Indialantic
A link to this web page may work out to be easier for students to find with less clicking around than another Google Classroom. For now I am going to funnel all students through this web page and post current videos, instructions, and lessons towards the top of the feed. I do have a Google Classroom web page that I will likely want to utilize with older students in the future.
The American Heart Association recommends a minimum of an hour of MVPA {Moderate to Vigorous Physical Activity [Fancy speak to describe an activity that makes your heart beat between medium speed (Moderate) and maximum speed (Vigorous)]} More than an hour is even better. A workout doesn't have to be "work," you can play out too! In these trying times, you can find some opportunities to play as well.
Week 3
This week during in person classes...
During a normal school year we would be getting into Fitnessgram testing for grades 3-6. During these times, students would play a game that they can run with some support from myself to define rules and make teams. Games like capture the flag, the great game of nations, kickball, etc. While the game is going on, I work with 4 to 6 students at a time with different testing components. This week we will talk about push up form, technique, and how it help make us stronger.
This year is a little different. I am not going to be taking Fitness scores this fall. I may try to in the spring, just because as 6th graders it is cool to see how far you have come along, or take notice if you have lost flexibility. Students this week are playing a variety of games. Sometimes they win, sometimes they loose, and that is okay. If we always won, it would be pretty boring. We get to talk about cheering on and putting up teammates, and we also discuss that it is okay to congratulate the other team for a nice game or even a nice play during the game. Capture the flag, kickball, dinosaur island, Sculpture-rock-statue, and gym class riots are the fare for the week (grades 2-6). Freeze tag, exercise tag, dance tag, dinosaur island, and Sculpture-rock-statue are the fare for K & 1.
For my e learners, think about getting off the screen and getting active! There are plenty of choices for activities below on my page, or if you have a go to you like to use when working, sorry, I meant playing out, then go for it. Try to get your heart rate, how many times your heart beats per minute, somewhere between medium (moderate) speed and maximum (vigorous) speed. This is the MVPA (Moderate to Vigorous Physical Activity) zone, and the american heart association recommends an hour of it at minimum per day.
Heart health Friday
We learn about salt, or sodium as it is often referred to on food labels. It is essential, in that we cannot live without it. It is what our body uses to maintain blood pressure which is what allows our heart to push blood down our legs and then back up. Without enough pressure, the back "up" becomes an issue.
In America, the land of plenty, we have plenty of salt. In fact we may occasionally run into an issue where we consume too much salt. Too much of a good thing is often a bad thing. Too much salt can lead to too high blood pressure. Think of pumping up a ball or bike tire... It is easy when the ball or tire is flat, but as it fills and the pressure in the ball or tire increases it becomes harder to compress the pump.
Same thing with our heart. Too much salt or sodium can cause high blood pressure which means your heart is working harder than it needs to and doesn't get the breaks it normally would. Over time this can be bad. Look out for salt. It is sneaky and present in a lot of foods you do not generally think of as salty. Salt is a preservative, so canned or jarred foods can be high in sodium. Baked goods can be salty. meats with long expiration dates like hotdogs and bacon are usually salty as well. Food prepared in restaurants are also frequently high in sodium.
I, Mr. Armstrong, eat a lot of these foods myself. I am aware and try to limit my salt intake. The number 1 thing you can do as a kid is to avoid adding table salt to your meals. Your heart will thank you- well if it could talk it might.
This lesson is generally scaled up or down depending on the grade level.
Week 2
WK 2 DAY 1: Watch video or read the below for what to expect this week.
Week 2 has a bunch of things going on and I am going to do some jumping around to introduce a soccer game kids can play while socially distancing themselves during recess. The main focus is going to be what is fit, or what does it mean to be fit?
This week we going to speak a bit about Fitness Testing, because it is hot we are going to discuss technique for push ups, curl ups, I will describe the sit and reach test and the PACER test. It is too hot to run all this testing this early in the year, so we will have some time to get ready. Grades 3 through 6 do have results recorded later in the year, K-2 we do some modified activities to challenge ourselves to get more fit. For the next few months, we will talk about different games we play and which aspects of Fitness do they help us improve (Muscular Endurance, Cardio Respiratory Endurance, or Flexibilty- We do not really get into muscular strength until high school)?
This is also a nice week to talk about tech that might be available to you. Do you have a pedometer or heart rate monitor? Maybe your parents do and would let you sport their gear for a short while. Try exercising or playing out with some tech. You would be surprised how quickly you can rack up some steps or increase your heart rate (how many times your heart beats per minute) doing everyday tasks.
