| This month’s theme is Character and Good Sportsmanship. As we know, sports and athletics should instill these traits in young children in a “positive” way, and PE Instructors are the leading roles to how much we can do, or how important of a role model we really are.
Have you ever known a child to be a good sport when he or she has not lost? Have you ever known the “superstar” child on a team who does not use his/her teammates? Have you ever known a child who is a gracious loser if he/she hasn’t been taught the correct way to lose? Have you ever known a child who will persevere even though he/she loses every game or race? Have you ever seen a child who will cheat to win, rather than play by the rules without the chance of getting caught? How about the child who insists that things are unfair when they are not getting their way?
Sad to say I have experienced all of these, which has led me to be a better role model for the children in my community. It is a difficult job for us when even the professional athletes show poor character and sportsmanship, and we have to try and explain to our young children why those were bad choices. To me, that’s why I love teaching PE because it’s more than teaching the skills of sports. It's not taught from a book, or found on a page of the dictionary. We give the education from our hearts and experience. It also helps knowing these children will hopefully have these character traits for the rest of their lives!
I am excited to share with you now some of my favorite ideas and programs I use to help my children acquire positive "character and sportsmanship!”
Kim
Nygaard
Elementary Section Editor
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| There is a great program to help organize your Sportsmanship Day! When looking for information I ran across this site and now I am using this info to adapt a whole day of Sportsmanship for my students! You can do the same. The Institute for International Sport has an informational packet called "Defeat Gamesmanship...Dare to Play Fair" that you can download right on your computer and print out. They have info on All-American school awards, the no swear zone, sportsmanship quotes, sportsmanship links and more. Check them out and have fun planning your 2006 Sportsmanship Day on March 7th.
Check out Fitness.gov for other events happening in March (2002) like: National Nutritional month, Paralympic Games Survivor, & PE Style.
I am a loyal fan of the reality show Survivor. After watching Survivor I decided to bring a program like this to my elementary PE classes. I knew we couldn't vote any child out, but I knew that this is where I could really focus on teamwork, character, sportsmanship, and more.
Survivor....PE Style was developed as a positive way for children to take on responsibilities and to bring important character traits to the field of competition. Fitness levels in children have dropped dramatically over the past few years, which is very alarming. I started this program in 2002 with my 4th and 5th grade classes. Since that, each summer I run a Survivor Camp open to 2nd-6th graders. I realized, by observing, that this could be the future for children. Especially when I heard Survivor PE mentioned in every 5th grade graduation speech, I knew this was positive education for the children I taught.
I decided to write a book which is called "Survivor....PE Style!" to share with educators like yourself, and to try to incorporate this program into your PE classes. In my book, my survivor program is fun, creative, and a challenging adventure for children who, during their journey, will learn coping skills, leadership skills, respect, courage, perseverance, self-control, initiative, positive attitudes, and be challenged. The book discusses how to set up a program, and the different challenges that I use which consists of physical, mental, common sense, math, geography, etc. The challenges are endless.
In conclusion my survivor program reaches out to children at all levels of fitness to help them build character through a series of tough challenges. This learning experience is so important for children because of the challenges that await them in real life. Participating in a program like survivor PE will help children build self-confidence and self-esteem needed to handle life challenges as they arise. Wouldn't it be nice that, through PE Education, we helped the children believe in themselves and others, as well as teach them how to make the right choices?
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Frisbee Fun: I had a successful Frisbee unit and fundraiser using the Spin Jammer state of the art flying disc a few years ago. The children love this unit and loved having their own disc. I actually had a fundraiser for PE Equipment and it was a huge success. Contact Spin Jammers at Sandeen, Inc at 800-497-7775 to find out more info. |
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Square Dancing and a Hoe-Down: WOW! I have taught square dancing to JK-5th graders for 3 weeks to lead up to our family Hoe-Down Fundraiser. The children had so much fun. They learned the dances quickly, and even sang the songs as they were dancing. We did a demonstration one day for the parents, and they were so impressed that the little ones could do this type of dancing.
