Physical Education

Hi Kindergartners! 🌟

Can you believe we’ve only been together for a few weeks? It already feels like we’ve done so many fun things—and we’re just getting started!

In our class, we use something special called ELF—Early Learner Fitness. It’s a program that helps us grow our brains and our bodies at the same time. Cool, right?

🧠  Brain + Body Time (ELF) 

Lately, we’ve been practicing Crossing the Midline exercises. The midline is an invisible line right down the middle of your body. These moves help the left side and the right side of your body work together like a team.

There are nine or ten of these midline moves altogether. This week, we added two new ones, so now we know five! Before we learned them, we talked about the word “opposite” and came up with lots of fun examples.

Here are some of the exercises we’ve been practicing:

• Touch your left hand to your right foot (then switch!).
• Reach your right elbow to your left knee.
• Take your right hand and tap your left knee.
• While standing, point your left foot  forward while using your right hand to point at that foot.
• Now try the same thing sitting down in a crab position.  Point with one foot while pointing with your opposite hand.

Want to show off? 🎉 Try teaching someone at home one of these exercises—you’ll be the teacher this time!

🏃 Motor Skills in Action
We’re also learning lots of ways to move our bodies! So far, we’ve been practicing:

• 🚶 Walking
   

• 🐎 Galloping
   

• 🦘 Jumping
   

• ↔️ Sliding sideways (and practicing left vs. right!)
   

• 🐇 Hopping
   

• 😀 Skipping
   

• 🍇 The really tricky one… the Grapevine!
   

💡 Try It at Home!
Pick your favorite way to move and show it off to your family. Can they try it too? Bonus points if you can teach them the grapevine—it’s a tough one, but you can be their coach! 🎉

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📅 Coming Up Next: Mat Exercises!
Starting the week of October 27–31, we’ll begin working on Mat Exercises! 🧘‍♂️ These special activities help your muscles and brain work together so you can perform tasks more easily and correctly. We’ll practice using our opposite hand and foot while we move.

When we slow down and think about what our body is doing, we actually learn faster! 🧠💫 These exercises will help you move better, grow stronger, and become an even better learner.

🐊 Crawling Fun!

• Walk Crawl – where you’ll be on your hands and knees, moving across the mat like a little explorer! 🐾
   

• Alligator Crawl – where you’ll be on your tummy, sliding and stretching like a sneaky alligator! 🐊
   

💪 Try It at Home!
See if you can crawl from one side of the room to the other using your opposite hand and knee—left hand, right knee, right hand, left knee. Then, try the alligator crawl by keeping your tummy low and using your arms to pull yourself forward. Slow and steady wins the race! 🐢

💖 Keep Moving & Learning!
You’re doing such an amazing job using your bodies and brains together. We’re so proud of how hard you’re working and how much fun you’re having while learning! 🌈

Hi Lakers!
We’re off to a wonderful start this year! 🎉

First graders – You’ll get to try lots of new and exciting things this year.

Second graders – You just finished your first fitness test: push-ups! 💪 Great job! Now the challenge is to keep practicing so you can get even stronger by the end of the year. Your next test will be for both first and second grade which is the Pacer test in just a couple of weeks.

Both grades will soon start fitness stations. These include:

• Push-ups and other upper body exercises
   

• Jumping activities (that’s called plyometrics!)
   

• Ab workouts to strengthen your core
   

• A station with different types of exercise equipment  (dumbbells, stretch bands, weight bars)
   

Starting in early October, everyone will also learn about the five parts of fitness:

1. Heart and lung endurance (cardiorespiratory endurance) ❤️💨
    

2. Muscle endurance 💪
    

3. Muscle strength 🏋️
    

4. Flexibility 🤸
    

5. Body composition (how your body is made up of muscle, fat, and bone)
    

And don’t worry—you’ll be learning these with fun games and activities along the way! 🎮✨

Welcome back, Lakers! 🎉

This year, I tried something new with the intermediate grades. We spent time talking about the quotes posted in the gym. These quotes are meant to inspire you—not just in P.E., but also in the classroom and in life outside of school. ✨

We have started the first of our four fitness tests:

• Push-ups 💪
   

• Curl-ups (sit-ups) 🌀
   

• Pacer (running) 🏃
   

• Flexibility 🤸
   

These tests are not graded. We use them to see where you are at the start of the year and how much you improve by the end. Keep practicing at home whenever you can!

Fourth and fifth graders have also taken pre-assessments. These cover the two big units in P.E.:

1. Five Components of Fitness
    

2. Nutrition
    

For fourth grade, these pre-assessments are just practice. For fifth grade, they do count as a grade.

Once we finish fitness testing, we’ll dive into the five components of fitness:

1. Heart and lung endurance (cardiorespiratory endurance) ❤️💨
    

2. Muscular endurance 💪
    

3. Muscular strength 🏋️
    

4. Flexibility 🤸
    

5. Body composition (what makes up your body—muscle, fat, and bone)
    

And of course, we’ll learn through fun games and activities to help everything stick! 🎮🎯

Unicycle Club is Starting! 🎉🚲

Beginning Wednesday, October 8, the gym will be open every Wednesday and Friday morning from 8:15–8:53 for any 1st–5th grade student who wants to learn how to ride a unicycle!

Students will learn:

• How to sit on a unicycle the right way
   

• How to “spot” (help) others as they practice
   

• How to get off a unicycle safely
   

Why try unicycling? 🤔
It’s fun AND it helps you:

• Build strong muscles 💪
   

• Improve balance and coordination 🤸
   

• Strengthen your core
   

• Practice good posture
   

• Exercise your brain and body together 🧠💡
   

• Do something unique and really cool! 😎
   

Cost: Free!
What you need: Your own bike helmet 🪖
Consent form: Students and a parent/guardian need to complete a form before joining. Ask if you’d like one sent home or emailed.

Santa Parade in Sumner on Saturday, Dec. 6; we will have our unicyclers performing.  Hope to see you there!

Fourth and Fifth Graders – After-School Sports! 🏆

We have an awesome after-school sports program just for you! The sports we offer are:

• ⚽ Soccer
   

• 🏀 Basketball
   

• 🏐 Volleyball
   

• 🏃 Track
   

Basketball season is on!  We have a coach for basketball!  Mr. McNutt will be the basketball coach for our team this season.  Beginning Nov. 10, practices will be held on Mondays & Wednesdays from 4:00 - 5:15pm and will continue through Dec. 17.   Here is the flyer:  Basketball registration 

The good news is that Mr. Holme will be coaching both volleyball and track after the New Year! 🎉

Stay tuned—more information about after-school sports will be shared soon.