Phew....the assessment world!

     It's been too long since I have been able to blog!  Busy, very very very BUSY!  Like every teacher out there, the months of April and May are jammed full of stuff for me to do.  It also tends to be such an exciting time of the year. This has certainly been the case at Linn!
       We hosted the Body Venture walk last week.  This is a pretty cool interactive exhibit.  I am lucky enough to have a PTO that is willing to pay for this to come to our school every three years.  There is a bit of work involved in the set up and take down, as well as finding volunteers to work inside the exhibit. Despite this, it's awesome.  The kids love it, and they do not even realize how much they are learning while they are doing it.  The day after I asked for three facts about the Body Venture.  They gave me like 15 facts without a problem! Here is a link to check out Body Venture if you are not familier with it! Body Venture
     Our district hosted a Student Growth Measure workshop put on my KAHPERD this month.  I was thrilled when I learned I would not have to travel out of town to get this knowledge.  Basically this means that in the very near future, as a group (Elementary PE teachers in our district), we will have to decided a grade level of students that we agree on, to assess in three or four different skills.  Like the name says, we will have to show GROWTH.  This kind of put everyone in a frenzy (including myself).   After this workshop, I felt a lot better about this.   I have said before assessing is my weakness.  But, I am learning, and I can see myself getting better at it.  So, after this workshop, I felt a little spark to get the ball rolling. 
   We are currently working on our fitness gram fitness tests.   This is something our district choose to take part in a few years ago.  We are required to test our 3rd-5th graders twice a year.  Fitness skills such as push ups, curl ups, PACER, trunk life and sit and reach are assessed.  In addition, we also check height and weight at this time.  I am not going to lie, this is not one on my favorites parts of my job.  BUT, I approached with a new perspective this time.   Again, I should have been approaching it this way for a long time, but ALAS, I haven't!  (I can't believe I just used the word ALAS)???  I decided that rather than cramming it in two weeks, we were going to spread it out.  And, we were going to learn ALOT about each part of the fitness tests.    Example, for each test we are learning what physical fitness component we are working on when we take the test.  What is being measured?  That's the question we are asking each and every day.  While waiting to have our push up test administered, we are working on cardio vascular endurance while completing and obstacle course.  While  waiting to take our trunk lift test (measuring flexibility), we are doing a cross fit type AMRAP workout, focusing on muscular strength and endurance.  Yes, my gym is a BUSY place these days.   But, you know what?  It's awesome!  The kids are LEARNING SO MUCH! How does all of this tie into assessment?  I am assessing as we go.  A couple of days ago, we were working on our push ups.   I had the students bring their ipads.  Right before class, I created a ONE question exit ticket on SOCRATIVE asking  "What is being measured when we take the PACER test?"  It had been a few days since we worked on PACER, so I knew this would be a great way to check their learning.  Monday, we will do the same thing with Push Ups, then Trunk Lift.  SOCRATIVE makes it so easy, with just one little top of my finger, all of the answers are saved to my GOOGLE DRIVE for me to view at my convienence! PERFECT!  When we complete the fitness tests, we will do a TEST on all of the exit ticket questions.  So, here is the low down. 

1.  I do not have 250 pieces of paper stacked on my desk for each question. Instead I have them stored on my ipad. 
2.  Socrative tells me if they got it right or wrong, no "GRADING" needed.
3.  My kids are learning about fitness by physically doing it AND by thinking about it.....ENOUGH SAID!
4.  I didn't have to spend ANY extra time to accomplish all of this!
5.  I should get paid by SOCRATIVE....or APPLE! Kidding of course!


 Added Bonus: PE VOCABULARY is GROWING!!!

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Enjoy your weekend!
AB

 Check out this 5th Graders awesome push ups....if only they could all do them like this.  (Me included).