Why What I Do Matters

One of the most (and really only) frustrating parts to my job is persuading others to see just how important physical education is. Battling the stereotypical gym teacher who "rolls the balls out" is something I've dealt with personally on more than one occasion. Whenever I am questioned on why PE matters, I'm overwhelmed with how many different answers I could give or directions I could take. I came across this article, which touches on so many of those answers, that I had to share. I hope many PE teachers are continuing to fight the stereotype, and, if in a Christian setting, are remembering to share with their students all of these ideas (regularly!) that show just how much God values Physical Education!
 

PE THROUGH A CHRISTIAN PERSPECTIVE

“The book of Genesis reveals God as the only creator of all things, from the universe to the smallest creature on earth. He is majestically in charge of the whole world. The coming of sin into the world destroyed this heavenly balance and presented man with his own route to follow. The life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ later opened up the way of reconciliation and once again brought man back into an eternal relationship with his creator. Grasping this truth about God as both creator and redeemer must inevitably change our attitude to him and the way we live our lives socially, mentally, spiritually, and physically.” –This brings me to my  favorite subject: PHYSICAL EDUCATION.

By its very nature physical education breeds in a social environment where mental, emotional, physical and spiritual tensions are in abundance. As such it is a great training ground for the Christian and the sharpest of places for him to work out his faith. Jesus calls us to live out our faith and to go where people can be found as sports are a huge part of our society. –What a blessing for me to be part of each student’s Christian training starting in their elementary years!

"To God, there is no sacred-secular divide. Everything belongs to him, even sport and fitness. We are “to love God and enjoy him forever” and this can be fulfilled as effectively on the sports field as it can inside a church.”

Psalm 139:13-16 talks about the intricacy of God knitting together ‘body and soul’ with words like ‘skillfully wrought’ and ‘wonderfully made’. The complete person is not just body, nor spirit or intellect. He is ALL of these things and is given the opportunity to glorify God in all of these areas. 

To educate children physically is to enable them to develop naturally in stature, to discover potential of their talents and make them aware of the need to keep their bodies in good shape!

1. Growth and development

                Luke 2:52 “And Jesus kept increasing in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.” Within this short verse is the intellectual growth that comes through wisdom, the physical development that comes through stature, the social and emotional growth through man’s favor and the spiritual maturity that develops as a result of God’s favor.

2. Physical Conditioning

                We are called to be good stewards by God. This stewardship includes taking care of our body. Part of taking care means conditioning it so that when we give our body back to our creator we can show God that we have treated it as a temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). Our task should always be to glorify God by how we use our bodies and seek to become all that we are capable of being through the physical talents He has given us!

3. Rest and Relaxation

                After the task of creating the world, God rested. We can only endure so much emotional, spiritual, mental, and physical stress. There is a need to be free from work and responsibilities. This is a time for leisure, rest, and recreation. -I hope to instill confidence in my students as they are introduced to many recreational activities they can use for a lifetime.

Talents are given by God and our bodies are considered a temple of the Holy Spirit. In this setting, we are able to practice discipline, cooperation, confidence, encouragement, leadership, loyalty, and integrity- a place for the Christian character to respond to God’s calling to strive toward its goal as Philippians 3:13 says, “I press on towards the goal to win the prize.”

COMPETITION

“Compete” means “to strive together”. The people we compete against are co-competitors rather than opponents. In sport, competition helps us maximize our potential and maximize our talents to the best of our ability. I believe God does care about who wins the game, but more importantly, he cares about how we play the game, how we treat opponents, and how we react to the outcome.

Our faith walk is a marathon.

A good analogy for our faith walk isn’t a sprint, but a marathon. It’s a journey we are on, not a finish line we are racing to. It is something we continue working at, with a lot of diligent training and persistence. “Those who wait on the Lord shall run and not be weary and walk and not faint.” 

SPORTSMANSHIP OR CHRISTMANSHIP?

2 Timothy 2:5 “If anyone competes as an athlete, he does not receive the victor’s crown unless he competes according to the rules.” 

Christmanship: embodies the best of sportsmanship (fun fairness, and being a good loser) with the best of sportsmanship (giving one’s best effort to win) but it transcends and surpasses them both. It challenges the Christian athlete to compete as Christ would compete.”

PERSPECTIVE

Our motivation is running the race for the eternal prize. Through this perspective, we are able to: respond to challenge, show commitment, courage, finish the race, develop patience, compete against the odds, train, and endure.

-“Sport is not inherently bad, nor it is inherently good. It is what we make it!” –Dr. Rainer Martens

-Taken from: The Christian Institute, The Teaching of Physical Education: A Biblical Perspective

Happy Summer Break

Well, I completely dropped the ball on updates. It is now summer! Let's take a look back at March-May:

-Middle School students learned many new games like Ultimate, Speedball, and Handball while also practicing the traditional sports of Softball and Hockey.

-Elementary students were challenged with many cooperative team games where they problem solved on their own, in small groups, or as a class.

