:Ms. Swanson's P E Talk

Ready for students to play Stack City

This week 1st through 5th grade classes will continue speed cup stacking.  1st and 2nd grade students have been playing Stack City.  Stack City is made up of cup stacked into buildings that are scattered around the gym.  The idea is to build hand/eye coordination by having the students comfortable using both hands to stack cups up into pyramids with the base f the stack being 2-5 cups wide.  Half the class moves around on scooters to down stack the buildings and the other half of the class runs to the building and up stacks.  Students are having so much fun! 

3rd-5th grade students are beginning the pe class by doing partner warm-ups.  There are 7 stations that have a strength exercise and a group of cup stacking patterns that must be completed.  After the warm-up activity, the students having been competing to complete a stack cycles as quick as possible.  The cycle consists of a 3-6-3, 6-6, & 1-10-1 pattern.  The kids are getting very fast!

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We are back to school and excited to get moving with new physical education activities!  We currently have been involved in a great deal of activities that are designed to get us talking and listening to our teammates.  The main focus has been on getting all the students thinking “outside the box” to share ways in which a physical challenge can be solved.  The goal of team building is to encourage all the students to talk out ways to move everyone through the physical challenge safely.  Mr. Genthe and I have shared with the students that they are successful if the team has been trying different ideas and everyone has had a turn to attempt some part of the physical challenge.  Of course, the students have come up with many unique plans to maneuver through the activities! 

I want to share with everyone that roller skating is planned for April 4-15.  Parents you are welcome to join us!

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Well, I can’t believe it but another year has come to the close.  The year has been full of excitement and fun!  Another group of awesome 5th graders will be moving onto the middle school.  We will miss them but wish them success as they move on in their education.  As always, we expect them to come back and share all the fun that they will be experiencing!

Everyone enjoy time with family and friends!  Find ways to share being active!  Remember that you can ride your bike, in-line skate, walk, or run to many places that you might take the car.

Have Fun!

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All 4th & 5th grade students have been invited to participate in the annual Richards School track meet which will be held next Tuesday, June 1st.  Students will have the opportunity to compete in standing long jump, softball throw, 50 meter,  100 meter, 200 meter and 400 meter runs.  Students have been practicing these events and more in physical education class during the past two weeks.  We are encouraging all students to be a part of this after school activity to experience individual competition.  Participating  in track & field is somewhat different than other athletic teams because of the diverse and unique skills needed for all the different events.  The Richards School track meet is small but allows all students the thrill of being involved in a school team.  Students can sign up for as many as 3 events by combining 1 running event and 2 field events or 2 running events and 1 running events. 

Please encourage your son/daughter to get involved in the track meet.  We would graciously appreciate any parents assistance in this event as well.  You can email me to let me know that you are available to help at pam.swanson@wfbschools.com.

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Get ready!  On April 12, we will begin our 2 weeks of roller skating.  Please be looking for the permission slip that will be coming home with your son/daughter by the end of this week.  It is important to return the permission slips to Mr. Genthe or Miss Swanson as soon as possible.  We are encouraging everyone in first through fifth grade to have the permission slip returned before we are off to our Spring break vacations as we start skating the Monday we return. 

It is important to bring your bike helmet and wrist guards!  We want the entire program to be fun and without injury.  Stakes are provided to us and come with polyurthane wheels to protect our wooden gym floor.  We will have wrist guards provided to us by Skatetime but by late in the day they are a bit sweaty (wet on the inside).  Parents are welcome to join us during the skating unit however we appreciate if you can give the students a hand getting the skates out and on(correct sizes, tying, wrist guards, etc.) before skating.

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2nd through 5th grade students will be using step counters this week.  Students will be wearing them to notice how much movement they do during different activities.  We will be participating in basketball activities, fitness stations, and tag games to see which of the three groups of activities required the most steps.  Miss Kreul’s and Mrs. Knox’s classes found out that they moved the most during the tag games.  At the end of class, we rounded the number of steps to the nearest tens and then added them up in our groups of three to come up with about 1000 steps/class today.   The challenge is to get more than 1000 steps in the consecutive classes this week.  Boy, how a small piece of equipment like a step counter can be motivating.

Kindergarten and first grade will be participating in similar activities and then comparing which activity requires them to get a fast beating heart, with a red face and sweaty body.  We do this to see if we are working hard during physical activity.  This is a good way to have your son/daughter check to see if he/she is playing hard while outside.

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It is of course, March Madness!  We are worarking to improve our basketball skills for the next two weeks.  This first week the classes will be working on dribbling, passing and shooting.  The fifth grade students have been working on their lay-up technique on offense.  Defensively we are focusing on defensive stance and positioning.  The defensive position is a challenge but they are up for it.  Basketball players at this age need to be reminded to stay low and shuffle feet to move and not to reach to steal the ball.   An option that is available to all fifth grade students, is to sign up for lunch recess 3-on-3 intramural basketball.  Students are encouraged to sign up in the gym and then next week Mr. Genthe will have them put into teams which will compete in games.  This unique opportunity is only open to the fifth grade and I strongly recommend students participate.

Our younger students are working on developing good shooting form.  One of the acornym that is used in class is BEEF which helps to remind students of how to properly get the body ready to shoot.  The B stands for balance, meaning feet should be shoulder width apart and squared to the basket.  The first E stands for eyes focused on the target.  Looking at the square on the back board and aiming for ball to hit that area.  The second E represents getting the elbows in good position, meaning that they should be “in” and not “out like bird wings.”  The F reminds the students to follow-through so that the arm and hand push the ball up and the wrist helps the hand to bend forward, “like a swan’s neck and head” as one of the students told me.

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The students of Richards School have transformed themselves into winter olympic athletes in the past 2 weeks.  Ask your olympic athlete which events he/she felt the best at performing?  All the athletes have been working really hard.  One student athlete said during class, “Olympic training is really hard.” 

 The 2nd grade athletes from one art class made large Olympic Rings to display on our gym wall.  Some of the 4th grade athletes made drawings of their favorite winter olympic event and then included a french description while in french class.  These drawing are displayed on the bulletin board in the gym.  Our fifth grade athletes have been practicing french phrases related to “sportsmanship” that they are to use while congratulating thier peers during the olympics.  This year has been a great opportunity to combine physical education with our French class skills because the 2010 Winter Olympics are in Vancouver, British Columbia which is a French speaking province.  Stop by the gym or ask your son/daughter to share some of the fun.

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Next week, all the students at Richards School will become Olympic athletes during physical education class.  There will be an opportunity to try your skills at moving through a bobsled course or being a skeleton driver.  You will be involved in team cross-country skiing and speed skating.  Some of you may be better suited to cross-country ski as an individual, so give it a try in class next week.  You may decide that you have an interest in curling.  I know I can’t wait to watch the events on TV this weekend and see how all the countries from around the world come together for this magnificent group of athletic events.  The best part of the 2010 Winter Olympics is that we get to be an observer of different, unique events which we do not always have access to.

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I am so excited!  This event comes around only every 4 years.  I remember being a kid and dreaming of the day I would be an Olympic athlete!  Oh, to be young again.  Let’s see, what is more exciting…the speed of going down the hill on a sled lying on your stomach with your nose only inches from the ice, being on the edge of your skate blade as you round the corner with others moving as fast as you during the speed skating short track event, or zig zagging down the giant ski hill, whipping in and out of the slalom poles on the edge of your skis.  These are only a few of the events relating to speed and the olympics offer more.  Tune in this weekend to NBC TV and then share your dream from the past or future as an olympic athlete.

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