Jump in with two feet…

Oh man the school year is flying by so fast, I forgot to post on our PE blog. It has been a great year so far, we have had many events in our PE world already this year. Lively Elementary won the USDA Gold Award and was presented the award at a ceremony on September 30^th. (see the video) We also had International Walk to School Day on October 8^th where over 400 parents, students, and teachers walked to school as we joined with 40 other countries around the world to walk to school. (see the video). See other information on both and what else is happenign at Lively (Lively’s Latest News)

In PE we have learned throwing and rolling and used those skills in bowling. The IISD bowling equipment was at our school 2 weeks and so we were allowed to practice and improve onour bowling skills. This week we are doing FITNESSGRAM Boot Camp to get us into shape for the FITNESSGRAM test in April. FITNESSGRAM is the test that we do in PE in grades 3^rd, 4^th and 5^th to see if we are in our Healthy Fitness Zone. There are 6 tests we do which include 90 degree push ups, curl-ups, shoulder stretch, trunk lift, sit and reach, mile run, and also height and weight. We are starting early to learn how to do each test and to get stronger at each test so we can be our best when the real test comes.

For Bloggers: (answer the questions, think about it, and respond)

What do you think the hardest test in the FITNESSGRAM testing is? (90 degree push ups, curl-ups, shoulder stretch, trunk lift, sit and reach, mile run)

Which test is the easiest?

What can you do to improve your strength on each test?

Where can you practice your FITNESSGRAM tests?

What are the 4 steps to throwing?

Why would you need to know how to throw? (In other words, when do you use your throwing skills? For what do you use your throwing skills?)

How would you bowl if you did not have a hamstring? How would you bowl if you did not have a bicep?

Wrap up…

Wow the school year has gone by so fast. We have learned alot of things this year in class. We learned how to play new games, about muscles and bones, about ways to stay healthy, skills, movements, saftey rules, and alot more. You have raised money for The American Heart Association, The American Diabetes Association, and The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society to help others who are sick. You have accomplished alot this year. What were your favoirte things to do? What was your favoirte game we played? What was your favoirte muscle? What game would you like to play again next year? What game do you NOT want to play next year? What is 3 new things you learned this year in PE? I want to hear from you to see what you liked and didnt like and to what you learned. Make sure to use complete sentences, and answer all the questions.

COOL RUNNINGS…

As you know we have been raising money for people with cancer by putting our coins and dollars in our classroom’s COOL RUNNINGS bucket. I want to hear your stories about what you think about the COOL RUNNINGS program, about money you put in the bucket, about what you did to raise money to put in your bucket, about what your class did to help raise money, and things like that. I know many of you have really cool stories about how you were able to raise the money you were able to. I know some people saved up their allowance, some people found money  on the ground and put it in the buckt, some people saved their hot cheeto money, and some people asked people to donate. Tell me about what you did to raise money. How did you get the money that you put in the COOL RUNNINGS bucket? Did you find it? Did you look for it? Did some one give it to you? Where did it come from.  I want to thank each and everyone of you who were able to raise money and put it in your COOL RUNNINGS bucket. You are helping to save lives of people with cancer. You never know it may affect you some day, but you have already made a difference in finding a cure for cancer!

Jump Rope…

We are working on jump ropes right now in PE. I want to hear about your jump rope experience. Tell me about when you learned to first jump rope. Have you learned any new skills in PE since we have been working on jump ropes?

Can you jump in a rope that is already turning? Are you able to do any tricks? If so, what trick? Tell me about your trick. Did you make it up? Did you see the trick somewhere else?

Are you able to turn the double dutch rope? Are you able to jump in a double dutch?  I know some parts of jump roping are easy and some are hard. What are the easiest parts of jump roping for you and what are the hardest parts of jump roping?  I want to hear all about your jump rope experiences, both before our learning time in PE and during your learning time in PE.

Tell me all about it.  Make sure to use somplete senteces and do your best on spelling. Write your comments…

Welcome Back…

Hello students!

Welcome back to school, it’s going to be a great year. I hope you have had an amazing summer and have had lots of fun this summer.  I hope you had fun playing and getting some exercise. This summer I ran outside, walk on the trail, rode my bike in the neighborhood, walked my dog, and played Wii Fit. Did you do anything to exercise this summer?  Tell me what you did to exercise this summer, and who you exercised with. What are you going to do now to exercise more?  Let me hear your comments, post and make sure to answer all the questions. Never use your full name, just put your first name and then tell me about your exercising this summer.

Track and Field…

We have been learning about track and field events.  When you run  you want to give you very best effort like you do in school. See how far you can run in one minute, how about how far you can run in 3 minutes.  How long does it take you to run 400m (remember 400 m means 400 meters and that is one lap around the track)? How many laps does it take to run a 1600m? What distance race is the 1600m? (how many miles?)

What is your favorite track and field event? (frisbee, hula hoop, 400m run, 100m sprint dash, tug of war, long jump, etc.) Why is that your favorite event? Can you jump high? Can you run fast? Can you throw far? These track and field events test to see who is the fastest, who can jump the highest, and who can throw the furtherest.  Keep up the great track and field practice!!