-WSCS completed their first ever GIRLS ON THE RUN season with 16 3rd-5th grade girls running a 5k race with 2,000 other Girls on the Run from Kent County.

-I was able to attend all track meets by being the track announcer and tallying results for the schools.

-Our middle school students wrapped up fitness testing and reflected on what they did this year.

-Elementary students participated in Field Day!

-I moved into a new office! Yahoo! I have a window. :)



This Summer involves lots of reflecting as well as brainstorming new ways to get our kids excited about physical education.

Goals for next year:
1. Establish a strong Fuel Up to Play 60 Program for our middle school students through a student-led team.
2. Develop our own physical education curriculum using Curriculum Trak.
3. Create a new assessment tool/report card for elementary students.

Have a safe and activity-filled summer!!

Circle of Fun

Today, I shared my "Circle of Fun" with my middle school students. This circle of fun involved 12 different "FIT DECK" cards. Half of these cards involved Plyometric Exercises and the other half involved Resistance Band Exercises. I set this up in a large circle around the gym, alternating plyos and resistance. This allowed for each student to get their heart rate up (check to see if they were in their target zone) and then recover at the resistance band station and learn a new strength training exercise. I played Toby Mac while we participated in each different station with one partner for 45 seconds and then rotated to the next. I couldn't believe it, but by the time class was done the students really DID think it was fun. This combined with their "2 Song-Jog" at the beginning of class really got them moving and working hard within our 40 minutes together!

I am so passionate about fitness, and allowing students to experience NEW activities, exercises, and health concepts in a safe environment. It's so rewarding to see students enjoy things they never even knew existed- and to conquer a workout like they never thought they could. I hope that each of my students finds something enjoyable that they can use in their life after their years at West Side. Sometimes it's so worth taking a break from team sports and being able to level the playing field with new individual physical activity- to really see how far my students can push themselves and realize they can do SO much more than they thought they could.

What a great day.

WOW!

Wow! Our students raised $1,900 for the American Heart Association through Jump Rope for Heart! This past week was an exciting celebration Wednesday through Friday as each class came to the gym with their donations and participated in jump rope/basketball stations one last time.

I'm looking forward to introducing new activities, fitness topics, and sports games this week with all students Kindergarten through Eighth! Middle school students will start out by learning eighteen different forms of dodgeball (!). We will then introduce a new game called Speedball- a combination of football, basketball, and soccer. We are already discovering that learning that many different form of any game is a skill itself. :) Third and Fourth Graders will begin their floor hockey unit combined with learning specific exercises for each part of the body, as well as agility drills, balance, and coordination (can't resist throwing in fitness). First and Second Graders will be practicing teamwork and cooperation using the parachute (first time all year)! Kindergarten will be emphasizing locomotor skills in different pathways, levels, and directions as well as throwing and catching with different objects.We will also continue working on the skill of listening through music and practice cross lateral movements.


Lots to do! Time to get moving.

Service Opportunity

Our Gymnastics Unit kept us busy all through December, where students practiced skills in a team setting on the balance beam, mini trampoline, vault, and parallel bars. We also had a floor routine section where students created their own routine with music to perform for the rest of the class. Each class divided into four countries that competed in the Gymnastics Final Performance Day. Each team also learned how to judge using a combination of three scores: Difficulty Score, Execution Score, and Artistry Score. It was fun to see students learn and compete in a non-traditional sport.

Next week, we will be introducing the American Heart Association's Hoops for Heart and Jump Rope for Heart at West Side Christian for the first time. This service opportunity allows students to learn how the heart works, how to stay healthy, and how they can help other kids around the world with special hearts. Each class will watch a short DVD about the national Jump Rope for Heart/Hoops for Heart Program. Then, for the next four weeks, we will dive into jump rope skills and basketball skills, all while learning about the relationship between the heart and exercise. Our final event day will involve showcasing our learned skills for parents and teachers. Students will have the next month to raise money for kids with special hearts in a donation envelope being sent home next week.

Check back often in the next month for any available resources.

Here is our Final Event Schedule:
Wednesday, February 13: Middle School Hoops For Heart (during normal PE class time)
Thursday, February 14: First Grade, Second Grade
Friday, February 15: Third Grade, Fourth Grade

Check out: www.heart.org/jump or www.heart.org/hoops for more information!

Help Your Child Save Lives and be a Heart Hero!

HOW:  Support your child in the American Heart Association’s Jump Rope For Heart program

WHAT:  A life-saving and educational community service program

WHY:  Your child will help kids with special hearts, learn about how to be heart healthy and feel good!

We are thrilled to share our school is supporting the American Heart Association’s Jump Rope For Heart program! 

When your child participates in Jump Rope For Heart he/she:

 ·         Learns about the importance of the heart – how it works, and how to take care of it: Through classroom exercises and educational information provided by the American Heart Association.

·         Helps kids with special hearts: Our safe online tool makes it easy for your child to set up a Web page and send emails to invite friends and family to support their fundraising efforts and to share life-saving information. 

