Student Learning Targets

For the past couple of weeks we have administered our Fitnessgram test. The students have been measured weighed, stretched and pushed to do their best on their fitness tests- push ups, curl ups, running. After putting in the data we had to write our SLT's based on how our students performed. Since the pushup and situp numbers were already high I decided to focus on their flexibility. The sit and reach test is what my learning targets are based on. I must get 55% of the kids to be in the Healthy Fitness Zone on the Back Saver Sit and Reach flexibility test by the end of the year.

Using the Fitnessgram To Analyze Performance

This week we have been using the Fitnessgram data to analyze the students' performance. From counting the repetitions the kids perform when doing push ups and curl ups to measuring the 20 yard distance on the field. The students have been measuring their sit and reach and their trunk lift distance. The kids are also measuring their height and weight. Tomorrow they will run their mile. In all the measurements the kids have been asked to estimate how many reps they will perform or their time. We have also discussed what the standards mean and how they compare to the standards.

Understanding Measurement Of Distance

This week we are working on measuring distance in PE. As we are running our sprints and agility exercises we are showing the students how far they are running. We set up cones to show the measurement in ten foot increments. We also showed how we use a tape measure or a meter wheel to measure long distances. We showed the students that our field is a 75 feet by 60 feet rectangle. The students are given instructions to run 60 feet, 30 feet, etc. The students also drew a diagram of the field in their journal. This will lead us into lessons on perimeter and area square footage.

Converting Minutes to Seconds

Since the beginning of the year we have been learning how to tell time and what role does time play in physical education. We have used the clock to tell us what time we begin and end pe class and analyze our schedule in pe class. Now we are learning about how to record smaller units of time like minutes, seconds and hundredths of a second. One of the things we are doing this week is converting minutes to seconds. We have been using the stopwatch to time sprints and laps. We will be using this conversion in the coming weeks to determine such things as the average time run for members in a relay race, adding race times to get a total time, determining the difference between the fastest and slowest times and using time for the Fitnessgram. The by products of this learning is that students begin to develop a sense of time, they learn the difference between minutes, seconds and 1/100 of a second and they learn to work a stopwatch.

Learning About Time And Distance

We have been learning about time and distance this week. We have been using the stop watch to time sprints, relay races and laps.
For the sprints we grouped the students in 7 even lines. Each group has a timekeeper. The timekeeper works the stopwatch and tells the other students what their time is. The students were instructed to run 3 races. They wrote their fastest time down in their journal. They also had to write down how far they ran. We also gave the older students a bonus question. How far did you run total? Example of journal entry-
Today I ran 75 feet in 6 seconds.
bonus  75 feet
           75
         +75
         225 feet

For the relay races again we grouped the students in 7 lines. Each group had a timekeeper and a recorder. The recorder went first and the timekeeper went last. At the end of the race the timekeeper communicated with the recorder the time of the relay race. The students ran 3 races. Then the students had to return to their journals where the recorder shared the information with the rest of the group. The students had to circle the team's fastest time. We talked about how far each person ran- 60 feet there and 60 feet back. We talked about how we measure the distance and what tool we would use- a tape measure compared with a ruler.. The older students were given a bonus question. What was the total time of the three races? Example of journal entry- race 1-1:20
                     race 2- 1:15-fastest
                     race 3- 1:17
bonus         total time 3:52 min.

For the laps we grouped our students in their ability groups. One of the students was chosen to be the timekeeper for each group. Depending on their ability level the students ran between 3-6 laps along with doing between 10-40 push ups and 25-50 sit ups in a circuit format. The students were given their stop time and their total time from the stopwatch. They were then asked  to determine what their start time was. For the younger students we only recorded their time and talked about the difference between seconds and minutes and how long of a distance could be covered in each. We also talked to the students about how long we have for PE so that they can begin to develop a sense of time.
Example of journal entry- Date 10-5-12, Temp 76 F
Pu 40  Su 50 Laps 6    end time 10:50 am
                                   total time 12:00
                                   start time 10:38 am
                                    

Balancing The Checkbook

This week we began to balance our checkbooks(the PE journal). We started by having the students add up the coins they have earned. On each page they added up their coins and put the total at the top outside corner of the page. This teaches them how to chunk and organize their data. On a page in the back of the journal they will add up how money they have for a particular month. They are saving up for a free choice day in PE which costs them $8.00.
We have also started giving bonus questions that the students must go home and research and then bring back the answer. They are given $1.00 for bringing back the right answer. Overtime work = overtime pay! This week the bonus question was how does one calculate their max heart rate? We discussed where to find the answer. The students now know how to go to experts to find their answer.

