A Little Christmas FUN :)

This past weekend I was privledged to spend some quality time with the students and parents of St. Mary's School. On Friday, late afternoon, a group of us helped the school set up for their big Christmas Bazaar! It was neat to be a part of the effort that went into preparing such an event. The ladies did a great job decorating for Christmas, the school was beautiful! We were more so responsible for setting up tables, chairs, and games. Saturday, however, was the fun part :) On Saturday morning, Tracy and I were responsible for the football throw for a couple of hours. It was AWESOME! The kids loved it, let me tell ya! They were so adorable! It was great to see them having a blast!

Game on!!!

Shootin' some hoops with the kids and Spongebob!

Getting to spend some time with the kids in a fun and relaxed setting outside of the gym - was AWESOME!

They were able to win prizes and hang out with Santa himself! What could be better?! (Well, besides real reindeer)!!!

It was a wonderful experience to be a part of the school and community outside of the classroom. It's totally about being more than just a teacher. I definitely had a ball :)

Totally Turkerific :)

Our Thanksgiving lab was wonderful. Ian, Tracy, and I got to work with the Pre-K this week and I can absolutely say we had so much fun doing it :) Tracy and I got to spend some time in the Pre-K classroom and had a blast getting to know some of the kids! We got to talk about everything we were thankful for while creating a masterpiece: The THANKFUL TURKEY!

We all picked our favorite color and made a feather for our Turkey. On each feather was a little piece of us that we were thankful for. Many of us were thankful for friends, family, and much loved pets.
 

The Pre-K had a blast creating this Thanksgiving masterpiece! The thankful turkey is our collection of the things in life that we love the most and are the most thankful for.

It was so much fun to listen to all of the interesting things that each of the students were thankful for. There were so many wonderful stories that exemplified the character of each of them!

Spending some quality time with the students before the afternoon comes to a close.



They always have something funny and insightful to say!

Physical Education is about so much more than just the physical. It is our job to educate the whole child! We have innumerable ways to help our children grow into thoughtful, responsible, respectful individuals.

It is especially awesome working with kids this age because they are just so happy and excited to be where they are. Everything is new and an adventure for them. If you listen close enough, you can learn a lot about the simple things in life - the pure and good things that can really make someone happy and appreciative of their life.

Halloween Scream :)

You can't help but love Halloween - Fall, costumes, candy, witches, and fun! We were the gym group this week and we got to play some great games that allowed for us to check out the students' throwing and catching skills.

Tying wild and creative stories into your explanation of the game is a fabulous way to keep the kids' attention and to inspire in them a passion to play! Check it out - they totally dig it!

It was extra awesome because not only did we get to play games with the kids we got to make up some pretty fantastic stories as well.

Just to illustrate - when I was introducing my game (Magic Orb Tag) to my kids - I got to elaborate on just how magical our special orbs were in helping us during our play. I was also asked why my witch hat wasn't sticking straight up!!! Whoa! Million dollar question! How do I answer cleverly and creatively so I can inspire the kids to play!?? Ah ha! It's obviously a magic hat that is losing its magic and the only way to fill it back up is to have an awesome fun time playing this game!!! (At the end of the game I made sure my hat was pointing straight up to the skies and thanked the kids for helping me fill up with magic once again)!

Dressing up and playing a role is a great way to make your program unique and influential! It allows the kids to use their imaginations and have tons of fun all while being physically active!

Beyond Physical Education - we aspire to inspire. We encourage our students to create, to imagine. To feel open and confident. To play. To respect. To show compassion. To love - life, health, and each other.

I totally love being able to use my imagination and get wild with my stories. I think it helps create an unforgettable experience for the kids and promotes a very healthy and vivid learning environment! It seems as though we are all kids at heart <3

The Beginning of a NEW ADVENTURE :)

This has truly been a wild Autumn for me. My life has changed drastically in a matter of months. It seems to be true what they say... about just knowing what you want to do with your life. I love this, I love PE and I know I will love Health - Just like I love Biology. (See, you don't have to pick just one thing... there's a whole world of wonderful things out there - why choose just one)?!

So, in short ... I am happy. I am excited. And, I can't wait for tomorrow!

A WONDERFUL BEGINNING

A heartfelt thank you to the fabulous and inspiring students of St. Mary's!

Hot Stuff !

...and things get crankin'! So we'd been asked to cleverly and conscientiously develop a physical education curriculum that we were proud to stand behind and ready to defend. The FITNESS FANATICS (that was our group!) did just that. Our philosophy for our PE program was to inspire the individual to strive for a lifetime of physical fitness - one that was completely enjoyable to them (because what's more important than fun)!! We believe that with the proper (and enthusiastic) introduction to a vast variety of physical activities from each of the activity categories we will be able foster the confidence to attempt new (and perhaps even wild) things and instill in our students a love for physical fitness.

Pete and Ian tap into their incredible wit and cleverness and create an unforgettable and comedic little skit to introduce our Fitness Fanatic plan ;) 

Discussing the who, what, when, where, why, and how of our physical fitness plan!

Eleana provides some examples of how one might implement lifetime fitness activities into their physical education curriculum! 

We must get creative in the activities we introduce because the more unique and fun the activity the more of a chance it sticks with the students and inspires them to get out there and have fun getting active! 

Jon introduces the class to Jack LaLanne and shows us exactly how Jack is a prime example of the benefits of a fitness oriented lifestyle!

Wrapping up! We encourage everyone to try new things and have fun doing it :) It's our job to expose students to the unfamiliar and help them to pursue those activities in which they find themselves!

We will continue to strive to become well-educated, responsible, and resourceful physical educators and we will be prepared to defend the definite necessity for a diverse, healthy, and efficient physical education program in our schools.