Our Hoe-Down was a huge success. The children showed their square dancing skills, and then grabbed their parents and taught them the dance. We had horseshoe contests, lasso contests, a hat toss contests, licorice knot tying, and class tug-o-war competitions. We even had a DJ who got everyone line dancing! The teachers were excited to make chili with their classes, and the office staff took care of our drinks in the PHS Saloon. It was a school-wide effort and everyone had a great time. If you're interested in having your own Hoe-Down, please feel free to contact me anytime! |
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I work at an elementary school and am currently teaching a floor hockey unit. Today my principal informed me that she received a phone call from a concerned parent regarding safety with floor hockey sticks. I guess last week there was an accident at an elementary school in the US where a kid lost his eye due to a floor hockey stick. What kinds of things do you do to insure safety in floor hockey? Please post in the forum. |
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| Sports Adventures come alive in PE! |
| Other programs I have developed which develops strong character and sportsmanship besides Survivor are:
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Iditarod Race, California style - Go to Iditarod for info on the race. Check out the lessons, activities, and projects for kids and teachers, and lesson plans and articles, and have fun planning your own iditarod race at your school.
We had the dads make sleds that could move on the grass, and used all 25 checkpoints with different physical activities or games at each checkpoint. Check out the site, and you can adapt that program to fit your personality and enthusiasm. Our children loved this and the character that was used was self-control, perseverance, respect, attitude, gratitude, and more.) |
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Amazing Race, PHS Style - I used physical challenges similar to survivor, but used different countries and detours just like the program on TV. Next time you watch The Amazing Race, think of how you can adapt a race like that in your PE classes. You will have endless possibilities that your children will love and it will keep you energized to plan this. I use "Top Secret Adventures" through Highlights for children. I just finished the race segment of Italy. The children loved this and want to know where they are going next week.
When you get your materials you have top-secret tips on the different pages of a puzzle book, which helps the children solve many of the puzzles. Then there are villain cards that the children have to figure out before they leave the country. The sneaky villain is out of 6 suspects. There is also a guidebook that contains information you need to crack the case. The children will find a symbol and they have to look it up in the guidebook. This is such a great education on world travel and PE, because I put certain exercises for detours. So I combine the amazing race and top-secret adventures, and not only do the children enjoy these adventures, but I have a "BLAST" coming up with the ideas! Please take a look at highlights. |
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Pirate's Adventures I discussed in the December issue. You know this all seems like a lot of work, and don't get me wrong....IT IS! But after teaching for 25 years, (elementary for 20), I have to challenge myself, and have fun teaching all kinds of education to children, or I will become a stagnate teacher.....and that, I could not handle!
I am proud to say that I have been asked to speak at conferences in California about all these sports adventures I’ve developed. You know, my dream is to have other local schools develop these programs and compete against each other. There are no real try-outs, where only the talented athlete makes the team or tribe, but children who have not participated in Team Sports, or feel they are not good enough, who will enjoy and find a spot, and feel useful and like a winner all the time. That's Character! |
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This is the time that parents think of places their children can go for summer camps. I have had my own successful sports camps. I run the camps for one week from 9am-12pm. These are some of the camps I think work for children. If you have the opportunity at your school to put on a camp, provide a camp or two of the sports or adventures you enjoy. Sometimes I will have a 4-week, (once a week after school) sports program to see how much interest is in that specific sport or adventure I offer, and then I use that for a summer camp.
Two of my biggest camps are Survivor and Archery! I am a level 2 certified archery instructor and started an archery program at our school and it is a huge success. During the school year I offer an after school archery program for grades 3-5th, and in the summer I go 2nd-6th. If you are interested in becoming certified in archery look online under archery certification. It's really worth it!
Other summer camps I have offered are:
- Sports Conditioning
- Team Sports
- Lacrosse
Actually, I just started Lacrosse this year after school, and for the first time will offer a summer camp. I have found that lacrosse is getting big in California, especially in middle school. The reason I wanted to look into this was for the children who may not make a team sport in middle school or even high school. Sometimes a child starts a sport later then most and will not be able to compete with the varsity players. Or a child is burned out for starting too early.
There are also those who may start from parent pressure, or are on the edge of making the team or not. I ask myself what happens to the children who don't make those teams, who have only known sports their whole life, or have been pushed too hard and don’t want to be on a team? Lacrosse is an excellent sport.
I went online to find info about Lacrosse and came across US Lacross.
