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.

9-3-2014: Running

Many people cringe when they hear, "hey... let's go for a run" and I am one of them.  When I think of running I think of pain, more pain, and... more pain.  But the reality is, that running is one of the best ways to work on your heart health, aerobic capacity, muscular endurance in your legs and, if you couple it with some real post-run stretching, flexibility. Not to mention that it doesn't require anything but a pair of running shoes.   I also think that a lot of people don't enjoy running because they are not good at it and I say, "attack your weakness and make it a strength" or at least make it better.  

Today we shared with our students the expectations for our continuous runs, a kind of "rules of the road" if you will.   Following that instructional time, the students got out and had at it for about 5 minutes.  This year we will be working our way up to 25-30 minutes of continuous running.

Daily family workout

Interval training (you will need a watch for this)

1.  Warm up

5 minute jog warm up

2. Workout

10 rounds of:

20 sec fast run

10 sec walk

8-29-2014: "Friday Fun Day"

Over the past week and a half the students have been patiently waiting to play for the sake of playing, and today they got to do just that.  Today the students played a game called "Rocks"... think Capture the Flag with an endless amount of flags and non-stop action.

After splitting the class into two very large teams, the students put on waist flags and get on their half of the field.  When I say go, they charge their opponent's "rock" pile and take a rock (in this case, a whiffle ball).   If they can dodge their way back to their side, and put the rock in their pile, it gives them an advantage over their opponents.  The team with the most amount of rocks in their pile when we stop the game wins a point.  

Today our 7th and 8th grade students demonstrated why they are the leaders of the school. They showed a tremendous amount of control, speed and agility, not to mention aerobic capacity.  It was fun to just step back and watch them play for 10-15 minutes.  

Daily family workout

For every family member in your household complete 75 push ups over the weekend (break them up all weekend long).

For example: I live with my wife, brother-in-law, 2 dogs and a cat, so between the 3 of us humans we are going to do 350 push ups this weekend.  

8-28-2014: Strength training

Today began our first day of strength training and that includes teaching the students how to move their bodies in a way that is safe and efficient.  This year the 8th graders started out by teaching each other what they remember from last year's strength and warm ups (proper form in the squat, push up, sit up, jumping jack and various stretches).  The 7th graders were brought up to speed by the teachers.

In addition to strength training the students also did a short continuous run and participated in a movement activity called "Have you ever?..." 

Daily family workout:

Go for a hike, run or bike on some of the awesome local trails in our area.

8-26-2014: 3,2,1...

...GO!

Tomorrow we start our first day dressing out.  For 7th graders, everything they experience they are experience for the first time.  And for the 8th graders, they are the veterans of the school; looking at everything from the top.  I'm excited to get these kids moving, exercising, playing, dancing, learning and having a good time doing it.

Our first order of business tomorrow is locker room orientation for the 7th graders and re-orientation for the 8th graders.  Following that we will do final clothing sales and loan out clothes as necessary.  And then they will dress in to their PE clothes for the first time this year and get moving a bit.  We are going to turn them loose on the exercises they learned last year and see how much they remember.  

Also, remind your children about intramurals.  Here are some activities that the students may be participating in this year if they so choose: (this list is in no particular order)

- Speedminton tournament
- Archery (morning or after school)
- Basketball tournament
- Fitness focus (morning or after school)
- Field games (i.e. capture the flag, treasure hunt, ultimate ball)
- Flag football tournament
- Volleyball

This is by no means and exhaustive list nor does it mean that these are all going to be played this year.  Please have your children keep an ear in the bulletin so they know what's coming up.

Daily family workout:

1.  Take a ball to the park (basketball, football, volleyball soccer ball, pretty much any kind of ball)

2.  Play with your family or start some sort of game other people at the park.

8-25-2014: Padlocks and lockers

Today we assigned lockers and handed out padlocks.  If your son or daughter was finding it difficult to open their padlock today, here is a video that explains and demonstrates how to have success with the padlock.  <------- Click there

Daily family workout:

Workout:

8 rounds of:
20 sec of sit ups
10 sec of rest

*Use this timer to keep track

8-22-2014: Up and coming

Typically this will not be a place where I discuss what is coming up in class, but here are a few upcoming dates to keep in mind:

Mon.  Aug 25 - Students will be assigned a locker and padlock
Tue.   Aug 26 - PE clothes sale, borrow, or bring day ($15 shirt and $10 for shorts)
Wed. Aug 27 - Dress rehearsal
Thur.  Aug 28 - Launch

Daily family workout:

1. Warm up:

  50 jumping jacks
  1 minute jog in place
  20 sit ups, curl ups or crunches 

2. Workout:

  5 rounds for *time:
  8 push ups
12 squats

*move as quickly as you can, while maintaining good form 

8-21-2014: Working together

Getting work done as a group will be a common theme this year in physical education. The students will be stretched this year to work with groups of people that don't always share their same interests. Today students are researchers, teachers and students as they work through a document that will be a resource for their success this year in PE.  Each student today will have the responsibility of being an expert on their portion of the document, as well as share it with the group and listen and learn from others.  

Daily family workout:

1. Warm up:
    A. 30 sec high knees
    B. 30 sec butt-kickers
    C. 30 sec plank hold
    and repeat

2. Stretch

3. Workout:

Start a 4 minute timer and do as many burpees as you can in that time.

8-20-2014: The First Day of School

The First Day of School

             I imagine that the first day of school feels similar to teachers, parents and students alike.  Some of us (teachers, parents and students) are probably wondering where the summer has gone, while others of us have been eagerly awaiting the school years arrival.  
             No matter what our feelings are about the start of a new year, one thing is for certain... the students have continued to learn over the summer and they are prepared for what's next. They have grown in maturity as well as physical stature.  My plan is that by the end of this year the students use that growth to find new success in their physical ventures (sports, general health, fitness...).  Ultimately I hope to provide experiences for the students that spur them on toward ownership of their long term health and well-being.  So here is to a new year, full of new challenges.

As we move into this year, I am going to use this blog to keep parents informed as to what is happening in 7th and 8th grade PE weekly.  In most cases, it will be a review of what the students have done on any given day or week.   Please stay tuned for more.

Daily family workout:

Use a timer to:

A. Power walk ten minutes away from home

B. Rest 2 minutes (stretch and prepare to run)

C. Run home as quickly as you can