Money Stamps In Journals

During Strength days, you can earn money by completing different level of exercises. You must complete the following:

Crawfish Level = 10 Push-ups, 25 Sit ups, 3 laps = 10 ¢ (ten cents)

Fish Level = 25 Push-ups, 40 Sit ups, 5 laps = 25¢ (twenty five cents)

Shark Level = 40 Push-ups, 50 Sit ups, 6 laps = 50 ¢ (fifty cents)

During Agility days, you can earn money by your quality of work.

You must complete the following:

Math/language art problems must be answered and set up correctly the first time = $0.25 (twenty five cents)

Problem is set up correctly but not answered correctly the first time = $0.10 (ten cents)

Problem is not set up correctly or answered correctly the first time it is checked = $0.00

What can I buy with my money?

You can get the following:

$8.00 (eight dollars) free day at PE. A day with no journaling, no exercise with rest of class, choice of game.

Teaching About Numbers And Grouping

We continue to interweave numbers into our pe class. This week we counted our jumping jacks and other exercises. First we would count how many jumping jacks we performed. We would ask the question, "What are we counting?" The typical response was, "Numbers." We would then explain that we are counting the number of jumping jacks in a set. We gave the kids our explanation of what a set is and how we group our exercises. Then we would do another  "set". This time we would count by 2's or 5's. For example we would count up to 50 by 5's. We explained how this is using multiplication. Some examples of our questions we ask are, "How many jumping jacks did we just do?", "How many jumping jacks did we do in the first set?",  "Which set did we do more of?",  "Which set did we do less?"
We would manipulate how we counted. We would count forward and backward. We would count by 2's, 5's, 10's 100's. We would count forward and backward by those multiples.
Grouping is essential to pe. We group into lines to run relay races. We try and form even groups to move to different pe centers. We showed the students two different ways to group. We can use actual numbers or use estimation. We showed the students how to count off and divide into groups and explained we would this type of grouping if we are playing team sports so that the numbers will be fair. We also used estimation to get into groups that were somewhat even. We explained that estimation is a quick way for us to break into groups to move to centers of skill training. We explained that exact numbers weren't as important in the centers.

Using The Journal To Teach About Money

We will be using our PE journals to teach about money. Using money stamps we will reward the students' work with different denominations of money stamps. The students will then be able to "buy" different prizes. They will also be able to bid on prizes in an auction format. Effectively we will turn their journal into a checkbook.

Treasure Hunt

We have started hiding little "treasures" ie shark tickets, side walk chalk, etc. The students must then use the compass and meter wheel to find the treasures. The directions to the treasure are simple. Here is an example. Start on the southern tip of Texas. Go 180 degrees South for 50 meters. Then go 330 degrees north for 55 meters. We hide stuff under cones, under rocks, etc. The kids really seem to enjoy it. At the conclusion we will go over their course. I will show them how they traveled in a triangle. This is an introduction into vectors, trig. We will also start using gps systems this coming week.

Creating A Word Wall In PE

To go along with our writing in PE we have installed a white board and have begun making a word wall.

Using The 6+1 Writing Strategy In PE

For the past 2 weeks we have introduced a TAP writing strategy in PE that helps the students to understand about writing stories about their memories and experiences. In their journals they have been writing about the daily exercise regimen. All the sentences are relevant to the topic of their exercises. This week we had the students write about their favorite activity.. It could be from PE or somewhere else. We checked to see if the story stayed on topic and that all sentences were relevant and supported the main idea.

Making a Sundial Using a Basketball Goal

We have been discussing how time is used to measure in PE. To give the students a sense of how time can be measured using the sun we constructed a sundial using a basketball goal. Every hour we traced the shadow and labeled the mark with the hour. As we were making our marks we discussed that the marks would make 180 degrees. We discussed the pros and cons of using a sundial. We discussed how to make the sundial more effective. We also discussed how the sun moves across the sky in different seasons.

The President's Challenge / Choose a Challenge / Physical Fitness Test / Award Benchmarks

https://www.presidentschallenge.org/challenge/physical/benchmarks.shtml

Using The Fitness Assessment To Learn About Comparing and Describing

Today we began our 3rd nine weeks fitness assessment. We will get the student's height, weight, max push ups and sit ups, shuttle run time and either mile or half mile run time. We will compare these numbers to the first 2 fitness assessments that we have done this year. We are looking to see if the numbers are going up, down or staying the same. We can also compare these numbers to the president's council on physical fitness numbers. We are taking this assessment as a snapshot of the student's fitness level. This is our way of describing the fitness level of the student on this day. The repetition number and the stopwatch do not lie.

Using Race Times To Teach Averages

Today we had the students determine their average time for the 50 yard sprint. One student would time while the other ran. Each students had several opportunities to be the time keeper. The student would run and be timed for three races. The students in 4th and 5th gave us the average time. Students in 3rd grade were asked,"If it takes you 12 seconds to run to point a and then back, how long does it take you to run to just point a?" The students gave varying answers such as 6 because 6+6=12 and 6 times 2 equals 12. Grades 1 and 2 were able to learn how to write the time the correct way and what it meant.

