Week of 5/2 and 5/9: Fitness Testing & Centers

A kindergarten student made this for me.  :)  

Grades 3-5 Centers:

1.  Fitness Testing:  Flexed Arm Hang and Sit and Reach.  Students complete these tests with me, and then practice curl-ups on the mats.  For more information on Flexed Arm Hang and Sit and Reach testing, see my previous blog post (Sit and Reach) or the FitnessGram site.  

2.  Hula Hoops. 

3.  Jump Ropes. 

4.  Exercises:  jumping jacks, burpees, stretches, ski jumps, scissor jumps, push ups, ABC strong solders -- students choose which exercises to do at this center.  These exercises also help warm students up for the sit and reach test, as muscles are more flexible when they are warmed up!

FitnessGram reports for grades 3-5 will come home the last day of school, along with student final report cards.

Grades 3-5:  Curl-ups!  See the FitnessGram site for information on this test. :)  

Grades Y5-2 Centers: 

1.  Jacks:  Underhand toss and catch the jack back and forth with a partner.  Count how many catches you have in a row without dropping the jack!  Start over if one partner drops it. 

2.  Hula Hoops.  One hoop per person, choose between a large hoop or small one!  Have a contest with group members, roll it with a partner, jump through the hoop like it's a jump rope, or just plain hula hoop with it!  

3.  Jump Ropes.  Practice jumping!  Start with the rope behind you, swing it over your head.  Use your eyes to look 

4.  Balance boards.  Take turns balancing on the center of the balance board.  When you're finished, go to the other board to wait your turn (one board is slightly higher off of the ground than the other board, so I have students try both).  When you are up next, count to ten slowly so the person balancing knows when their turn is up.

Young fives learning how to participate at the balance board center.

Pathways/directions/statues warm-up:  Young fives

Underhand throw/catch the jack center:  First graders

Hula!  

Jump Ropes

Balance boards in action:  First graders

Grades Y5-2:  Hula Hoops and Jump Rope!!  

Week of 11/9/2015

Grades 3-5:  Fitness testing has begun!  This week, students in grades 3-5 started fitness testing items.  This week, most classes finished flexed arm hang and sit and reach testing.  For these two tests, we run the class in centers.  One center is the fitness test for that day.   Next week, we will do curl-ups and trunk lift testing.  For more information about fitness testing, see previous fitness testing blog posts (tagged with "Fitness Testing" in labels) or the FitnessGram website.

Upper elementary centers included:

• exercises:  choose from ski jumps, jumping jacks, ABC strong soldiers, push ups
• fitness test:  sit and reach or flexed arm hang
• jump rope
• hula hoops

Grades Y5-2:  Centers, centers, centers!  This week, younger students have learned and/or reviewed center expectations in PE.  These include:

• follow the directions at the center
• when music stops / whistle, clean up, sit, and point at your next center
• stay at your center until the signal to clean up, sit, and point

Second graders also took a district common assessment.  The assessment is a written true/false test to measure cognitive concepts related to physical education and health concepts.

Lower elementary centers included:

• exercises:  jumping jacks, ski jumps, ABC strong soldiers, scissor jumps, leg stretch, arm stretch
• bowling
• balance beam/sight word walk:  criss cross walk (crossing the body's midline) while reading sight words on floor tape
• hula hoop

Criss cross sight words station.  Each piece of white tape has a sight word on it for students to read as they criss-cross step.  

Young Fives enjoy hula hoops!

Young Fives at our bowling center.

Our SXI class had centers, too:  bowling and tball!  Students loved using the ramp to roll the ball and knocking down the pins.  Tball is also fun, practicing holding the bat, striking the ball, and then zooming to each base.  

ASD classrooms continue with our routines each PE class:  walk, warm-up, skills, kickball, and choice time.  Warm-up time is focused on four main locomotor skills:  skip, gallop, sideways slide-step, and running.  These locomotor skills are the basis for most games and sports.  Skill work with each student depends on their current skill level, and is mostly focused on throwing, kicking, and catching.  These skills are the base for most games and sports.  

Health (1st grade) classes have worked on "Safety on Wheels":  bike, scooter, rollerblade, skateboard safety.  We looked at posters and discussed rules we should follow when using bikes, scooters, and other things with wheels.  Then, students drew a picture of themselves following safety rules using equipment with wheels.  During the second health class of the week, we started discussing fire safety!  We watched a 10 minute video about fire safety, and then discussed fire and burn safety rules.  

One student's drawing of her following bike safety rules

Safety on wheels illustration

First graders hard at work.

Skateboard safety

Skateboard and bike safety