Heart Check

We have been learning about the heart, the different parts of the heart, and how blood flows in and out of the heart.  I’m going to see how well you listened and remember about the heart.  I will post your grade if you want me to, so you know how well you did.  You need to read each question, and then answer each question by typing the number to the question and then your answer next to the number.  Good luck…!

1.    What are the 4 parts of the heart?

2.    What is the entrance door to the heart?

3.    How do you get from one part of the heart to another? (hint: what opens and closes in the heart?)

4.    Why is part of the heart blue? (hint: it doesnt have very much _______?)

5.    Why is part of the heart red? (hint: it has more______?)

6.    The pulmonary artery leads to the lungs. What do we get from the lungs? Why would the blood go to the lungs?

7.    There is white yucky stuff that builds up in your arteries and blocks the blood from traveling through. The walls of your arteries get plaque build up on them and they act like a clogged up pipe.  What is this called? (hint: is starts with a C )

8.    What is the exit door to the heart?

9.    In the heart course, when you crawled through the exit door of the heart tunnel you could go two places. What are those two ways?  To the _________ or to the ____________.

10.  Bonus: Describe the complete flow of blood through the heart (think about the heart course and how you went through each station.)

11.  You have done an excellent job learning about the heart and how blood travels in and out of it.  Let me know if you still have questions about the heart, and I will try to answer them

 

Jump On In…!!

People have been jumping rope for hundreds of years. It’s fun, great exercise, and not just for girls. Many athletes jump rope to stay in shape. Jumping rope is great fun and great exercise for you, too. It will build up your legs (quadriceps, hamstrings, gastronomies, tibialis), shoulders (deltoids, trapezius), arms (biceps, triceps), and heart.

We have been jump roping in PE.  Jump rope is a hard skill to learn at first, but once you practice and finally learn, you can enjoy the activity with friends.  The cool thing about jump ropes are you can play anywhere, in a small area, and almost everyone knows how to play jump ropes.  If it is raining outside, you can still exercise by jumping rope on your porch or if your mom and dad say it is ok, you might be able to jump rope in the house (Be safe when jumping in your house, make sure nothing is in your way.  Ask an adult before you jump rope in the house to make sure it is ok!!) Jump ropes are pretty cheap and can be purchased at most dollar stores.  You can also make a jump rope by finding any long string or rope your mom or dad has, or you can tie shoestrings or ribbons together to make a rope that is long enough.

Many of you have become very good at both the double bounce and the single bounce jump rope. If you would like to learn some new tricks you may check out this link: http://west.ballyfitness.com/rapid_results/expert_advice/product_tip_sheet/Exercises/jumprexerc.asp for new ideas to jump rope. 

Jumping Rope for 15 Minutes Burns 200 Calories
Fifteen minutes of jumping rope burns about 200 calories, depending on how fast you go and how much you weigh.

Rope Jumping Tips:

• Be sure your rope is the right length. When you step in the center, the handles should just reach your armpits, but not much higher than the top of your ears.
• Wear a good pair shoes and make sure your shoes are tied.
• Jump to music that is fast and upbeat.
• Keep shoulders relaxed and elbows in close to your body.
• Don’t jump too high — unless you’re doing tricks. And turn the rope with your wrists, not your arms.
• Warm up with 5 to 10 minutes of light activity, then stretch gently before jumping.
• Jump and then take a rest break. Over time, do fewer resting moves and more jumping. Your goal is to jump continuously for at least 15 minutes.

How many feet do you use to jump? How is jumping different than hopping? When jump roping, what 2 things are you suppose to remember when the whistle blows?

Tell me about the first time you learned to jump rope? Where were you, who taught you, how were you able to learn? Have you been about to teach anyone else how to jump rope?

Think about a cool trick you can do with your jump rope and describe your trick so other students can try your trick.

Classroom vocabulary in PE

We are working on gymnastics in PE.  You have learned how to do forward rolls, backwards roll, hand stands, cartwheels, balance beam, briges, and spring board.  Have you seen in connection to words or ideas in PE as you did in class? There are many vocabulary words that are used in both your teacher’s classroom and in the gym in PE.  Tell me how PE words and Classroom words or ideas are the same.  Can you name a few words that we have used in PE that you have seen other places?  Tell me details about words or ideas that you have seen in both PE and in the classroom.  Your response should be at least 4 sentences long (but more sentences are great), doing your best to answer each question by completing the question above.  Thanks for blogging!!!

Favorite Muscle

What is your favorite muscle that we have learned so far in class and why? What exercises can you do to strengthen that muscle (Strength)? What exercise can you do to stretch that muscle (Flexibility)? What sports or games use that muscle? 

(Remeber you already know 10 muscles!)

Welcome to Coach Pittman’s Weblog

I am glad that you have joined me to continue our discussions in Health and Fitness. 

To get started, I would like you to tell me what your favorite fitness activity is and write all about it.  Do you do your activity with other people? Do you do your activity inside or outside, or both? Do you do your activity with your mom, dad, sister, brother, grandma, grandpa, or your friends? Can anyone play or do your activty? Does it require more people, such as a team? Write all the details about your activity.  Thanks for sharing.