McGraw/ Weatherbee
Physical Education
Weatherbee:
1st Quarter:
The Underhand Roll, as used in Bowling, was a skill our students worked very hard establishing. The three step approach and hand-foot opposition. Weatherbee Bowling lanes were set up in our gym and students were taught a modified scoring approach to keep track of the points. Although the scoring was not official, students will begin to understand the basics of bowling. Our next unit was basketball skills unit. We spent countless hours, individually, with our own new Basketball. We focused on dribbling and passing primarily, but did finish with some relay race activities involving shooting. The shooting progression BEEF was introduced to each child. The last few weeks of our quarter has been dedicated to winter outdoor preparation. We have begun sizing children for our X-Country skiing unit. Mother Nature willing, snow will stick around soon. All of our children have been assigned skis and boots and know how to put them on, all by themselves.
This 3rd Quarter has been one of the most challenging on our Physical Education curriculum. We were as ready as could be for the snow and by the time we got out there it vanished. We were able to teach the children some of the basics about dressing for winter, sizing equipment, we taught them how to properly attach ski boots to skis and snowshoes to our feet, as well as being independent in the process. Although our time on the snow was limited we did have some serious fun too.
There came a point where we needed to move to our next subject. During the weather lull, we tapped our trees. What a bust the sugar season was around the Hampden area. We got 25% of the yield we had last season. We learned how to identify Maple trees, drill and tap, as well as carry that heavy bucket through the woods. We will share the bounty of our harvest during the upcoming "breakfast for lunch" program.
We quickly shifted to our annual Community Service Project. The children that participated raised and donated over $8000.00 to the American Heart Association, again this year. Congratulations and a huge Thank You!! Many participated in honor of friends and family that were impacted from this terrible disease. Finally we finished with a unit in striking where students learn hand eye coordination and thus of implements to strike a variety of balls. We even played everyone's favorite game "Four Square".
We ended our striking unit batting off a T. I taught the children an old time favorite, “Pepper”. Our pepper rules were so much fun. Students completed their fitness challenge by participating in The Fitness Gram PACER Test. This is a progressive, aerobic, cardiovascular, endurance, run. It measures how well our heart and lungs respond to exercise. Students also participated in a short dance unit and prepared for their many field day activities. A favorite activity that we like to end the year with is our modified, cooperative kickball game.
2nd Quarter:
3rd Quarter:
In Physical Education this quarter we established our new Standard Operating Procedures, SOP's. These SOP's are the foundation to every class beginning with a purpose. Children enter the gymnasium and go directly to their assigned squad, check for our sneakers to be tied properly, we jog 4 laps slowly, then we stretch out our muscles to be ready for activity. The first few weeks were directed at procedures, fair play, and safety while encompassing a variety of fun locomotor activities. After establishing expectations for safe and fun working conditions, we began a unit of kicking. Kicking is a skill assessed for reporting district wide, you will see this as it appears on the report card. As our youngsters develop their kicking skills we anticipate the majority being at the mastery level by the end of fifth grade. We are now at the beginning of our unit on Underhand roll.