WK 2 Days 2 through 4
Whatever activity you choose to engage in for PE this week, or even the rest of the year... Take a minute at the end of your activity to consider how you may have improved your skills, strength, or endurance through the game you played. Improvements from start of play to end of play. Improvements from attempts in prior days, weeks, months, or even years. Biking, Tennis, Swimming, Soccer, and everything else you choose to do you will grow. Play is practice and practice makes for improvements. What is fit, or what does it mean to be fit? Fit people have the skills, strength, and endurance to enjoy the activities they like to play. The more skills, strength and endurance the more fit they are.
Get up, have fun, and be even MORE fit! Pick an activity of your choice. Check links below, or go with something you and your family enjoy!
WK 2 Day 5 Heart Health Fun Friday
There is a 6 minute video to go along with that lesson. I show it to K-6 grade students. I have a friend who teaches High School and he uses it with his kids. It explains how the heart and lungs work together with red blood cells to transport air all over the body. If you get a rainy day or a lazy day and want to watch it before Friday, that is okay. This understanding is needed to really get into all of our future heart health lessons.
§ Kindergarten and 1st Grade Check out the video. I want for you to know that every part of your body needs air. See how your heart and lungs work together to push your blood to get air from around you to all of these parts inside you. If you pick up words like oxygen and carbon dioxide, 2 gases found in the air, that is a bonus!
Grades 2-3 I'd like you to think about all the different parts of your body that need air deliveries (Cells, the living parts of your skin, liver, brain, muscles, all other the parts that make up your body need air). When your muscles are more active, they need more air... What does your heart and lungs have to do to get more air to those active muscles? HINT: Heart rate and Respiration rate both increase.
Grades 4-6 Please note the 4 chambers of the heart and the Pulmonary Circuit. Blood comes from all over the body to the heart, to the lungs to exchange carbon dioxide for oxygen, back to the heart, and then back to the whole body.
Watch this by Friday
This link will take you to the district's Elementary PE lessons. Lots of fun lessons. All of the lessons our district put out last spring and April are currently available here. You can work out, or you can play out!
Extra Choice Ideas
One of the most comprehensive (trains the most muscles at once) exercises you can do are push ups. The hardest thing about a push up isn't the push, it is the PLANK. The PLANK utilizes all of the muscles of your core. If you want to get better at push ups, focus on your plank. Try some of these fun planks. Hold them as long as you can. The raised plank is the base of the push ups. Make it a challenge game, can you beat your previous time, or different family members?
At Home Activity BINGO Elementary Final.pdfThis fun BINGO game isn't a 40 minute PE activity, rather one you would work at over the course of several days to a week. Feel free to print this out, or simply make a list of squares you have crossed off. How many ways can you win? 5 in a row, 4 corners, crosses or diagonals. Email me and let me know how you did and if tried anything new.
1 Hit Baseball is a fun game that can be played with as few as 2 people or as many you would like. It is a great opportunity to work on a variety of PE standards, but I would like to focus on PE.M.1.4 which progresses from strike an object with force using a variety of long handled implement at kindergarten, to hit and control direct by 2nd grade, to hit an object in flight or stationary in an intended direction at an intended height by 5th grade.
Safety: Never stand near someone with a bat, or any implement. Always check before you swing that no one has entered your space. I recommend a light weight ball like a whiffle ball to avoid damage to people or property. Whiffle ball and bat combos are available at dollar tree. This game should not be played near a busy road, be aware of traffic on less busy roads. Adult supervision is always a good idea.
Frisbee golf is a fun time. Great news, you do not need me to set up a course for you, nor do you need to travel to Wickham Park. Your Frisbee can be a great coach, the way that it flies will tell you much about your release. Pay attention to your throwing cues and try to be consistent. The videos below go over Frisbee throwing and catching (left) and the other covers Frisbee Golf game play (Right).
Here is a quick video to help get you jumping some rope. It is great cardio and an excellent way to work on some rhythm at the same time. Once you get the basics, get with your grown up and check out some of what YouTube has to offer. From double dutch, to intense athletes, to jump rope tricks, to dance groups who happen to jump rope while dancing, there is a lot out there...
Here are some cool resources worth taking a look at:
Cosmic Yoga incorporates literature into yoga routines. This is great to help kids improve their balance, core strength, and maintain their natural kid flexibility.
