A world with Healthier kiddos!

      Whew, what week it's been.  Wait, you don't think the week is over yet, right?  Well, this lucky girl is about two hours away from a 3 DAY WEEKEND!  We are finishing up our First quarter conferences, and I finally had a chance to blog!  YEAH!
     I have a 90% Love-10% Hate relationship with technology.  Yesterday morning fell into the 10%.  Good news, by afternoon is was in the 90% range.  After several weeks of gathering food packages, (aka: Trash) I was ready to give my new favorite app FOODUCATE a try!  Here is how the app works- you scan the barcode of food and BAM a picture of the food pops up, along with a letter grade, the reasons why it got the grade, and alternatives.  DREAMY! 

    I will skip the part where AIR SERVER wouldn't work for me, and the part where I had thought the app had loaded on all the ipads, when in fact it didn't, (sort of) it went to their cloud.  We got pass that and then MAGIC happened!  I can honestly say that all of my students were HOOKED about five minutes into using this app.
   The lesson went like this:  Each team needed to scan all food items in their bucket.  Each item then needed to be sorted into a A/B, C, D/F pile.  We briefly talked about what these letter grades were as well.  So, after they sorted every item, they had to get into EDUCREATIONS (another awesome app) and tell me what each group had in common. 

Thank you amazing student(s) for hitting the nail directly on the head! (I think that's how the saying goes, you get my point)!  This PE teacher was thrilled.  THEY. GOT. IT.!

 

    This was just lesson one of many that we will be using this awesome app for.  Seriously, I have to shut my mind off or I would think about how we are going to LEARN from this!  I have to give a big shout out to TWITTER world for helping me find this app.  No need to remind you what you need to do!  :)

  As I have mentioned before, I am presenting ipads at the KAHPERD conference on Thurs. Oct. 29th.  (Kansas Association of Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance).  I can officially say I am ready.  Just organizing my thoughts into a one hour presentation has been a challenge! I honestly cannot wait to share my love with PE teachers from across this great state! This happens next Thursday, and the following Monday I get to present again! This time for a district inservice.  That one was a bit of a surprise for me, but I have it all worked out!  Needless to say, I am pretty excited for the next couple of weeks!

 

Go make a difference!  And CHEER ON THE ROYALS!!!  #beroyalKC 

 

 

 

 

Give me your trash!

    Hello!  I wasn't sure I was going to have time to get this blog in today or not!  Finally at 2:10 on a Teacher Work day, I have finished inputting Fitness test scores and completed the dreaded entry of grades.  Weekend?  Anyone?  3:15 cannot get here soon enough!!!
   As I mentioned before we have been doing our Pre Fitness Gram tests.  No matter how you look at it, these test are just not that exciting.  Necessary?  Absolutely, after all they made the Shape National Standards! I am pretty excited to have the Pre test in the books!  Did you know there are awesome certificates that you can print from KSDE FitnessGram page?  Last year I attended a district inservice at which a trainer from KSDE showed us how this would work!  It even calculates who is in the Healthy Fitness Zone (HFZ).  I am excited to give out these awards to my students, I may display them in the gym for awhile as well.  After all, effort should be praised!

 

 

     So the picture above looks like a bunch of trash, right?  Well it is, sort of!  I am getting ready to launch my Project Based Learning project in PE!  This summer I attended a two day training on Project Based Learning.  I truly believe it's a wonderful way for kids to learn!  It's hard to set back and let them "solve" the problem (so to speak) but I am excited.  To kick this off, or maybe I should say to lead us into this project, we are going to use an app called Fooducate.  This app allows the kids to scan a barcode on a food product, when it's scanned a letter grade will appear for the food.  In addition, there is an explanation as to why it received the grade it did, as well as alternatives to that particular food.  The majority of my project will just be for my 3rd-5th grade students, but all 405 of my kids will be using the Fooducate app and the "trash" in the picture.   It's amazing how social media can "help a girl out."  I sent an email to my fellow teachers asking for them to save their food packages and boxes.  I also put out a "need" on Facebook.  (I use Facebook too, not just twitter)! I have received a ton of "trash."  But, I'll take a TON more! Seriously, I am so excited to educate my students (and myself too) on what exactly is in these foods.  This is going to (hopefully) lead my students to the next phase (think processed foods vs. natural foods).  Look for a post next week about how the first part of this assignment went!  (Any local PE teachers, I will be happy to share my "stash of trash").

 

 

     Today we had two hours of PLC.  In our "exciting" meeting I noticed an awesome bulletin board in the classroom we met at.   I didn't take the best picture, but this awesome 4th grade teacher created a twitter account for her class.  They post their idea's/thoughts on a post-it-note and put it on the board.  Then the teacher sends out the tweet!  #verycool   You should go follow them, @MsMiller129.

 

     Have a great weekend everyone.  Cheer for your favorite team (Rock Chalk, as hard as it is)!  Go make a difference! And PLEASE make a TWITTER, and PLEASE USE IT to further educate yourself!  #physed #pegeek #edchat #dcelem #DCHSchat #usd443 #BeRoyalKC....oh wait, just got a little excited about the ROYALS!!   (there is a few for you to search, trust me, it's worth your time)!

 

 

AB :)

 

 

 

Academic Vocab

      I wrote a little bit in my blog last time about academic vocabulary.  The vocab posters have been a hit in my gym.  I added to them, because my crazy mind could not except that they did not go the whole way across the wall.  Earlier this week our Technology and ELA instructional coaches were in our building helping teachers as needed.  They gave all of us a graphic organizer that is fantastic! 

