9/29-10/3 2014: Fitness testing and training

Basketball, mile run pacing, push ups, flexibility...

These are all things that students did this week, but our emphasis was on setting a baseline for our yearly fitness testing.

This week Mrs. Russell's class was a bit like a 3 ring circus. Half her class played an aerobic game while the other half did stations.  Of those stations, one stop was the push ups test... testing muscular strength of their upper body.  Here students did their best to match their performance from last year.  

Mr. Brissey's class played basketball while students were tested one at a time at the sit and reach box.  Here we are testing students overall flexibility through their hip, low back and hamstrings.  

All students had the opportunity to work on pacing this week.  After choosing their mile goal for this fall, the students then used a chart to figure how fast they needed to run each lap to be successful in achieving that goal.  Most students were right on the money, but some decided to change their goals based on their pacing laps.  I look forward to seeing how they do on their mile run the week of October 13th through the 17th.


Daily family workout

1. Warm up
     Steady pace 2 laps around the track
     Stretch
     Steady pace 1 lap round the track

2. Workout (always time it)
    a. 3 laps as fast as you can (4 minutes rest)
    b. 2 laps as fast as you can (4 minutes rest)
    c. 1 lap as fast as you can 

9/23-9/26: Dodging the smoke

With the smoke and the wind dictating where we could move and the intensity of student work this week, we had to be flexible and creative with the student's learning experiences.  On smokey days, being outside and doing strength and aerobic training was out of the question, so we stayed inside and danced and or continued on our cooperative "Voyage".  On days when the air was fresh we made sure and turned up the intensity in our aerobic training and tried to take full advantage of what we were given.  

Daily family workout

1. Warm up

2. Workout

100 burpees for time (could take anywhere between 5 and 12 minutes)

9/22/2014 - Inclement weather (Smoke)

With school being closed due to smoke today, a lot of you are probably wondering how you can impact your fitness without hurting your health.  Well, when it comes to strength and aerobic capacity you can't, so try to keep the heart rate down today and stay indoors.  You can however impact your flexibility.  Spend some extra time today stretching out all the major muscle groups.  Use the image below to guide your stretching routine.

Week of 9/15-9/19 Fitness, CARE and "The Voyage", Dance

Fitness:

This week's fitness has consisted of a variety of activities and has challenged the students in all areas of our health related fitness.  The students are working on their base-level aerobic capacity by completing their weekly continuous run at roughly 12 minutes.  The students have trained daily to maintain and improve their strength by doing their very best during exercises and warm-ups at the beginning of the period.  Mr. Brissey's class worked specifically on muscular endurance by doing a tabata workout that included squats and push ups, while Mrs. Russell's class did another type of interval training that mixed strength with cardio.  


CARE and the "The Voyage":

Although we officially wrapped up the CARE review, the idea of cooperation, accepting differences, respect and encouragement will always be a common thread in our program.  With that said, we set sail on "The Voyage" in which students have been asked to overcome the perils of the open sea.  The crew (students) had to train, ready the boat, learn nautical terminology, and learn to trust each other out at sea.  The crew has to be ready for anything... even the possibility of a shipwreck.  

Dance:

Due to some challenging weather this week (smoke blowing in and out of the area) we moved all students indoors for some dance on Wednesday and Friday.  The 7th graders reviewed folk dance while the 8th graders reviewed there in-depth square dance unit from last year.  

Free Throw Shooting Contest:

Sign up at Mr. Brissey's website

Daily family workout:

Try a TABATA with your family!

9/10/2014 and 9/11/2014: Fitness and Games

9/10/2014

Today we split the class into two parts.  

The first half of the class was dedicated to strength, conditioning and flexibility.  The students did an 8 minute circuit in which they visited 8 station and each station for a minute.   At some stations they work on strength... push ups, leg lefts, and squats.  2 of the 8 stations were dedicated to stretching and 2 others really got the heart rate up.  If the students are working hard (which they are) they are really getting a good workout in.

