Sometimes, it's a SCARY world!

   Everyone understands, and has expierenced that feeling of panic, you know...heart pumping a little faster, sweating coming without movement.  Well, I had that feeling yesterday.  About 20 minutes before the fact, I discovered that my gym was going to be on the "Walk through" schedule for this month.  What are walk throughs?  Well teams of adminstrators from our district walk through classrooms, look for objectives posted, engagement of the students, etc.  I had one class, then the second class of the afternoon would be the one they "walked through."   I honestly cannot tell you much about the first class, I was already rehearsing in my head how the class would go with 5-6 pairs of eyes on me.  One pair of those eyes was my principal (who knows all about me and supports me), another was the principal in charge of physical education teachers in our district, and he didn't worry me.  One of the other pairs of eyes was that of the Superintendent of Elementary education.  Those eyes worried me.  Holy Moly.  Apparently my students new to be on their best behavior, because they were AMAZING!  Zero issues.  It went fine, but man did I sweat it.....literally.

    We are wrapping up our volleyball and football unit.  Having either played, coached, or reffed volleyball for many years of my life, I started pondering drills that would be apropiate for my students.  I rememberd speedball.  This drill teaches the kids to move their feet, and to work as a team.  My students LOVED it.  Seriously, they were so into it.  Tons of effort was put out, which always makes for a happy teacher! 

     This isn't a great picture to show the action of speedball.  We are definitely adding this to the unit. 

 

Here are the steps to Speedball

1.  Students are put into two teams, one on each side of the net.  The number of students doesn't really matter, we did 6, mostly to keep it like volleyball.

2.  I used a volleylite ball, it's a little easier for the kids to throw and catch compared to the real deal.

3.  The goal is to throw the ball across the net to a place where there is not a person.

4.  If the ball hits the ground, the team who threw the ball gets a point.

5.  The ball is thrown back and fourth quickly.

6.  I used my ipad timer and we played two minute games before switching out the teams. 

7.  Establishing boundaries was important.  I also used the word boundary as a "vocab" word. 

8.  It's that simple.

 

       I have said before I love to bring the classroom idea's into the gym.  I was so excited when searching for a new bulletin board (on PE CENTRAL) to come across this gem!  Hello Common Core!  I quickly recreated it.  I wish my teacher was a little bigger, but you get the idea!  Several students have already commented on my "verb board."  It's a little hard to read in this picture, but the students (and the classroom mouse) are guessing verbs that are all related to movement.  Finally Smarty Sally says "PHYSICAL EDUCATIOM!"  Good job Smarty Sally, good job!

 

 

 

       I just (about an hour ago) submitted my handout for the 2014 KAHPERD convention.  I had so much fun designing this handout on the app COMIC LIFE.  I was able to put overlays (AURASMA) into the handout, which makes this #PEGEEK squeal a little!  It's awesome! 

 

NEW APP I LOVE:  fooducate, this app will allow the students to scan various foods and it will tell them a grade for the food, and why that grade is appropriate.  Cannot wait to put this into action!

 

Have a great day, make a difference, keep trying, keep dreaming!  Of course, CONNECT!  Find your #PLN! 

 

AB

Awesome Activity!

   The last couple of days have been exiting in my PE world.  Yesterday was the first family "open gym" night of the year.  I attended the Let's Move Active Kids workshop in the Summer of 2013.  At this workshop (it's awesome, if given the chance to go, take it) we were challenged to get our students active.  I decided then that I would begin an "open gym night" for my students and their families.  Once a month last year, I held this event.  Some nights we had amazing attendance, others there were not a ton of people.  Either way, my students and their families were being active together!  When this year begin, I decided to do the open gym nights again!  These are just 45 minutes long.
         I also was able to secure a $1000 grant through Blue Cross and Blue Shield that allowed me to purchase healthy snacks for this event.  I have applied for it this year and will know in December if I receive it again!  I keep the open gym pretty simple, I just get out various equipment and let them play.  It's GREAT!  Here is a quick picture I took, right before I took in a serious game of volleyball with my 4 and 10 year old boys!  We had fun, and we were active!

 

 

     Today the excitement continued.  Each year when doing out "Sport" units, I recruit the local high school athletes to come out and do a mini clinic with my older students (3rd-5th Grade).  The kids LOVE it.  All the kids!  This year I invited all of the Fall sport programs to send athletes.  In the past it has just been Football and Volleyball, but this year we were able to add Tennis.  Hopefully in the next few years I can succeed at getting Cross Country and Soccer to come out as well.  This is a wonderful time for my students to see what they can work towards.  When saying this, I do not necessary mean in an ability way.  I have said many times, I just want my students to be active and healthy.  If they can find a sport that they love, and that is what is going to keep them active and healthy, than I accomplished something! :)  I also want my students to see what it takes to get to this level and be able to compete. 

 

     Today was simply awesome.  The kids were so excited to interact with the high school students.  I had a special needs student, who doesn't always love PE come to be and say "I am having so much fun Mrs. Baugh."  YEAH!!!!!