·         Feels good for making a difference in people’s lives!  Funds raised support American Heart Association research and education initiatives that save lives in our community.  Congenital heart defects are the most common cause of infant death from birth defects.  Many children are alive today because of treatments not available even 10 years ago. Funded research and advancements have changed and saved their lives!

We hope you are as excited as we are to support our students in this important experience!  If you have any questions or would like to volunteer, please let me know.  Visit www.heart.org/jump to get started today!

Please return your child’s donation envelope by:  FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 15

Lexi, age 11   “This has changed my life by making me aware of what other kids have gone through who also have heart defects. I now realize how amazing it is to have doctors who are able to fix peoples' hearts and make them better again, and I am very thankful for them!”

*Our school also has the opportunity to earn free physical education equipment.


 

GREAT Resources for Kids Health

This week, our eighth grade is debuting their musical, Aladdin. It's been an exciting and crazy week. Aladdin means there is no gym space! Instead of canceling class, I took my 3rd, 4th, 7th, and 8th graders to the computer lab to check out a lot of cool websites about health. Favorite moment: when one of my students asked if they still needed to change into their gym clothes. :)

Here are some of the websites we checked out:

1. www.choosemyplate.gov
Click on--> 'MyPlate'
Students pretended they were on a scavenger hunt to find answers about the five different food groups.
-What colors are represented for each food group?
-What phrase should we remember about each food group?
-List three foods from each group that you like.
-Create a MyPlate of your own, dividing it into the five different food groups/colors.

2. www.teamnutrition.usda.gov 
Click on--> Serving My Plate: A Yummy Curriculum 
Scroll to bottom and Click on--> Blast Off Game or Track and Field Fuel Up Challenge
These interactive computer games created a fun way to learn about nutrition.
Students had to answer questions about food groups in order to get their track runner to move or their rocket to shoot into space!

3. www.kidshealth.org
Search: The Heart & Circulatory System
Students had to read an article about the heart and find one fact from each page of the article.
In the future, we will also visit different sites to learn about Heart Rates.

4. www.bethebeat.heart.org
This is an AWESOME site for learning about the heart.
Students watched a video and completed a worksheet about Hands Only CPR.
Students discovered "HeartTrek" and could watch as well as learn about a beating heart's different parts.

5. www.fueluptoplay60.com
Our FAVORITE website to track your physical activity and eating, participate in online challenges, and work to become healthier each day.

All of these websites are fun tools to use at home, too!

Happy Friday :)

Almost November!?

Wow. Is it really almost November? The year continues to fly by! A lot is happening in P.E. in October.

God has blessed us with AMAZING weather and the middle school students have used it to their advantage as they head to the last week of their Touch Football Season. They have completely wrapped up all physical fitness testing as well. They will be re-tested in the Spring to see what improvement they have made.

The Fourth Graders have also finished their physical fitness tests completely- they will find out the standards for each test and which of their own classmates attained the best results. We will continue striving for improved physical fitness throughout many new warm up exercises and education about the heart and aerobic/anaerobic exercise...
Just last week I told the fourth grade class that whoever could research just what exactly "Cardiovascular Endurance" is, they would receive extra credit. Many students could not even repeat the word to me (it was the first time many of them had heard it)... but they DID know cardio= heart. I had three wonderful fourth grade girls come find me on their own time to have me repeat and write down the phrase again. They then researched in the computer lab and handed in a sticky note (with even a muscle man drawing), that said, "The heart's ability to give oxygen to the rest of your body's muscles." They then presented their answer to the rest of the class and, it seemed, many light bulbs went on!

The Third Graders have been busy with many different specific motor abilities such as Speed, Power, and Coordination through different exercise circuits and group activities. After a day filled with only speed and power exercises, then repeating them to music, they left telling the other class, "It is SO FUN today." Who knew plain exercise could be fun to kids? :) We also continue to stress sportsmanship through team games.

The Kindergarteners, First Graders, and Second Graders are focusing on the manipulative skills of rolling, catching, underhand and overhand throwing. Practicing simple things like grip through games like follow the leader and sculpting T's (where students act as statues and other students form the "statues" in an overhand throw pose), to more in depth activities like hula hoop target throwing at different distances. Fun games such as Clean Up Your Yard and Dodgeball have also been a hit.

Other events related to Physical Activity at West Side have continued developing....
-The Middle School Fuel Up to Play 60 Representatives will introduce Fuel Up to Play 60, a student-led program that promotes physical activity and nutrition, at this Thursday's Chapel (as well as the school's first challenge: a combined Poster/Touchdown Dance Video).
-The Mileage Club continues to "run" strong. K-5 students will find out THIS WEEK which one of their classmates had the highest mileage in each grade. Those five winners will receive a certificate and a healthy breakfast with Mr. Groenendyk for their hard work. The highest mileage classroom will also be recognized.

That's all for now.
Praying for another fun, active, and safe week in the West Side Gym!