing and catching. The children were also assessed on their push-ups. First graders needed to show me 3 straight, strong push-ups, and second graders needed to show me 5. We will continue to work on our form and strength throughout the year. The second graders practiced and were tested on their PACER run last week. They did an excellent job of performing the test correctly, and working hard to reach their goal of 10 laps. We will probably test this again in the spring and see if the children can make it to 15 laps.
The third and fourth graders finished up a gymnastics unit last week, although we will return to gymnastics after skating. The 3rd graders memorized and performed a floor routine with many skills that they have been working on including handstands, cartwheels, forward and backward rolls, a Swedish fall, and much more. When we return to gymnastics, the children will be focusing more on the bars, beam, and vault. The fourth graders created their own beam routines. They had to create an original routine with a mount, a dismount, a turn, 2 balances, and forward and backward locomotor movements. Some of the children took some nice risks, trying round-offs off the beam for their dismount and some pretty difficult balances. I was impressed. The children have been working hard on doing back hip pullovers on the bars as they know I will assess them when we return to gymnastics. The children really enjoys this unit and challenge themselves to try new stunts and skills.
The third and fourth graders have had one day of skating. I am happy to report that the children came with the items needed, and no one forgot we had skating. Yeah! There are a lot of different ability levels, so Mrs. Herbst and I will try to keep everyone challenged and involved. I like to play a lot of games where children are having fun and they don't even realize they are working on their skills.
Hope to see you at Show and Share Night this Thursday. Mrs. Keily and I will be in the Lincoln Center.
The first and second graders finished up their throwing and catching units last week. We did a couple days of stations, and a couple days of big games so I could assess the children on their throwing and catching. The children were also assessed on their push-ups. First graders needed to show me 3 straight, strong push-ups, and second graders needed to show me 5. We will continue to work on our form and strength throughout the year. The second graders practiced and were tested on their PACER run last week. They did an excellent job of performing the test correctly, and working hard to reach their goal of 10 laps. We will probably test this again in the spring and see if the children can make it to 15 laps.
The third and fourth graders finished up a gymnastics unit last week, although we will return to gymnastics after skating. The 3rd graders memorized and performed a floor routine with many skills that they have been working on including handstands, cartwheels, forward and backward rolls, a Swedish fall, and much more. When we return to gymnastics, the children will be focusing more on the bars, beam, and vault. The fourth graders created their own beam routines. They had to create an original routine with a mount, a dismount, a turn, 2 balances, and forward and backward locomotor movements. Some of the children took some nice risks, trying round-offs off the beam for their dismount and some pretty difficult balances. I was impressed. The children have been working hard on doing back hip pullovers on the bars as they know I will assess them when we return to gymnastics. The children really enjoys this unit and challenge themselves to try new stunts and skills.
The third and fourth graders have had one day of skating. I am happy to report that the children came with the items needed, and no one forgot we had skating. Yeah! There are a lot of different ability levels, so Mrs. Herbst and I will try to keep everyone challenged and involved. I like to play a lot of games where children are having fun and they don't even realize they are working on their skills.
Hope to see you at Show and Share Night this Thursday. Mrs. Keily and I will be in the Lincoln Center.
Friday, January 9, 2009
Welcome Back!
The children got right back into the swing of things this week. I hope everyone had a wonderful break. I got to hear about lots of exciting places the children went, things they did, and places they saw.
The JK children are so excited to start our gymnastics unit. We will be up in our gymnastics gym (aka the auxiliary gym) until spring break. The children were already familiar with the floor since that has been out on some days previous to break, but now we have out our bars, two beams, and the vault. This week the children practiced walking on the smaller blue beam, and some classes got to go on our big brown beam. Most of the children can go across the small beam by themselves, walking foot over foot (versus shuffling along). About half of the children can walk across the big brown beam by themselves. I always give them and hand when they ask, although I gently encourage them to do the end by themselves if I think they are ready. The children also went on the bars. We have four low bars. On the two that I set lower the children practiced a front support where they hold themselves up on their hands with straight arms. Some children already know how to roll over to get off. I will work on that in the coming weeks with the children who don't quite know how yet. I set the other two bars higher and the children practice doing a monkey climb across them.... just walking their hands across the bar with no feet on the ground. We also practiced rolling down the incline mat doing forward rolls and pencils rolls. Oh, being 4 and 5 years old is so much fun! All the children are really trying hard to get better at their skills, and no one is scared to try something new. How wonderful!