 

Stay with me, this is a long post.  I am just overflowing with excitement!  I finally figured out the ipad app called Aurasma (pronounced without the A...yep, kind of weird). 

So in this picture, my handout for my upcoming KAHPERD presentation is on my desk.  On that flier is the word (app) QRAFTER.  Using the Aurasma app, I scan that word and a video of my students using QRAFTER appears.  It's amazing!  My mind is going 100mph on how I can use this in PE.  Seriously.  Cannot Wait.  Can you say #PEGEEK?!?!? 

 

Have a fantastic weekend!  Cheer for your favorite team!  Make a difference!

AB



Get Active...not just at school!

    I am big on getting my kids (both biological and school) active.  I strongly feel that active kids=active adults (someday).  Am I trying to create D1 athletes?  Nope not at all.  I am trying to help create active healthy kids who will become active healthy adults.  Many of my students are active while at school, then they go home to video games, TV, and no parents (because they are working shift work). 
   While attending the 2014 SHAPE American Conference (AAPHERD), my friend Mary (also a PE teacher)  and I met a man also from Kansas.  While talking to, (I am sure Mary is laughing right now) he shared that he sends backpack with equipment home with students!  What a great idea!  I immediately knew I wanted to do this. 

    I quickly realized that if I wanted to get an Apple TV and a Flat screen, my funds were minimal! No problem, after some searching for the cheapest backpacks possible, I find some....for FREE!  Even better!   While chatting with my principle, I notice a box full of dusty backpacks.  I immediately ask what they are for, come to find out they were found in a classroom, and had been used for sending books/tapes home with students years ago.  Perfect.  I did a quick walk through of my equipment closet, and thought of what the students and their families could do at home, safely of course.  I also knew I wanted to keep it simple, with the hope that maybe they would be able to get this kind of equipment on their own eventually!

 

 

      I included some information on what to do with the equipment, some statistics on staying active  as a family, and a inventory list.  On the front of the bag, there is a place for a little identification card.  I created a little card that I will fill in the blanks for each kid.  It will say who is "borrowing"  the equipment, and what day it needs to be returned to Linn.  I also include information on this in my monthly newsletter.  I would be lying if I said I wasn't nervous that equipment wouldn't be returned, but decided the benefits would out weigh the risks.  If this works the way I think it will, I hope to expand on this, and possibly purchase equipment for it in the future.  I hope to create excitement with the kiddos about this, and then hopefully they carry that excitement home (literally) and share it with their family.  I am waiting for my info to be translated to Spanish, then they will be distributed to two kids from each grade level, for 2-3 days of use!

 

        There is a lot of excitement in Linn Elementary PE.  Tomorrow is the first "open gym night" this school year.  I am going to write a blog all about this later in the week.  I am also excited to share visitors that will be coming to Linn PE on Friday! 

 

Make a difference!  Get connected.  Follow our #DCelem chat on twitter.  Follow me on twitter too....@baugha.  Search #physed #pegeek, you'll be amazed at what you find!

 

Techy note: I finally figured out (with some help from our ipad/tech guru Jayne) the augmented reality app I talked about earlier.  Aurasma!  It's awesome, I cannot wait to share soon!





 

 

Bye for now!

AB

 

Namaste

      It's been a bit of a crazy week.  I am currently working on my ESOL endorsements, so on Monday's I have a two hour course after work.  I am on the activities committee for our school, we had a meeting on Tuesday.  Last night, I split two meetings, Building Leadership Team, and Healthier Generations.  Tonight we have PTO, and a technology night.  Weekend?  Anyone?  Today, while driving to school I thought of Yoga, and how calming it can be.  So, I quickly decided to change it up a bit, and have the kids do some yoga for their warm up!

    It was wonderful!  I participated in a few of the classes (did it with them).  It felt so great.  Generally speaking, the students were wonderful!  A 5th grade class, that tends to be a little.....wild (trying to find the right word) were awesome!  So awesome, when their teacher picked them up, he was amazed! I am far from a "Yogi" (is that what people who love yoga are called??), but I enjoy it every once in awhile.  I knew, my yoga skills were not great, so I quickly found an acceptable kids yoga video and set up the projector.  It was a great warm up!  I am considering adding it to my regular list of warm ups.  I think everyone can benefit from it!
     Speaking of my projector.  It's been great for me, but let's face it, pushing a cart with speakers, a laptop, and a projector on it to the middle of the gym floor, isn't great.  Add in the extension cord that lays across the floor (I surround it with cones for safety reasons) and it's a little bit of a mess.  This summer I thought how can I fix this?  I am lucky enough to still get money put into Physical Education needs each year.  This year....wait for it....I am buying a flat screen TV and a Apple TV box!  I am so VERY EXCITED!!! This will allow my ipad to "talk" to the TV!  Gone is my clunky cart.  I have had the technology guru stop by, and he cleared it all, now I am waiting for maintenance to help me figure out how we are going to protect it!  This #pegeek absolutely cannot wait!
   Today is also exciting for me.  My first ever newsletter is going home with my students.   A whole page all about PE!  This will be "published," (such a professional word) once a month.  I decided rather than just sending a flyer once a month for open gym night, I would make a whole newsletter!  Speaking of open gym night, I cannot wait to share with you the awesomeness that it is!  But, I got to go, the afternoon kinder's are on their way down!

