Every September we start our fitness program, “Fall Into Fitness and Turn Your Leaves the Colors of Fall.” This is a fitness program for grades 1-5. Each class has a tree filled with green leaves. Students work to turn all their green leaves into brightly colored leaves before the Thanksgiving Holiday.
Students receive a fitness sheet they take home. Each fitness sheet has ten leaves on it. Each day your children exercise they will fill in a leaf with the date and the type of exercise they did. Students can exercise in various ways such as playing a sport, dancing, riding their bike, playing a tag game, going for a walk, etc.
Students can put more than one exercise in a leaf, but can only fill in one leaf a day unless a parent/guardian exercises with them. If a parent/guardian exercise with their children the students can fill in a second Bonus leaf with their parent's name in it and the type of exercise they did.
Once all ten leaves are filled, students bring their fitness sheets (signed by a parent/guardian) to physical education class. Each time I receive a sheet, one green leaf on the class tree turns into a brightly colored leaf with the student's name on it. Children will also get a new fitness sheet so they can work towards another leaf. Once the entire class has turned all their green leaves into brightly colored leaves they receive an extra physical education class.
Kindergarten is not involved in this project because it starts at the beginning of the year. They are just getting used to going to school for the first time, learning what physical education is all about, and getting to know me. I like to give them a little bit of time before getting them involved in our extra projects.