Flat Stanley

Flat Stanley came to the gym for a visit.  Our Reading Specialist (Jennifer is awesome!) did a project with two gifted kindergarteners.  They read a Flat Stanley book and then made a one to give to a teacher.  Here are some pictures of the trouble Flat Stanley got in with me!

Hanging outside by the track

Sitting with an injured student

 In the scoops

 Having a ball :-)

 What level is Stanley?  A three!

 Climbing on the wall

 Cool, refreshing sip

 Checking out my fridge :-)

High, Very High!

Do any of you do Jump Rope for Heart?  I have done it every year except for this year (we did a walk-a-thon for our climbing wall).  I love getting the bright colored banners as a "Thank You" for holding the event.  We have approximately 13 banners.  I had them hanging on the wall by a bungee cord and unfortunately, we were missing four random years.  I had to take them off the wall because of the climbing wall installation.

I wasn't sure what to do with them....then I had a wild thought...we have sound boards on the top of our wall, a sky jack had been sitting in the gym for two weeks, and I know that my friend Miss Teresa was always up for a challenge.  We used the sky jack (yes, Miss Teresa and I went up 15 to 20 feet in the air using a sky jack..hahaha). 

OK, take out the man and add two women!

I used a staple gun to attach the banners.  It looks great and best of all, the students can touch them :-)  Also, for the missing banners, I contacted the American Heart Association and they sent me the missing years - YAY!!!

PE in the Art Room

PE in the Art Room....that sounds like fun right?  Well, it might not be the most ideal situation, but we made the most of it and YES, it WAS FUN!  Last year, we borrowed a class pack of Speed Stacks from another school.  It was brand new to my students and they LOVED it!  Here is what the class pack looks like:

After we borrowed the pack, I knew that we had to buy one.  The kids also had the opportunity to purchase individual sets.  I was totally shocked at how many bought them!!  The set that we bought conatins 30 sets of 12 cups (variety of colors), a couple timing mats, an instructional DVD (whichis great!), and the carrying case.

I had them sit in their art seats.  It was actually nice doing it at a table and not on the floor.  I used the Active Board to show the video.  We watched, paused, practiced, watched, paused, practiced....etc.  At the end, I let them "race" the people at their table.  It was a huge hit!

LOOK!!!  They are using both hands to stack - they are crossing their mid-line!  WHOOP-WHOOP!  Take a look at all of the benefits.  You can also check out the videos that they have available on Stack Tube.  Some of these videos are the ones on the instructional DVD.  Last thing...if you are interested in this, you can get a complimentary set. 

Fun Tag Game

Back, a long, long time ago....a new elementary teacher put together a tag game that encouraged her kindergarteners to wash their hands.  LOL.  It was back in 2004, I had just started working at the elementary level.  One of my students brought me some of those pom-poms from a college basketball game.  He said he thought I would be able to use them in my class.  I decided I was up for the challenge...here is what I came up with!  I love PE CENTRAL!  Click on the pic!

Being Active in the Classroom

Recently, I have not been able to be in the gym due to air conditioning installation.  Now, I'm not complaining because the air conditioning will be AWESOME once the temperature goes up.  But it does make teach PE challenging.  I have a couple of activities that I like to do in the classroom - juggling scarves, Speed Stackers, Tae Bo...and my newest thing - Just Dance videos from YouTube.  I have found that the younger kiddos especially love it.  I sent this link to my classroom teachers to use when it is too cold or rainy to go outside for recess. 

Before I give you the link, I encourage you to be VERY careful when using YouTube in front of the class....sometimes the ads (Zoosk) before the videos are not appropriate for the kiddos and you never know what video suggestions will pop up at the end.  I usually mute the screen and the volume until the video starts and as soon as it is over.  Better safe, than sorry!

This link takes you to a group of videos that a teacher has put together!  Enjoy!

CLICK HERE FOR THE FUN VIDEOS!!!!!!

Field Day T-shirt Design

We sell Field Day t-shirts for the students and the adults.  It is really cool to see the kids wearing the same shirt and enjoying the fun day!  The entire school has the same design but each grade level wears a different color. 

How do we choose a design?  Well, I'm not an artist...and can you imagine if the whole school turned in designs???!!!  We make it a privilege for the fifth graders.  They are given a week to turn in a design that they create.  We do allow them to work with no more than one other person.  Once they are all turned in a committee (whoever is in the front office :-) narrows it down to 2 to 4 designs.  The next step is a school-wide vote!  Here is the power point that I use.

Once the votes are all turned in, the design with the most number of votes is the final design.  It is amazing how close it can be!

We charge $6 for our shirts.  Our goal is not to make money off of them, but the little bit extra that we make goes toward shirts for students that can't afford it.  Here is the handout we use for our t-shirt sales.  We also ask parents if they would like to donate a shirt to someone that can't afford it.

A couple of thoughts....

• Do not send the student shirts home before field day, have them put it on when they arrive that morning.  Yes, this was learned by trial and error :-)  Many of them didn't make it back for field day!
• Send the parent/volunteer shirts home the day before field day!
• The 5th grader(s) that designed the WINNING design receives a FREE field day t-shirt and their name on the design!!!

Field Day

Who doesn't love a fun Field Day??  HAHAHAHA!  OK, I had to laugh at that statement.  There are so many classroom teachers (and PE teachers) that could totally live without Field Day.  I, on the other hand, LOVE it!!  Seriously, I do!  It can be a little overwhelming to organize, but it is an awesome example of controlled chaos.