Developing Number Sense

The term "number sense" involves several concepts of magnitude, ranking, comparison, measurement, rounding, percents, and estimation, including:


estimating with large numbers to provide reasonable approximations;

judging the degree of accuracy appropriate to a situation;

solving real-life problems involving percents and decimal portions;

rounding (understanding reasons for rounding large numbers and limitations in comparisons);

choosing measurement units to make sense for a given situation;

comparing physical measurements within and between the U.S. and metric systems; and

comparing degrees Fahrenheit and Celsius in real-life situations

Teaching Perimeter and Area Using the Blacktop and Field

Using the blacktop and field to learn about perimeter and area. For grades 1 and 2 we will be demonstrating how to measure the blacktop and field with a large tape measure. For grades 3-5 the students will actually use the large tape measure to measure the field, the blacktop, baseball field, tennis court and 4 square court. The upper grades will then be asked to multiply length times width to find the area. To draw on last week's work we will ask the students in the upper grades to tell us what one half, one quarter, 25%, 50% of the area.  

Using Long Jump to Teach Measurement

This week we used the long jump to teach about measurement. For 1st and 2nd grade we introduced the concept of measuring. For 3rd grade we had the students measure their long jump. We discussed converting the inches to feet and feet to inches. For 4th and 5th grade we had the students measure the long jump and convert the measurement to inches. They will also find the average of the 3 jumps.

Using Relay Races to Learn Time and Averages

This week we used relay races to teach about time and averages. For all grades the students discussed and put themselves on teams using the count off method. We discussed how this was dividing them. The students were given the jobs of timer, starter and finisher. All teams used a stopwatch. First and second graders logged in their journals their team time using minutes and seconds. For 3rd grade the students had to convert their time from minutes and seconds to seconds. 4th and 5th graders logged their team time and then divided by the number of racers to get the average time.

Identifying Fractions Using Tennis and 4 Square Courts

This week we asked the students to identify what 1/2 and 1/4 on the tennis court and 4 square court respectively by having them first draw the courts and then shade in 1/2 and 1/4. We took it a step further by drawing 1/2 and 1/4 on the courts in chalk. For 3rd-5th we talked about adding the fractions. We also drew a circle on the ground in the middle of the 4 square court and identified the 90 degree angles. We pointed out the real world applications of navigation, mapping. For another real life application of navigation we used the google sky map app to let the students view where the planets were located.

How Far Around The Baseball Diamond

First we talked about the shape of the baseball field. It is called a diamond. It is really a square tilted to one side. A square has 4 sides that are equal in length. I gave the students the measurement of the side of third to home base. They had to determine the length by looking on the ground and adding up the segments of ten feet that are spray painted on the ground. Once they determined the length of that side they can easily multiply by 4 rather than adding 40+40+40+40. That was their ticket to play. For the lower grades, 1 and 2, we just talked about how far the distance was from 3rd to home. We showed them the 10 foot segments that were painted on the ground. We talked about how to add the 10 foot segments together to get the answer. We talked about how to figure out the problem of solving for how far around all the bases but did not work out the problem.

Finding Mean and Range

Since Monday was a rainy day we had the students weigh themselves. We then arranged students from least to most weight. We had the 4th and 5th grade students find the mean or average weight of the class. On Tuesday we used the times of relay races to find the average time. To accomplish this the students had to figure out how many would go into each group. They also had to operate the stopwatch. After running three or four races we found what was the average time. For instance in one group the time for the total race was 46 seconds for a team of three. The students then had to figure out that they needed to divide 46 by 3 to get an average time of 15.3 seconds. We discussed that not every person ran the race in 15.3 seconds but rather that was the average time. We related that to the stats that are given on a football player ie. running back x ran the ball 5 times for an average of 4 yards per run.

Combination Directions and Degrees

This past week we began our discussion on combining the cardinal directions such as NW, SW, etc. We would ask the students to run to the southwest corner, etc. We would also tell the students to run to the center of the field, turn 90 degrees and then continue to the side they were facing. In our directions when the students were playing baseball we would ask them to turn so many degrees to the right or left. We also asked the students to identify the right angles they see out on the field such as right angle, obtuse and acute angle.

Map Making and Cardinal Directions

This week we talked about map making. We discussed how map making and diagramming are similar. One major difference is having the cardinal directions available. The students made a map of the baseball field. They labeled the north direction. On Thursday we actually drew a compass. We labeled the field and put directions into the instructions about where to run. We discussed the real life application of learning the directions such as where the sun rises and sets or if you were developing a field and the sun's influence on play. Some students have asked what the numbers are around the compass. We explained this in skateboarding terms of doing a 180 and a 360. We will explore the degrees more in the coming weeks.