I was excited to download the manual, take the test and get my certificate all before starting the program. I didn't know much about that sport, but now I love it and have been teaching it after school and the children and parents love watching kids play. I even went to a local middle school and had a few of our alumni, who now play Lacrosse, come and work with my kids. They love it, I love it, and the alumnus love showing off! We are actually going to their school to watch their practices, and I am looking into the California Riptides, a professional Lacrosse team, to take our group to their game! So you can see that there are so many opportunities to take your teaching to the max! Please visit: http://www.uslacrosse.org/ to see if this is something you may be interested in! |
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| The time is near for conditioning and training children to participate in a fitness evaluation. We use the Presidential Fitness program. I usually start in March just before Spring Break. I encourage the children to workout with family members over spring break and to help condition those muscles and break them in, especially the Abdominals!
There are different ways I get the children ready for testing. Here are some ideas for you:
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Walking club at recess: I measured out a 1/4-mile loop around our grounds and the children walk before school, during recess, and after school if they choose. The children get a punch card, and for each 1/4-mile they complete they get a punch in their card. The cards have 20 marks, which equals 5 miles for each card. When they finish their first card they come to me and I give them a certificate to hang in their classroom. Attached to the certificate is a plastic foot. They continue to add plastic feet after completing each card. (Last year we had a 3rd grader break the school record with 100 miles walked for the school year. It's fun to do class competitions and have the teachers mark a destination and follow the path in miles. I use a program from Fitness Finders. They are great, and offer information on how you can start a mileage club at your school. |
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Pedometer Training: The children love wearing these during school. I start with one class at a time. The children check out a pedometer in the morning when they get to school, wear it all day without touching or handling it, and turn it in at the end of school. This teaches responsibility and the children do remember! The children will give me how many steps they took, the distance, and calories burned. We did a science experiment for our science fair last year and the facts were very interesting. The amount of steps varied on a few factors. One, the days they had PE compared to the days of no PE. Second, the amount of steps taken during recess. You can really tell the active children to non-active children. There are all kinds of experiments to do and letting the amount of steps they take be known each day. The normal steps a child should take are 10,000. |
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Family Fitness Calendar: I use the monthly themed calendars from the book “Ready to use Pre-Sport Skills Activities Program” by LF Turner and Susan Turner. It has 100 month-by-month lessons with activities, games, & assessments for the elementary children. This a great book with great monthly calendars of fitness. I send it home and encourage the parents and children to workout together. There are quick little challenges they can do together which I do with my family and it is a fun time! |
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Fitness Easter Egg Hunt: Fill a dozen or more eggs with an exercise to do when they open it. All exercises have to be done in unison. I break the class up into even groups and start each group at a different number. They follow the number sequence until they finish. |
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Card Shuffle: Use a deck of cards and have children pick a card one at a time. The card number that's picked is the # of whatever exercise is called out. Be creative and use some math skills. Ex: double the number, or divide the number, if it's a red card, they do endurance activities, if it's black it is strength conditioning. Or mix it up with face cards. I have children run/walk laps on face cards. |
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ABC Push-Ups: Use index cards marked with the alphabet A-Z. There should be 26 cards for each team. Divide your class evenly. Each group receives a color of index cards with the alphabet on the cards. Scatter the cards around the field. One person from each group is in the push-up position and on "GO" they find the first card - A. The object is to stay and move in the push-up position the whole time while looking for each card. When they find “A” they go to their side and the next one goes. This continues until all 26 of their color cards are found and lined up in order. When looking for cards they cannot grab any letter, it has to be in order. This is a great upper body strength activity. |
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Rectangle Relays: Four groups are set up on corners of a huge rectangle on the field. On “go” the first does the locomotor skill called out, trying to pass the child in front of them. When they reach their line they tag the next child and they go! I use running, power walking, skipping, galloping, sliding, grapevines, ect... |
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Fitness Stations: I take the 5 exercises the children will be tested on, and put the children into groups. Every 5 minutes they rotate. Sometimes as we get closer to the testing I will have upper body exercises one day, lower body the next, and endurance the next. Concentrating on the proper alignment of their body and exercise as well. |
Remember to make your fitness program fun yet challenging, and it will keep the students alive and wanting to workout! |
| Good Ol' Games of the past |
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