Over the last two weeks, we were fortunate to bring in Sportball to help facilitate our learning towards traditional sport. Sportball is an organization dedicated to providing fundamental movement skills to kids and build cursory understanding of sport specific games such as baseball, tennis, golf, etc. through fun and engaging activities.Hi Outdoor School Parents! Please go to my Twitter page to see daily updates about the various activities your child will be involved in over the next few days. Click on the Twitter icon on the top right hand of this page to connect directly to my Twitter page. YOU DO NOT NEED A TWITTER ACCOUNT TO SEE MY UPDATES. If you are on Twitter, you can find me with @EdgemontPE
I am going to try something new this year - Twitter! If you want to get a snapshot of some of the daily learning in our Physical Eduction classes, click the link in the top right corner of the blog page to connect you to our PE Twitter account. I will admit, that this is a completely new learning experience for me; so please be patient while I get an handle on the ins and outs of tweeting.
Ms. Vahaaho On September 7th, the Paralympic Games Opening Ceremonies took place in Rio, de Janeiro. On that same day, Edgemont students began their exploration of Paralympic sport.
In the past month, students have taken a look at Boccia, Seated Volleyball, Wheelchair Basketball, and Athletic events. While we may not have necessarily played in an identical way to the given Paralympic Sport, we engaged in each game with an emphasis on the fundamental skills required to play and also attention to the adaptations or changes necessary to accommodate various abilities. The end-learning goal was for students to recognize that all people, regardless of ability, can participate in physical activities and sport in meaningful ways. Throughout their learning, debriefing with students was ongoing. Questions such as: “If my mobility is limited how can I still throw or catch a ball?”; “How can I include someone in a game of tag if they have a visual impairment?”; “How do I guide a person who is blind during a game of strategy and not just do everything for them?”; or “How easy or hard do you think it would be in your daily life if you had an artificial limb or no limb at all?” These types of questions provoked students to make connections to themselves about how their own bodies work and move. Experience and questioning gave voice to their reflections, thoughts, and ideas. Lastly, engagement in activities with limitations built empathy for others, developed knowledge of disability, and also allowed us to celebrate each person’s abilities. As one student stated, “everyone is born with different abilities and we should not make anyone feel bad about that” Currently we are in the midst of learning and exploring various traditional and modern games played by aboriginal groups in Canada. First Nation culture is steeped in sportsmanship, teamwork, honesty, fair play, integrity, setting goals and competition. When we know the origins of a game it is important that we strive to reflect that understanding in the way we play the games. Our attitude and effort to honour the cultural origins of these games is stressed in each and every class. We have also learned that many games were played to improve physical fitness such as strength, agility and endurance, in addition to estimation, hand-eye-coordination, strategy, manual dexterity, critical thinking, that were required for survival. The games we have played to date include: Pina, Dox-en-Eye, Kneel Jump, Knuckle Pull, Stick Catch, Ring on a String, Stick Wrestle, One Foot High Kick, Airplane, Scream and Run, and Spear Toss. Ask your son or daughter which one was their favourite and challenge them to a competition – who will be the victor? Can they remember how that particular game connected to daily life of the First Nation’s people? Spies, spies, and more spies were rampant throughout the Edgemont gym last week – each one on a mission – a Mission Impossible. Their assignment, if they chose to accept it, was to complete the obstacle course without blowing up the landmines or falling into the deep dark pit! Imagination was not lacking this week as students avoided obstacles, and climbed and balanced on various apparatus under the guise of being spies. A group of grade six students built Mission Impossible, our obstacle course. They worked hard on the design and implementation of the course and it was received with great enthusiasm. Throughout our course, students unwittingly worked on all aspects of their gross motor skills. Their balance and overall coordination were challenged; and with each centre, students were required to think about the way they needed to move their bodies in order to get through the obstacle. Introducing the element of semi-darkness later in the week added in yet another element that tested students' abilities and changed their perspective of the course. All in all, great fun was had by all! Thank you to our Mission Impossible team! Le Carnaval came and went to Edgemont School last week! In Physical Education classes, we connected our learning to Le Carnaval with an introduction to a fiddle tune called the Red River Jig - which is considered THE most famous Metis dance. It was after all French explorers who settled in New France and started this yearly winter celebration while finding a new life in a strange country alongside our native population.