PE with Joe is cool is a cool YouTube channel. I actually heard about this guy from students at our school. He puts out a daily YouTube video geared towards students of all ages and their families. You can click on his daily link and get a good workout at virtually any ability level in the comfort of your own home.
Week 1
The first week we are going to focus on gradually introducing features to avoid overwhelming anyone. Please click on link to the left for today's video lesson. Lessons will typically be shorter. This week the focus will be on low organizational games, or games that can be played with few instructions and minimal equipment (Tag, red light green light, etc.). We do a lot relating to procedures, boundary lines, moving one's self through general space, and communicating.
Go Work Play Out!
Day 2: Day 1 is not my favorite day because of all of the talking I have to do. Which makes Day 2 seem so nice. We are working on low organizational games for the next couple of meetings. Low organizational just means not so many rules and you do not need a lot of equipment. In a typical year, tag would be a go to, as we get to talk about how to gently tag someone (You run up to them, try and match speed, preferably touch them on their shoulder, and then you have to say "tag" as the touch is so gentle they would not feel it otherwise), using our words and respecting the words of our peers. Boundary lines are also a big deal. Lots of cones would be used to mark out a kindergarten play area, but just 4, if any, cones for 6th grade. Obviously tag is out for the kids at school, but if you can round up enough family members for a friendly game of freeze tag, or exercise tag (Instead of being frozen, you can do an exercise like 3 push ups and save your self). As always, play where you are supervised. Of course if you want to do a bike ride or walk with family, that is good too. Lots of opportunities to talk about boundary lines and communication there as well. Get your play on and get your heart rate up!
DAY 3 : Today we are still working in the Low Organization & Cooperative Games. We are looking to see how kids do with listening and following directions. General Space defines a play area where students can travel in any direction they choose, imagine a tag game. If no one paid attention to where they were going, ran too fast through crowded spots, or failed to notice others who were going too fast and not looking around- well, that wouldn't work out so good. So we practice. We practice how we can express ourselves, and work to be aware of the feelings of others.
If you cannot get outside, check out the BPS PE at home link below. From there you can access all of the links to games from the spring and summer.
DAY 4: More fun today. We are still reviewing procedures, and moving into our next unit. Still some Goofy Games to be played with this unit but a focus on locomotor skills, listening, and body part identification. Simon says to help us all remember body parts. Simon says touch your knee (1st Grade) Simon says touch your quadriceps (6th grade). We are also going to play a couple of games that feature a variety locomotor skills. Remember, Non Locomotor skills are when we move our body but do not go anywhere. Locomotor skills, your body is moving and we are going places, examples include walking, running, and skipping. We practice locomotor skills playing games like red light green light and limiting students to specific locomotor skills.
Skipping is tough. It uses both the right and left side of your brain. I am nearly positive all of your grown ups know how to skip, but haven't done it in awhile. Have some fun and challenge one to skip with you. You might need to give them a minute to recall this skill. In fact, I find my sixth graders forget and need a moment as well. Just remember to be encouraging and positive as you coach them up!
I am struggling with getting my videos to post, seems my links are not coming through. I am going to re-upload yesterday's video.
DAY 5: Fridays are special days. Not only is it almost the weekend, we do not get as much time for class, so we have to be quick, so we focus on Heart Health concepts and then MVPA (Moderate to Vigorous Physical Activity). MVPA simply describes any physical activity (ie: walking, swimming, playing) that gets your heart rate (How fast your heart is beating) between Moderate (medium) speed and Vigorous (maximum) speed. We will explore how to find and measure our heart rate at a later date. Today is all about MVPA. We will talk about others factors that affect the heart health on coming Fridays, but all lessons end in a heart health celebration.
We celebrate Fun Fridays by making a point to explore MVPA and Play Out. That's right, we play out. If you think of a session of exercise as a work out, well, work sounds like work. What is the difference between a workout and playout besides one sounding more fun? There really isn't a difference. As adults, you are less likely to engage in a physical activity if you do not enjoy it, or think you will not. Find something physical you enjoy and play. Pick a game where you run, chase, dodge, or flee; try dancing or hula hooping; explore gymnastics, stretching or physical feats of strength; something physical that interest you. That is how the fit adults you know got into running, lifting weights, yoga, or whatever their pleasure is- they thought it was fun. Next time they say they are going to work out, wish them fun on their play out!
Find a fun activity and go play out!