Happy Holidays

With the holiday season here it is easy to negate physical activity and cuddle up with a blanket on the couch with a cup of hot chocolate. Unfortunately, that is not the best thing for our bodies. So I have a couple of ideas for you and your family to stay active this holiday season.

Here is a link to Participaction website with some activities:

Participaction Winter Activity Ideas


Here are some suggestions to stay active outside this holiday season:

I hope you have an active break and I can't wait to hear all about the fun activities you did! 

Happy Holidays,

Miss Nanavaty

Overhand Throwing

This week in PE we focused on our overhand throw. We learned about 4 different cues in order to perfect our over hand throwing technique.

1. Starfish - ensuring that the ball is in our back hand and that our legs are spread out. We are also making sure that we are perpendicular to our target
   
2. Muscles- Bending our back arm to get ready to throw
   
3. Squish the bug- Rotating our body to face our target
   
4. Throw- moving our back hand forward to release the object
   

We practiced this skill through the following games:

• Fire and Ice
• Bring it back
• Book it Ball

Underhand Throwing

This week in PE we are working on our underhand throwing. When performing the underhand throw we want to make sure that the foot opposite of our throwing hand is forward and then we are swinging our throwing arm forward. We discussed what the perfect release time was depending on where we wanted the object to go. Meaning if we wanted to slide the object on the floor than we would release it early (like bowling). If we wanted to pass to our partner we would release it around the time it gets to front knee and if we wanted it to go high in an arc we would release it later. We tried these different trajectories through games like:

-Catch me if you can
-Watch your step
-Golf

Running and Yoga

In PE this week we were thrown for a loop with picture day, cold weather and the Remembrance day dress rehearsal and performance. This meant that we were not always in the gym or we were using half the gym. Our focus this week was the fundamental skill of running. We discussed as a class the stance and swing phase of running. We highlighted how one's body needs to be tilted slightly forward, how the heel is the first thing to touch the ground, for a split second both feet are not on the ground (flight phase) and how your arms should be moving opposite your legs to help maintain balance. On the days when we used half of the gym we practiced yoga. We brought out the blue mats, dimmed the lights and wheeled in the smartboard for a guided yoga practice. We talked about how stretching and strengthening our muscles is just as important as cardio. How yoga helps use in a variety of way such as being mindful of our breathing, strengthening our muscles and helping with our flexibility.

Galloping and Skipping

Last week we worked on two new fundamental movement skills Skipping and Galloping. Skipping is the combination of two fundamental movement skills: A step and a hop. Galloping is keeping the same foot forward and using a step-together, step-together pattern. 
We learned these movements by playing a variety of games such as:

• Horses vs. Monkeys
• Grand Portage
• Catch me if you can
• Rodeo Roundup

Dodge

This week in PE we focused on DODGING. No we did not play dodgeball, haha. Instead we focused on the skill of dodging. The definition of dodge is quick, deceptive changes in direction to evade, chase or flee from an opponent.

To practice and understand this skill we played games such as:
Line tag
Scorpion
Keeper of the Castle
Octopus
Tree tag

Jump, Leap and Hop

This week in PE our focus was on Jumping, Leaping and Hopping. We grouped these locomotor movements together as they  are commonly mistaken for each other.  We defined each of the terms and then practiced them throughout the week by playing games like: 

• Kangaroos Vs Lemurs
• Kangaroos Vs Fish
• Fish and Frogs
• Tsunami dance

Jumping is where we take off on two feet and land on two feet.
Hopping is where we take off on one foot and land on the same foot
Leaping is where we take off on one foot and land on the other foot.

Over the long weekend be sure to ask your child to show you how they hop, leap and jump! 

If they are having difficulty leaping and hopping it normally stems from lack of balance. Practicing balancing on one foot will help them leap and hop!

Orange Shirt Day

Monday was Orange Shirt Day and we played two Indigenous games: Tatanka Tatanka and Moose bone.

Tatanka is the leader of the buffalo. It is a game that is usually played by women and small children; they would mimic their fathers and grandfathers who used to go on the buffalo hunt. The game helped the women and children learn how to lead the buffalo into the compound during the hunt. (Source: https://www.nscrd.com/uploads/document/files/indigenous-games-for-children-en.pdf)

How to play: 

• One participant is chosen as the Tatanka and the rest of the participants line up against the wall. 

• The Tatanka calls out “Tatanka, Tatanka” and the participants run across to the other side of the gym and try not to get tagged by the Tatanka. 

• If a participant is tagged they become part of the Tatanka’s herd and have to try tag more participants to become part of the herd. 

• When there are no more runners the game is over and new Tatanka is chosen.

Moose Bone is a Cree game played by the whole community. One of the prize parts of the moose was the bone marrow. Seeing as there was not enough bone marrow for everyone they would play this game to see who would get the marrow. Since it is a cooperation game, the community members that helped the person win, so then they would share the marrow with the helpers.

How to Play:

• Group will stand in a circle
• One person is in middle of circle with stick over shoulder, eyes closed/blindfolded
• "Moose bone" will be placed some where in the circle
• Group directs person and attempts once to place stick on bone
• If the person in the middle steps on or kicks the bone they are out.
• If they miss the bone, a new person will come in the middle.