While younger students were given an introduction to this jig with mostly an exploratory emphasis on jig steps and traveling while jigging, students in grades 5 and 6 were asked to create small group dances that demonstrated these jig steps as well as a pattern in their dance. Cooperation, creativity, communication and teamwork were key to the success of each group. Grade 4 students experienced jigging in both Physical Education and music classes. In these respective classes, students learned basic jig steps as well as how to play the spoons to this dance. The learning in these areas was heavily connected to their French Language Learning centered around Le Carnaval. In addition, it interweaved grade 4 study of native culture and traditions and the merging of these separate cultures to create the Metis identity. These students performed at Le Carnaval Assembly on Monday February 8, for the whole school. They will also be sharing their learning at the One World Cultural Night on Thursday, Feb 18th. To complement this learning, students were engaged in outdoor activities. Embracing the cold winter and finding ways to enjoy the outdoors was paramount to early settlers way of life and thus Le Carnaval. The outdoor fun we partook in included human curling, dog sled races, broomball/hockey, “snowball” toss, and some yummy hot chocolate donated by our parent council! Overall, all students were engaged, excited and enthusiastic during these activities! We would like to send a huge thank you to our parent council for their generous donation of hot chocolate (especially Barb who made two trips a day to supply us with a fresh batch); and also to the parents who came out and helped out with the centres – your help was invaluable! Zumba over the last twelve days was filled with excitement and energy! We were able to provide students with an experience that tested their coordination and physical stamina through a medium of music and play. For some, it challenged their comfort levels, and for others, it was another opportunity to practice dance and movement in similar or new way compared to their own dance experiences.
Learning was visible throughout this residency. Sometimes it was immediate when a student, who hid in the back of the gym last year during dance, placed himself front and centre by the second Zumba class; or when, in a grade six class, the entire front row was filled with boys eager to be the leaders of their class; or the group of grade 4 students who made each dance their own through expression of and “attitude in” their movements. These are only a few examples of the amazing things that happened in the gym. At other times, the learning was not as evident at school, but transferred to home. A grade 4 student came back after the first weekend and declared that she was now enrolled in a Zumba class outside of school. Also, a kindergarten mom told of how her son all of a sudden started dancing around the house performing moves that she had not seen before; yet, at school, he portrayed himself as an uninterested and sometimes bored. This last example is a good reminder of how various experiences help shape our students in positive ways even when we do not actually “see” it at school. The culmination of our experiences was amplified in our last classes when parents joined their children to dance. Many students expressed how they enjoyed spending that time with their parents because they do not often get to do that. Here are a few quotes by students on their Zumba experience: “I liked that it helped improve our stamina.” “We liked that we were always active.” “I liked dancing with our parents.” “We all had fun together!” Thank you to parent council for all the effort and time you put in to fundraising so that students at Edgemont can have these experiences. It is greatly appreciated! Zumba was well under way this week at Edgemont. The energy exuding from each class is compounded by interplay of the music that students know and love and their participation in a highly aerobic activity while filling the gym with enthusiasm and excitement. Zumba is dance-fitness that draws from music and dance from around the world as its source of inspiration. The intent is for students to enjoy dancing through inspiring music, getting them active and moving! In their Zumba classes, students have been experiencing dance with a focus on exercise rather than specific dance steps. By emphasizing fitness benefits, there is less pressure for students to feel the need to perform an exact set of steps. It taps into their inherent love of play and focuses on having students find joy and freedom through movement. This also translates to improved cardiovascular benefits for all. In addition, students unknowingly reap benefits of improved flexibility, coordination, as well as further develop body and spatial awareness. International Day of People with Disability is a day set out by the UN to educate, celebrate and recognize people of all abilities throughout the world. There were some classes throughout Edgemont School who spent the entire day experiencing what it would be like to have a disability. They chose what disability they would have and how it could be simulated. Other classes were given various disabilities, such as vision impairments, arthritis or amputation, as they arrived at PE class. All classes “lived” the simulated experience of having a disability that thus provided each student with an small understanding of the difficulties that can occur for those people who live with a disability. Kindergarten students explored how their disability affected their ability to move by challenging themselves to make their way through obstacles scattered around the room without hitting any of those objects. They also had the opportunity to experience what it would be like to be blind and walk up or down a set of stairs. Many discovered that they needed to use their sense of touch to know where to step and hanging on to the handrail for direction was a good idea. Grades 1 to 6 classes played a simple game of dodgeball while simulating their disability. Students agreed it was not very easy to move around and their visual impairments sometimes made it impossible to play the game well. Some comments that were made included: “I never want to be blind again!” “I didn’t realize I relied on my sight so much. That was hard when I could only see a little bit.” “I don’t want one arm again!” “It was hard to move with my wheelchair. I couldn’t go very fast.” You can find out more about this initiative and some of their resources at http://www.idpwd.com.au/about/. |
Ms. VahaahoThis is my fourth year at Edgemont School teaching Physical Education. I love seeing kids active and on the go!!! Archives
October 2017
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