Week of November 17, 2008

BRRRR!!!! Winter is definitely on its way. Make sure to dress your child in layers, so they will be comfortable throughout the day. This week we will be playing a variety of activities related to Thanksgiving. We will start of with Turkey Hunting, which is a derivative of bowling. In this game, each student is given a bowling pin with a turkey on it. The class is split into two teams and the object is to protect your turkey, while rolling the balls at the other teams turkeys. When your turkey gets knocked down, you are out of the game. We will follow this up with "Stuff the Turkey." This is a tag game that also incorporates tossing. I will pick two taggers from each class. When someone gets tagged, they must go to the side and try to toss a bean bag into a turkey (milk crate). Once they "stuff the turkey" they are free to return to the game. I will be out of the school on Thursday and Friday attending the NHAHPERD conference in Waterville Valley. This conference is for health, physical educators, recreational directors, and dance instructors to get together and share new activities and teaching strategies. These two days are filled with non-stop action and information. It should be an exciting conference this year!

Physical Education Classes for the Week of November 10, 2008

This week we will be finishing up our soccer unit. Over the past couple of weeks the students have been focusing on different key factors related to soccer. These include some basic rules, dribbling, passing, and trapping. This week the students will combine the skills that they have learned over the last few weeks into a combination of soccer related games and activities. Each class will play a couple of different games that tie all three of the previously mentioned skills. We will be playing sharks and minnows, tunnel run, and a dribbling activity. Please remember that there is no school on November 11, 2008! Thank you Veterans for all of your service.

Bartlett Elementary School November 6th

In Physical Education classes today, the students will be playing a variety of soccer activities. These activities will focus on the different aspects of the game that have been covered over the last couple of weeks. These aspects include kicking, trapping, dribbling, moving to get open, etc.. The activities will include a dribbling game called "Sharks and Minnows", a passing and then moving to get open activity, and then a kicking/moving game called "Tunnel Run". These activities are designed to get the students interested and having fun with soccer, while working on basic skills in a non-competitive environment. We will be moving into basketball next week, so keep looking for updates on what is happening in the gym!

Physical Education Classes for the Week of November 3, 2008

This week in Physical Education classes at Maple Avenue, we are focusing on passing and trapping the soccer balls.  During these lessons the students are taught how to strike the ball with the inside part of the their kicking foot.  Their opposite foot (planting foot) is also stepping and pointing at their target.  When they are about to receive the pass form their partner, they need to trap the ball.  This means they are using their body to stop and control the ball.  The students are mainly using their feet and lower legs to do this currently.  After practicing passing and trapping for a while with a partner, we moved into Tunnel Run.  This is an exciting activity that uses the passing and trapping skills that are introduced during the class.