Of course, we wait until SOLs are over to hold our Field Day.  This year should be interesting....it will be on a MONDAY!  I have my fingers crossed that parents will still volunteer.  Over the next three months, I will post ideas for Field Day stations, scheduling, and t-shirts.  I hope there is at least one thing you can use from it!  I will leave you with one of my most favorite pictures from Field Day.  It was from my previous school.  It is a picture of the who school from the roof top.  Each grade level has a different color shirt.

Technology in PE

When I mention using technology in PE, most people laugh and roll their eyes.  No, seriously - I LOVE IT....well, to a certain point.  If it is something that can easily be used by the students and not take away from activity time - then I'm ALL IN! 

It is common that the gym is kind of multi-purpose room.  It is used for PE, fundraiser programs, music programs, guest speakers, etc.  Right now my gym is having an air conditioning unit installed.  Ironic since it is like 30 degrees outside, but man will it be nice in May!  We had PE in the library a couple of times.  (we couldn't go outside due to rain)  So, what can we do in the library for PE???  I decided to incorporate some health.

I took an iPad class back in November.  One of the sessions was on QR Codes...you know, those square scan code thingies???

I worked along with my school's TRT (who is awesome) and we put together a QR Code project teaching the 4th and 5th graders about the skeletal system.  The students brought a pair of scissors and glue with them and I provided them an iPod and a packet.  The packet included each of the bones (enlarged on a couple sheets of paper) and an instruction sheet.  Take a look at the instruction sheet.



The students go step by step until they have completed their skeleton and learned a little bit of information about certain bones.  It was better than me lecturing about it :-)  They really seemed to enjoy it!  And no worries, we did the Cha-Cha Slide and a few other fun dances to get our blood flowing!

Climbing to Success

I decided at the end of last school year that I was bound and determined to get a traverse climbing wall for our gym.  I went to our PTA and they were PUMPED about the idea.  They were so generous and promised to pay a good portion of the cost.  I told them I would apply for a grant and organize a fundraiser.  Unfortunately, we did not receive the grant (BOO!), but we did have an awesome school-wide fundraiser.  My fellow encore teachers were a great help and the community raised almost $3000.  WOW!!! 

Our fundraiser was called "Walk for a Wall: Walk-a-Thon".  All grades participated during their forty-five minute encore class.  Our Title I program joined in and helped tremendously.  Here is a look at our first note home.  We also sent home a collection sheet and envelope.

The students that brought back their envelopes with donations were entered into a drawing that took place the day of the Walk-A-Thon.  Our awesome parents sent in small prizes and the athletic teams at our feeder high school sent tons of cool shirts, towels, and hats.  Parents and family members were invited to walk with their child.  Including teachers, parents, and guests, we had over 100 adults participating in the event!

As a thank you, the Everlast Climbing Industries, sent us small buttons that we were able to give to every child that donated.  I was surprised at how many kiddos wore them the next day!  Super cool!  I also included a list of the students that brought in donations in the school newsletter.

UGH!!!  I am so frustrated that I didn't catch the typos in this card until 5 months after sending them out!!!  

My dad (a retired PE teacher) and a fellow retiree installed the wall.  It took two days.  Not including the panels, there were 22 boxes of material.  The kids really enjoyed watching the process of putting it up.  

Sorry, it is so fuzzy!

So, here are the details of our wall:

• Traverse Magna-Wall (which means it has a magnetic component that we can us) 
• Height: 9 feet
• Length:  36 feet (typically 40 feet, but our wall wasn't long enough)

We also purchased:

• The Challenge Course
• The Startfit System
• Character Holds

Here are some pictures of the wall.

Here is a picture of our four CHARACTER HOLDS

It has been an awesome addition to our school and to our PE program.  The PTA will be using it at the Spring Carnival.  The parents are going to LOVE it!!

Rolling the dice....

Nope, I'm not in Vegas.....but we are rolling the dice for math!!  I love using dice in PE to incorporate math. The kiddos also enjoy it!  I did have a problem with some of the dice growing legs and walking out of the gym....so, I found this awesome idea on Pinterest.  Thank you "Sunny Days In Second Grade"!!  Mine are a little different - they didn't have the colored lids, so I incorporated the colored dice.  I am excited to use them for the first time.  When I use them, I will post some pics.  Everything was purchased at the Dollar Tree.  It cost $6 - Woot-woot!!!

Here are my supplies:

• Dice
• Small Containers with lids
• Glue - I put a little glue on it to prevent easy access :-)

I put one white and one colored dice in each container.  I thought this would be a cool way to group them and organize the kids.  We'll see if that works.


The finished product....I'm super proud of them!

 I also love the storage containers at the Dollar Tree!  

Happy Monday!!! -amy-

My first post

Welcome to the Fun 2 Be In PE Blog!  I was searching the web for PE ideas and came up empty handed.  OK, that might be dramatic.  There were a couple of sites out there, but I thought...Amy, you need to set up a blog and start sharing your ideas.

I am an elementary Physical Education (PE) teacher.  I teach at a Title I school that houses around 465 students.  I teach six forty-five minute classes each day and also work with a first grade class fifteen minutes a day doing math remediation. 

I have taught at the elementary level for nine years.  For PE, elementary is the best!  The kids LOVE coming to PE.  I try very hard to mix FUN with FITNESS! 

I will use this blog to share ideas for PE classes, classroom physical activities, classroom management ideas, TECHNOLOGY ideas, and best of share fun experiences with/from my little kiddos. 

Here goes nothing......