The first and second graders started their throwing unit this week. We worked on underhand throwing to partners, and floor targets. We worked on catching a partner throw. We learned how to do an overhand throw (although many children are already "experts" since they play sports with throwing). I would encourage you to play catch with your child whenever you can. I can really tell who has had practice. When practicing overhand throwing, it is important to practice throwing your hardest to achieve the proper form. The children should be able to tell you the important parts of an overhand and underhand throw. We also had health this week. The first graders learned about their teeth, and the second graders learned about the eye. Of course there is never enough time with everyone's stories and comments, so we will continue these topics in our next health lesson.
The third and fourth graders are also in a throwing and catching unit. We focus mostly on the overhand throw. There are many fun games we play in addition to working with partners playing catch. The children also practiced the 15 meter PACER test, a maximum aerobic fitness test. The children run between two lines at the sound of a beep. They must reach the line before the next beep. As the test progresses, the time between beeps gets shorter so the children must run a little faster to make it to the line. Our goal for the third graders is 15 laps (one end to the other) and 20 laps for the fourth graders. We are practicing now, and will test in a couple of weeks. We will also practice a push-up test, something I have encouraged the children to practice at home.
Have a safe weekend in the snow. Maybe someday we will be able to run in green grass again!
The JK children are so excited to start our gymnastics unit. We will be up in our gymnastics gym (aka the auxiliary gym) until spring break. The children were already familiar with the floor since that has been out on some days previous to break, but now we have out our bars, two beams, and the vault. This week the children practiced walking on the smaller blue beam, and some classes got to go on our big brown beam. Most of the children can go across the small beam by themselves, walking foot over foot (versus shuffling along). About half of the children can walk across the big brown beam by themselves. I always give them and hand when they ask, although I gently encourage them to do the end by themselves if I think they are ready. The children also went on the bars. We have four low bars. On the two that I set lower the children practiced a front support where they hold themselves up on their hands with straight arms. Some children already know how to roll over to get off. I will work on that in the coming weeks with the children who don't quite know how yet. I set the other two bars higher and the children practice doing a monkey climb across them.... just walking their hands across the bar with no feet on the ground. We also practiced rolling down the incline mat doing forward rolls and pencils rolls. Oh, being 4 and 5 years old is so much fun! All the children are really trying hard to get better at their skills, and no one is scared to try something new. How wonderful!
The first and second graders started their throwing unit this week. We worked on underhand throwing to partners, and floor targets. We worked on catching a partner throw. We learned how to do an overhand throw (although many children are already "experts" since they play sports with throwing). I would encourage you to play catch with your child whenever you can. I can really tell who has had practice. When practicing overhand throwing, it is important to practice throwing your hardest to achieve the proper form. The children should be able to tell you the important parts of an overhand and underhand throw. We also had health this week. The first graders learned about their teeth, and the second graders learned about the eye. Of course there is never enough time with everyone's stories and comments, so we will continue these topics in our next health lesson.
The third and fourth graders are also in a throwing and catching unit. We focus mostly on the overhand throw. There are many fun games we play in addition to working with partners playing catch. The children also practiced the 15 meter PACER test, a maximum aerobic fitness test. The children run between two lines at the sound of a beep. They must reach the line before the next beep. As the test progresses, the time between beeps gets shorter so the children must run a little faster to make it to the line. Our goal for the third graders is 15 laps (one end to the other) and 20 laps for the fourth graders. We are practicing now, and will test in a couple of weeks. We will also practice a push-up test, something I have encouraged the children to practice at home.
Have a safe weekend in the snow. Maybe someday we will be able to run in green grass again!
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