The second half of the class we lowered the intensity of our aerobic training and power walked for 8-10 minutes.  

9/11/2014

Today we played a game called ultimate ball.  The video and pictures say it all...

Daily family workout

I can't stress this enough.  True fitness is the application of your strength, endurance, flexibility and skill.  And the notion that it always has to seem hard is false.

This weekend go and play something, ride a bike, hike a trail, or swim in the river; the list goes on.  Find something fun to do as a family and do it!

9/8/2014 and 9/9/2014: Run and CARE cont.

9/8/2014: Run

Yesterday was our first official graded run.  The students started the class with our "typical exercise/warm up routine" and then hit the track for 10 minutes.  By years end we expect all students to be able to run 25-30 minutes continuously

Weimar Hills Physical Education

6th - 8th Grade Running Information

Directions:

1. Run continuously for the designated period of time
2. Please don’t ask, “how much longer?”  Wear a watch! ☺
3. No more than two people should jog together to avoid blocking the track for faster joggers.  Always pick a partner who jogs at your pace, not faster or slower.
4. Shuffling your feet and sprinting are not jogging.  Your grade will drop for “sprinting,” just as it will for walking, or jogging so slowly that you are obviously not in your training zone.
5. When the whistle blows at the end of the jogging period, stay on the track, move in the same direction and walk for a cool down.
6. Drinks:  Please grab a drink during any transition, not during the timed run and cool down.  

Evaluation/Grading Rubric

	A (10 pts)	A- (9pts)	B (8 pts)	C or lower (5-7pts)
Pace	Continuous challenging pace  jog (7-8 laps) Heart rate at high end of training zone	Continuous moderate jog Heart rate in training zone	Continuous slow  jog HR in training zone	Jog at walk pace or slower Intermittent jog/walk
Follows Directions	Jogs alone or in a pair	Jogs alone or in a pair	Jogs alone or in a pair	Jogs  in a group of 3 or more Blocks track
Technique	Picks feet up, no shuffling Arms move rhythmically Knees up	Same as A	Same as A	Shuffles or walks Hands in pockets No knee lift

9/9/2014: CARE cont.

Today students returned to the C.A.R.E. theme.  The students started on Friday doing a variety of activities that illustrated Cooperation and today they switched our focus to Accepting Differences. Students were challenged to do some balance stunts in pairs, 3's, 4's and 5's. Not all students had to do every stunt, but all students had to engage in someway that positively impacted their groups.  This activity highlighted not only the physical differences, but also the different risk tolerances that each student had.

  Daily family workout

8 min AMRAP (As many rounds as possible) of:

10 squats
10 sit ups
10 burpees

 4 rounds is pretty good... see if you can do more and don't stop until 8 min is up!

9/4/2014 and 9/5/2014: Picture Day and C.A.R.E.

9/4/2014: Picture Day

Picture day is always a fantastic day.  Everyone comes to school dressed to impress and with perfect hair.  I love to see the side of the students.  In addition to all the 7th and 8th grade students getting their picture taken during their PE period, they also had a little bit of time to review their PE guidelines and then take the test (grades will be updated soon on Aeries).  

9/5/2014:  C.A.R.E.

As many of you know our school wide expectations for behavior can be summed up by C.A.R.E Cooperation, Accepting Differences, Respect and Encouragement).   At this time the 7th and 8th grade students are very familiar with C.A.R.E, but we would never start the year without reviewing it because it sets the tone and is the foundation for all that we do in physical education and on campus. On Friday the students were asked to brainstorm examples of cooperation and they came up with some good ones.  Following the brainstorming session students engaged in a variety of activities that required cooperation. They did great and I am looking forward to watching these students grow stronger due to this supportive environment.  

Daily family workout

For time:

1. Half-mile *piggyback carry
- Take turns carrying a partner around a track until you cover 2 laps 
- *If this is too hard or uncomfortable fill a backpack with some heavy stuff and complete a 1/2 mile or 2 laps.