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!