September- December Physical Education Outcomes

During your conference your child's classroom teacher handed you a newsletter that had a list of outcomes on it. This post in meant to highlight the physical education outcomes that are outlined in that newsletter and linked to the report card stems. Throughout the term we will be working on fundamental movement skills, fair play, communication, spatial awareness and a variety of different fitness activities.

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to email me at jlnanavaty@cbe.ab.ca

Kindergarten

• Performs and refines movement skills 
  • -Experience and develop basic locomotor skills; e.g., walking, running, hopping, jumping, leaping, rolling, skipping, galloping 
  • -Experience and develop basic non-locomotor skills; e.g., turning, twisting, swinging, balancing, bending, landing, stretching, curling, hanging 
• Cooperates to demonstrate fair play and teamwork 
  • -Identify and demonstrate etiquette and fair play; play cooperatively with others 
  • -Develop and demonstrate respectful communication skills appropriate to context 
• Explores strategies for leading a healthy, active way 
  • -Move safely and sensitively through all environments; e.g., space awareness 
  • -Experience movement involving the components of health related fitness 

Grade 1 

• Performs and refines movement skills 
  • -Experience and develop basic locomotor skills; e.g., walking, running, hopping, jumping, leaping, rolling, skipping, galloping 
  • -Experience and develop basic non-locomotor skills; e.g., turning, twisting, swinging, balancing, bending, landing, stretching, curling, hanging 
• Cooperates to demonstrate fair play and teamwork 
  • -Identify and demonstrate etiquette and fair play; play cooperatively with others 
  • -Develop and demonstrate respectful communication skills appropriate to context 
• Explores strategies for leading a healthy, active way 
  • -Move safely and sensitively through all environments; e.g., space awareness 
  • -Experience movement involving the components of health related fitness 

Grade 2 

• Performs and refines movement skills 
  • -Perform and develop basic locomotor skills; e.g., walking, running, hopping, jumping, leaping, rolling, skipping, galloping 
  • -Perform and develop basic non-locomotor skills; e.g., turning, twisting, swinging, balancing, bending, landing, stretching, curling, hanging 
• Cooperates to demonstrate fair play and teamwork 
  • -Identify and demonstrate etiquette and fair play; play cooperatively with others 
  • -Develop and demonstrate respectful communication skills appropriate to context 
• Explores strategies for leading a healthy, active way 
  • -Move safely and sensitively through all environments; e.g., space awareness 
  • -Experience movement involving the components of health related fitness 
  
  
  
  

Grade 3 

• Performs and refines movement skills 
  • -Perform and develop basic locomotor skills; e.g., walking, running, hopping, jumping, leaping, rolling, skipping, galloping 
  • -Perform and develop basic non-locomotor skills; e.g., turning, twisting, swinging, balancing, bending, landing, stretching, curling, hanging 
• Cooperates to demonstrate fair play and teamwork 
  • -Identify and demonstrate etiquette and fair play; play cooperatively with others 
  • -Develop and demonstrate respectful communication skills appropriate to context 
• Explores strategies for leading a healthy, active way 
  • -Move safely and sensitively through all environments; e.g., space awareness 
  • -Experience movement involving the components of health related fitness 
  
  

Grade 4 

• Performs and refines movement skills 
  • -Perform basic locomotor skills; e.g., walking, running, hopping, jumping, leaping, rolling, skipping, galloping 
  • -Perform basic non-locomotor skills; e.g., turning, twisting, swinging, balancing, bending, landing, stretching, curling, hanging 
• Cooperates to demonstrate fair play and teamwork 
  • -Identify and demonstrate etiquette and fair play; play cooperatively with others 
  • -Develop and demonstrate respectful communication skills appropriate to context 
• Explores strategies for leading a healthy, active way 
  • -Move safely and sensitively through all environments; e.g., space awareness 
  • -Experience movement involving the components of health related fitness 

Terry Fox Pledge Sheet

Terry Fox Pledge Sheet

I love a challenge

At the beginning of this week I shared a youtube channel with the grade 4 students. The channel is: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0WbPDm3QHkv5qCWVl0EHeA. The premise of this youtube channel is about growth mindset while completing physical activity. The benefits of a growth mindset can include embracing challenges, developing resiliency, be able to accept feedback, and understand that it is about the process not just the end result.

The grade 4's first tried several of the challenges that have been posted and then near the end of the week they were divided into groups to develop their own. Next week we will be filming the challenges they have created and  we hope to showcase them during conferences.

Welcome Back!

I hope you all had an amazing and active summer! Lots of you have been telling me about all the fun and active things you did over the summer and it is great to hear! We have a lot of fun things planned for September! This month we will be working on getting to know the names of everyone in our class through a few icebreaker games and how to work cooperatively together to solve problems (cooperative games). 

Some of the games include:
-West wind blows
-Name Juggling
-Hungry Hungry Frogs
-How to cross the river
-Trailblazers


Things to look forward to:
Terry Fox Run