For the Week of October 5th - Presidential Physical Fitness Week
Students have been completing their physical fitness test this past week. You will be receiving your child's report around the week of conferences.

Senior Kindergarten -
Last week I wrote about the crossing the mid line activity of juggling. This is a difficult challenge for the children to develop, and is something they should work on outside of school. If you have some plastic grocery bags -pick and save type bags (however monitor this activity if little ones are around!) they float slowly and they can work on the same skills. The key words using 2 items - are "toss, toss, catch, catch." or "1, 2, 3, 4. " Encourage your child to always catch a bag with the hand opposite from which it was tossed. Holding one bag in each hand, toss up the bag in the left hand to be caught with the right hand. Remind them that the right hand now needs to get rid of/toss up its' bag so it can catch the left-hand-tossed bag. Remember that crossing the mid line activities helps your child work on and develop fine motor skills.

1st and 2nd Grade -
Health this past week - both classes had lessons that will get them ready for our trip to the Health Education Center at the end of the month.

First Graders talked about and read a story about our senses. We learned about where in the brain our senses send information for us to know what to do. We also learned that sometimes our senses work together. We finally sorted pictures into senses groups.

Second Grade began their look at Nutrition. This year I am trying something new which I think will add to the interest of learning about Nutrition. We are doing a program with the Royal Family of Food with characters like King Henry of Egg, Queen Anna Banana, Princess Pea-Pod, Prince Waffle, Sir Milkford and Little D the dragon. The introduction helped Little D understand that he needs to take good care of his body by exercising and eating foods from each of the five food groups. In upcoming lessons we will take a more in depth look at each of the groups and how it keeps our bodies healthy.

** Important** We begin ice skating on Tuesday, Oct. 13th - please make sure your child is ready to go with ice skates that fit and have good laces (this helps the parent volunteers quickly help your child get their skates tied), gloves or mittens, snow pants, and helmet. Students will need a bag to carry their gear and a towel to dry off blades at the end of our skating session. Thanks in advance to all the parent volunteers who will help get the students on the ice for their full skating time!!!

3rd & 4th Grade
Your child should be bringing home their first two activity assessments on Friday. One for tennis and one for volleyball. One of the things Mrs. Griffin and I are trying this year is to have the children do a self assessment on the key skill(s) for each unit. We discuss and practice the skill and learn the key elements. At the conclusion of the unit - your child has an opportunity to let us know where they think their skill level is on the stated skill. The children are very realistic about their skill level. Research has shown that children that know and understand "how" to perform a skill are more apt to continue to practice a skill outside their PE classes. (It is our hope as well). Below your child's self assessment, is my assessment of your child's performance of this skill. This will give you more information about the assessment that you will see on your child's report card.
Finally, on the back of the volleyball assessment is an affective assessment that I also mark. This looks at how your child interacts in class and how they relate to their peers - in many respects I think these skills are maybe more important than the actual physical skills (these can continue to be developed with practice). Being able to work together, be respectful and be kind and helpful to one another are definitely lifelong skills!!!