Fitness Testing

We have now moved on to fitness testing! I know, some of the students stress out about this, but I keep telling them- it's not about the numbers right now...it's about the effort. If someone wants to get better at any skill (being fit and healthy) they have to work hard at it!
According to the State of Georgia and Cobb County Schools we will be testing you child in the following fitness test:

For Grades 4 & 5:
Height
Weight
Push-ups
Curl-ups (sit-ups)
Sit and Reach (measures flexibility)
Pacer (measures cardiovascular endurance)

**These test are part of the Fitness Gram fitness test. You can look up more information at: http://www.fitnessgram.net/

For Grades K-3:
We will practice those tests, but will only record numbers for height and weight.

Thanks, and stay healthy!!
Coach Jones

More Volleyball...??

So this week we should have been moving on to our next unit and away from volleyball, but thanks to all the snow days we had, we find ourselves way behind. So we are going to stick with volleyball for a couple more days with the older groups (2nd through 5th).
The kindergarten and 1st graders have moved on to jump rope!! This is a rather difficult skill for some of our students. I've been telling them the key to getting better is to just keep working at it and to not get frustrated if they mess up. In PE we never care how many mess ups they have...just as long as they keep giving their best effort!!

Coming up soon we will be shifting to our next unit- Fitness Testing!! Some of the students are really excited about this, while I'm sure you can guess some others are dreading it! We will be testing/measuring the students on the following:

• Height
• Weight
• Push-ups
• Sit & Reach
• Curl-ups (sit-ups)
• Pacer

In order to follow the state and county guidelines- we will be recording height and weight on all students K-5. We will only be recording and reporting the scores on all tests listed above for 4th and 5th graders. I do like to allow the other grade levels to attempt the tests, but we just count those as practice!
Tell your student(s) to just give their best effort. That is all we ask of them!

Thanks
Coach Jones

Volleyball!!

Hey People...wanted to apologize for neglecting my blog lately!! I am going to work on getting more up to date information on here.

Right now our volleyball unit is in full swing for the 2nd through 5th graders. We are getting into our modified games this week (the snow week) and next week as well. The students are doing great with it and are really starting to understand the flow of the game!

For K and 1st grade- we just finished up our intro to volleyball last week. We used balloons because we found out- they move much slower than an actual ball!! The K and 1st graders practiced some pretty sweet skills. Ask them what skills they practiced...hopefully they can tell you- Forearm pass (also called a bump); overhead pass (also called a set); spike (more commonly called a hit).

Since the K and 1st graders don't stick with volleyball as long as the older grades, it's time to introduce them to the next unit- jump rope!! We will be swinging ropes all over the gym!

One thing I could use your help on- please make sure your children are wearing athletic shoes on their PE days. We have had way too many boots lately. I know it's cold, but boots don't work well with PE skills....especially not jumping rope!!

thanks!!
Coach Jones

Parking for School Events

I just wanted to pass along some information regarding parking at school events. Often times our parking lot fills up rather quickly, and it can be hard to find a spot. Please be aware of the following:

Parents, family members, and Friends of the students- vehicles parked in the public roadway pose a serious safety issue not only for themselves and their passengers but for the general public as well.
Vehicles parked on the roadway, as we have had happen in the past, will be issued a citation.

Thank you for understanding!
Coach Jones

Welcome Back!!

Welcome back!! We are looking forward to another great year in PE. Yes...if you noticed I said 'we.' I am pleased to introduce everyone to our new PE Parapro- Jackie Escalante. Jackie will be with us everyday during 2nd, 3rd, 4th & 5th grade classes, and the coolest part- we don't have to share her!! She is just PE.

These first couple of weeks we are reviewing and playing some of our large group games, and having a couple of 'fun Fridays.' Next week...we will be jumping into our first units.
K - 3rd: throwing and catching skills review
4th & 5ht: Flag Football!

Here's to a good year!!
Coach Jones

The Fun Run!!

The Fun Run was today! What a blast. The students have been working hard raising money for the Davis Foundation, and today all their hard work paid off. What a great event....and...what I loved the most- they were all active!! They got a ton of great physical activity in today. Several, in fact quite a few, ran over the 2 mile mark! That is incredible! I love to see elementary students being physically active. Nice job to all the fun runners! Can't wait to see how much money was raised for the Davis Foundation.

Fitness Fridays

OK...I am admitting it. I have been neglecting my blog. I apologize. We have just been doing so many awesome things in PE this year, it has totally slipped my mind.

Let me get everyone up to speed. We've done a little of everything! Check out these units we have done: basketball, football gymnastics, throwing and catching, locomotor skills, fitness-Fridays, large group games, soccer, frisbee and of course fitness testing.

I wanted to focus for a minute on Fitness Fridays (FF)! Each time your child comes to PE on a Friday this year we will be participating in a FF activity. These activities are focused on one main thing- getting your child moving AND keeping them moving for as long as possible. We talk each FF about why (cardiovascular) exercise is important, and we look closer at what make the days activity fall into the 'cardio' category.

We would love it if you guys could keep that conversation going at home as well. The more your child hears it and sees it the more apt they will be to try and live it.

thank you!
Coach Jones