Welcome to the month of November! This month I have provided a list of many important dates that can be celebrated with your PE class. I have included some of the games and activities my student's have enjoyed and wanted to play over and over. These are just some of the many possible ways to celebrate these special days.

Moreen Ferdie
Interdisciplinary Section Editor

These events would all be easy to tie in with health.

American Diabetes Awareness Month
November is National Diabetes Awareness Month, and provides a reminder that it is important to learn more about diabetes and the risks associated with it, so that you can more effectively teach this information to your students.

Diabetes is a serious disease that affects the body's ability to produce or respond properly to insulin. Less insulin results in the impaired ability of the body's cells to use blood glucose for energy. Nearly 21 million children and adults in the United States have diabetes, and that number is growing at an alarming rate. Diabetes is the fifth deadliest disease in the nation, and has no cure.

Visit The American Diabetes Association for information about events in your local area, and for other ways you can participate, or to learn more about this disease. An online "Diabetes Risk Test" is also available. Excellent materials geared toward educating children and adolescents can be found at the National Diabetes Education program. Look under the section for resources for professionals to find colorful tip sheets for children on topics such as: Be Active, Stay at a Healthy Weight, and Eat Healthy Foods.

Some of the materials for adolescents are entitled: Dealing with the Ups and Downs of Diabetes, and Move it! Reduce your Risk of Diabetes School Kit. This kit was designed specifically for promoting physical activity among American Indian/Alaska Native youth, but could easily be adapted for any population.

Lung Cancer Awareness Month
Quit 4 Life provides the stories of 4 teens who decide to quit smoking, and also information on the perils of smoking.

Nutritional Awareness Month
A great way to incorporate this event is to have a food pyramid relay. Listed below are the steps.

	Have your students make giant food pyramids on poster board.
	Split the class into small groups.
	Put different food cards into a pile (you and/or your students can make these with stickers or pictures of foods glued to cards).
	Have each person go to the pile, pick up 1 card, and place it in the correct section of the food pyramid.
	Each group needs to be aware of how many servings they should have from each category of food and only bring back what is needed for their group's pyramid.

American Indian Heritage Month
Archery, a shield dance, and a hoop dance are activities you can do to celebrate this event. The Pueblo Indian's hoop dance could be performed by holding a hula hoop and alternating one leg in, and one leg out, to the beat of the music. I know there are more elaborate hoop dances done by the Pueblos.

Resources: read the History of the modern Hoop Dance. See a Hood Dance slideshow and some videos. Another great video, another again, and resources to learn hoop dancing.

Aviation History Month
A fun game my students enjoy is Frequent Fliers. This game is explained in Moving to Discover: The USA book by Mike Lee and Rhonda L. Clements.

	Place floor markers to identify different cities around the country.
	Students select a partner and create an "airplane" by placing one hand across each partner's shoulder.
	Make tickets, and give each airplane a set of tickets (tickets are of cities in US).
	Each airplane begins its trip at a different city.
	The airplane must fly to each airport and leave the ticket at the correct location.
	Only one airplane can take off or land at a time.
	If there is another airplane at the airport, they must circle until the other airplane has departed.

Child Safety and Prevention Month
An interesting site to access for child safety information is kidWISEcorner.com. You will find information on the Family Safety Fair, and on how to become a facilitator for Out of Harm's Way - Teaching kids to be Safe & Strong.

Nov.6-10- Kids' Goals Setting Week
Have your students work on setting fitness and/or eating goals during this week.

Nov. 13-19- National Children's Book Week
There are a lot of great books available to combine activities with. A few years ago my school held a Reading in Sports Field Day. The books and activities we did are listed below. During our event, an adult or student read the class a short book, and then they did the physical activity.

Nov. 19-25- National Games and Puzzle Week

Balloon Puzzle Game

	Each group is given a bag. They may not open the bag until you say "go."
	When you say "go," they blow up their balloon, tie a knot, and then pop the balloon.
	Inside the balloon is a puzzle piece (which you put in earlier). Then they put the puzzle together as a team.
	If there are less than 10 members in their group, some people will need to blow up and pop 2 balloons.
	Once the puzzle is complete, they put their balloon pieces in the trash can and sit down by their puzzle.
	Record the time it took each group to complete their puzzle.
	Unless time runs out, let each group continue until they are done.
	Finish by having them put the puzzle pieces back in their individual bag.

Nov. 14 National Memory Screening Day
Some fun memory games include:

Giant Memory Game

	Make giant game pieces with 2 having the same picture. Use your imagination!
	One at a time, each person will turn over 2 pieces
	If they match, the pieces are removed from the game, and it's the next person's turn.
	If they are not a match, they are turned back over, and it's the next persons turn.
	This continues until all pieces are matched.
	If it is not a person's turn they may not physically turn over the cards for another, but they may give verbal cues to help out their teammates.