 

      Immediately when they handed it to me, my brain went into high gear. Sure, I have a ton of stuff going on in PE already, but this is important, and this is certainly attainable!   First off, we are going to do a game of charades in PE.  The kids will work within their teams, timer will be set on air server, each student will get a minute to act out as many words as possible.  The majority of the words are require movement, which will get the heart rate up! I am already making a point to talk about the words and how we are using them each day.  I also thought about spending a few minutes at the end of class describing (or having the kids describe) a word, their "exit ticket" will be what vocab word we are talking about.  I may use the ipad for this, there is an app called (ironically) STICKY NOTE, that would work great!  So many different ways to work this in.  I'm excited!

 

*Excuse the mess above....I have been very busy doing other things besides cleaning....obviously!

 

    I'm also excited, because I AM GETTING A WIRELESS PROJECTOR IN MY GYM!!!!!! (all caps because I screaming with joy)!  After meeting with the Assistant Supt. (scary, right?  She is super nice and helpful though) I was told Apple TV is a no-no right now.  Apparently it causes too much static in the system.  But, she agreed I needed a better way to use technology, so the technology committee decided a wireless projector would be the way to go.  I cannot wait to get rid of this cart (but it's been good to me, so I shouldn't complain)!

 

      My 2nd edition of #LINNPE Newsletter has been distributed to my students.  This newsletter contained pictures of our exciting day with the DCHS Red Demon athletes.  I also talked about "PE Shoes."  That's  a never ending battle, but I am going to TRY,TRY, TRY!:)  Backpacks are going out, so far I have only had one piece of equipment not returned.  I will call that a success!

 

    Have a great weekend.  Get connected, get a TWITTER.  Follow me @baugha.  Join us for our #DCELEM chat on Monday, Oct. 13th at 7:30pm!!

 

AB :)

Fitnessgram world....

        It's Friday!!!!!!  It always seems as though "short" weeks (we didn't have students on Monday, inservice instead) are the longest weeks!  I have been so very busy this week, every ounce of my extra time during the school day has been spent on Academic Vocabulary.  It's my own fault for spending the time I did.  But, I think it will be worth it in the long run!

 

A couple examples of the big picture of my academic Vocab words. 

 

 

 

I discovered today that I simple cannot handle that they do not go the entire length of the wall, so I am in the process of adding a few more to complete it .......for now! :)

 

 

     So, Academic Vocabulary....well on Monday I attended a district wide inservice on this particular subject.  I try REALLY hard to connect the information at inservices to my classroom, aka "THE GYM"!  Light bulbs were going off immediately for me.  Why not incorporate technology (specifically ipads) into these vocab words.  My goal is always to reach every child.  As we know, children learn in a variety of ways! 

 

     Hopefully you noticed the QR codes (Qrafter Pro App) in the picture.  These codes, when scanned, will link the students to a video/website about that particular word.    The Vocab posters that do not have a QR code, have an AURA instead.  Using AURASMA app, I embedded videos of the vocabulary word into the posters. 

 

In this picture, it just looks like a normal poster!

 

This is the same poster, but when scanned using AURASMA a video of Linn Lions students stretching pops up on the screen of your ipad.  It is WAY cool!

 

 

My students helped me make the posters, by being actors/actresses!  They loved it.  I cannot wait to have them use their ipads to review these words.  I feel like this is an awesome addition to my classroom, which leads me to...

     

     I was showing my principal what I was doing, mostly to see if I was on the right track.  I also whined a little bit about how time consuming it was.  He replied, "you have truly made your gym a classroom."  (He totally meant it as a compliment, and I took it that way). I started thinking about this compliment.  My gym IS A classroom.  I want my students to learn.  Sure, we are going to play and have fun, but WE MUST LEARN!  What motivation I gained from that compliment!

 

         This week we started preparing for our Pre Fitness Gram tests.  We are always preparing, because we are always working on fitness, strength, endurance, etc.  This week was a little more focused.  Push ups are always a struggle.  I get it, they are a struggle for me too! :)  I wanted something "fun" to do with push ups, something to make them seem less strenuous.  I did a little research, found what I was looking for, and tweaked it a little bit!

 

 

        In these pictures, the students are suppose to be working on keeping their backs in the proper position.  We discussed making our abdominals tight, fingers forward, etc.  I brought out the bean bags and challenged the students to slide it back and forth between a partner.  We started with playing music for about 30 seconds before giving them a break.  They loved it!  They forgot how hard they were working!  I then challenged them to keep track of points.  If their back was in the right position, knee's were off the floor, and their partner stopped the bean bag, they got a point!  Next up will be set up practices!  I have some idea's up my sleeve for that as well!

 

 

       Also this week, (remember it was a crazy busy week) I was able to reintroduce the app called Educreations.  I did this with a fourth grade classroom.  I had them video each other doing push ups.  After getting the video, they brought it in to the Educreations app and critiqued their push ups.  They had to record their voice and draw on the picture showing what was good and bad about their push ups.  I did this last year, and I truly believe it is a wonderful way to practice the push ups (or whatever activity you are doing)!





 

    Sorry for the incredibly long post!  I have been wanting to share all week, but finding the time was nearly impossible!  Heads up, on Monday, October 13th, I will be moderating a twitter chat under #DCELEM.  Topic is to be decided, but PLEASE join! 

 

Make a difference! 

 

AB