Physical Education Update!
Dear
Families:
I
would like to take this opportunity to describe the physical education program
at Douglas Elementary School. The physical education program seeks to
contribute to the overall goals of our school and the goals of education. Your
child’s intellectual, social, and emotional growth, as well as helping your
child reach his/her potential in the areas of movement skills and total body
fitness, are important components of this program. Physical education, to share
meaningfully in education, will provide experiences that improve the ability to
move, that engage thought processes, and contribute positively to the
development and esteem in which students regard themselves and others.
The
four areas of study in the physical education program include: educational
games, educational gymnastics, educational dance (creative movement), and
fitness. In each area of study, students will learn about
what the body does while moving (Body Aspect),
where the body moves (Space Aspect),
how the body performs movement (Effort Aspect), and the
relationships that occur in movement (Relational Aspect).
Over the past few
months your child has been learning about
body management skills, performing
locomotor activities like jogging, sprinting, shuffling, leaping, jumping and dodging while changing directions and pathways, and participating in
non-locomotor activities. Dribbling, shooting and passing a basketball, as well as catching different size balls at the three levels of catching (high, medium and low) have also been worked on. In addition, fitness related skills like proper stretching, rope jumping using individual ropes and long jump ropes (3 person teams) have been explored. The highlight of these first couple of months, however, has been the opportunity to use the hiking/cross country trail that leads up to the high school (see pictures). While we wait for our fields to be ready for play, the trail gave us an awesome opportunity to experience a different form of exercise and to enjoy the mild weather and foliage. Lastly, we also took the opprortunity to use the high school soccer field to play some dodging and evading games. Needless to say we will be in "P.E heaven" when we finally have our fields available for use.
In proceeding lessons, educational dance (square dancing) and fitness related skills will be focused on.
In
conclusion, the goal of the physical education program at Douglas Elementary School is to provide experiences that improve the ability of the
students to move skillfully, demonstrate versatile and efficient movements,
gain and apply the knowledge that governs human movement, and become aware of
the meaning, feelings, and joy of movement both as a performer and as an
observer.
Sincerely,
Paul Smith
Physical Education
Hiking/Cross Country Trail
 |
| Taking a break! |