Memory Ball or Warp Speed - (uses 1 or 2 balls)

	Divide into groups of 5 or 7 people (no even numbered teams).
	Pass the ball to each person in your circle in the same order every time.
	Toss the ball across the circle, not to someone standing next to you.
	Remember who passed the ball to you and who you then passed it to.
	You may not pass to someone who has gotten the ball until everyone has caught it.
	The first time you have the ball in your hands, you must say either something you are good at, or something about you the group doesn't know.

This game was found in the Great Activities Newspaper.

Operation Cooperation
Supplies needed: jump rope, a base, team color code sheet, master color code sheet, colored markers, and 10-15 cones. All team members must hold the jump rope and move as a unit as they try to find specific colored markers. The object is to find out how quickly your team can complete all the assignments given.

	The 1st person is the leader.
	The 2nd person is the excavator, who lifts the cone to find the marker.
	The 3rd person is the recorder, who makes an X on the sheet.
	The 4th person is the archivist, who carries the Team Color Code Sheet.
	The rest of the players are advisors. They're job is to remember the locations of the different color markers.
	Game starts with an adult calling out a color, then the group goes out and finds that color.
	After they find it, they mark it on the sheet and then come back to the adult (who is on the base).
	The adult then gives them another color, and the game continues until they are done with all of the colors.

I discovered this next game in Character Education by Donald R. Glover and Leigh Ann Anderson (Human Kinetics, 2003).

The Maze - Supplies needed: index cards with red #1-24, maze key cards The team must take turns stepping on the index cards to complete a predetermined path.

	The first team member steps on a poly spot designated as start (#1).
	The adult holds a key to the correct path through the spots.
	The adult gives a "yes" or "no" response after a correct or incorrect step is taken by a team member.
	The teammate attempting to negotiate the maze may continue stepping as long as a "yes" response is given.
	If a "no" response is given, the teammate must return to the end of the line.
	As soon as a "no" is given, the next person starts.
	The object is to get all your team members through the maze as quickly as possible. Team members may help teammates verbally.
	The team must also start over on any miss, including any members who have already completed the maze.

Nov. 13- National Young Reader's Day
An easy way to participate on this day is to promote the BOOK IT! Reading incentive program; this program was co-founded by Pizza Hut and the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress, and has been an annual event since 1989.

Nov. 24- National Flossing Day
You can find at edhelper.com a theme unit that can be printed off (if you are a subscriber).

Cultural Dances and Stories from Around the World: A Discovery of World Cultures through Dance and Drama, Curriculum Designed for Grades K-5

In 2005, the University of Hawaii at Manoa ArtsBridge America program and Friends of Ali'iolani Elementary School allowed an MFA candidate in Youth Theatre Studies to implement a sixty hour creative dance and drama curriculum for kindergarten through fifth grades during the 2004-2005 school year. This fine arts curriculum was designed to address the lack of fine arts instruction within the school, and provide students opportunities to partake in arts instruction. If it was not for Friends of Ali'iolani, the school would have had no choice but to continue without fine arts instruction due to lack of state funding.

This curriculum represents a collaborative study of how dance and drama enhance curriculum subjects such as math, science, reading, history, language arts, physical education, geography, and writing. "Cultural Dances and Stories From Around The World" was designed to provide children creative opportunities to learn about different world cultures through dance and drama.

Three teaching methods were used: learning through dance and drama, learning about dance and drama, and learning about oneself through dance and drama. Learning through drama activities provided children with situations in which they solved and evaluated problems in small groups. Learning about dance and drama allowed students opportunities to learn and apply basic dramatic elements pertaining to theatre and dance as performance art forms. Lastly, activities that focused on learning about oneself and others through drama opened doors for children to express themselves and their imaginations in a safe and nurturing environment.

These concepts addressed the State of Hawaii's Educational Standards from the aforementioned eight areas of instruction. These concepts were explored in and out of the classroom through various problem-based and performance based learning activities. Problem-based learning activities included pre and post assessments administered to track how well students were retaining and transferring what they learned kinesthetically to paper; analysis of literature, poetry, and children's stories from around the world; script writing; and sharing in oral form. The third through fifth grade students participated in an original play performance that they themselves wrote, adapted, and premiered in for their peers, teachers, school faculty, parents, and community. Download the curriculum paper- source: e-scholarship repository

Dance: Cultural Dance Festival - This lesson is one example of how you can implement the practice of Involving Families and Communities. In this activity, you will organize a cultural dance festival to help students and parents learn more about the dances of various cultures.

Brain-Compatible Dance Education - In this unique teacher reference, creative dance specialist Anne Green Gilbert presents her ideas regarding the positive impact that dance can have on brain development.