Make a difference.  Stay active.  Stay connected- #physed #pegeek #dcelem

AB

Football and Fitness

        Do you ever have one of those days where a lesson just comes together?  I had that today, as recently as an hour ago.  I would say my weakness as a PE teacher is teaching the younger grades (K-1).  It's my fault, not theirs.  I lack patience to get my point across, often I have to set back and take a few deep breaths, and remind myself that these are someone's babies....my babies didn't/don't know how to do everything they are asked, and these babies (kids) are no different.  Fast forward to today.  We are working on throwing a football (catching too, but...not yet...one thing at a time).  We had a great game for the older kids, but I knew it simply would not work for the younger kiddos.  No way.   Time to improvise.  We tried several things (Thanks Adam), some worked...some not.  The kids never knew if it was "working" or not, but I SURE DID!  Finally this afternoon it came together.....

Keeping in mind that we have already worked on T-L-Step and throw I gave the kids the following directions. 
1.   You must throw from a RED LINE only...any red line that was around the cones.
2.  You are trying to knock the ball off the cone (throwing with a purpose).
3.  If you knock the ball off you get a point, and you must put the ball back on the cone.
4.  You can only throw from the red line, any RED LINE!
5.  You must RUN to get your ball. 
6.  You may ONLY throw from a RED LINE!

     So, you get my point!  Guess what, it worked!  Sure there were a few kids who struggled with that RED LINE thing, but generally speaking, it was great.  Everyone got to throw the ball several times, we were doing some math, we were moving our bodies, and of course we were HAVING FUN!  Nothing fancy about this lesson, but it worked! It worked well enough that I think I am going to add some elements and make it work for older grades as well. 

    Last night I took part in the first every Dodge City Elementary twitter chat #DCelem...join us every second Monday of the month from 7:30-8:30! It was awesome to get on twitter and chat away.  Such a great/simple way to network/learn/grow/etc.  This made me think about our ipads, and how I seriously CANNOT WAIT for our kids to get them back!  I am just about to explode at the thought of using Augmented Reality in my classroom!  Sounds crazy right?  Look up an app call AURASMA.  There is another one called DAQRI that will be great as well.  Imagine your students scanning (not the word I am looking for but it will work) over a basketball, and a video about basketball pops up on their ipad screen....yep, that cool!  This #PEGEEK cannot wait to check it out!

I gotta go!  Activities committee meeting and watching some volleyball are on the agenda!

Go make a difference, and a twitter account.

AB

It's a Balloon World!

        Today was the beginning of a new unit!  I like to combine football and volleyball into one unit.  We just rotate every couple of days within the unit.  I believe that teaching sports is an important part of physical education.  I keep everything very basic when doing these units.   My thought process behind them is that eventually these students will leave elementary school and move up to Jr. high, high school, college, and eventually have a family.  Knowing the basics of various sports, may be the key to keeping them active (and healthier)! 
      So back to today's lesson.  We started with bumping the "volleyball," which in this case is a balloon.  I own (my school owns) the fancy oversized volleyballs, that I used waaaayyy too much of my PE money on.   I use them eventually, but I discovered quickly, balloons and beach balls are where it's at.  Back to today...bumping.  I kept it really basic, we are in "shortstop,"  (ready position), arms are strait, and hands are together.  You can imagine how many times I had to show the correct way to put your hands together! :)  I also realize that necks begin to ache pretty quickly when waiting for the sloooow balloon to come down.  My fix for that?  Music plays, you can hit the balloon however you would like to, when the music shuts off, we are BUMPING it only! This gave me time to walk and round and do quick evaluations for the future! So if you haven't already, go buy some balloons, kids love them, fantastic/safe way to learn!

 

 

This summer when I was getting the gym ready, I was thinking about how I want to make sure the students are exercising their brain as well as their bodies in PE.  After doing some internet searching, I found an idea that I tweeked a bit.

 

     As my students line up to leave the gym, I encourage them to take a look at the questions, and be ready to give answers.  I randomly ask a few of the kids these questions.  When our ipads get ready (yep, still waiting....boo)  we will use them to answer the questions once in a while!    I have already found that the students are thinking a little bit more.  Throughout the class I carefully point out key words (usually are also on the word wall, or in the Today I am........ statement on the whiteboard).

 

   Last night I laid in bed wide awake thinking about my upcoming presentation at KAHPERD.  I am so excited to share the #pegeek that I am!  I have so many idea's, it's going to be hard narrowing it down to a 1 hour (or less) presentation!  Eeekkk, I am excited.  I wanted to share a few of my favorite apps that I have used frequently.  I have so many more that I cannot wait to try out! Watch for feedback in upcoming posts!

 

Apps:

Educreations (awesome way for students to see a picture of themselves doing a skill and be able to speak their evaluation, then send it on to me)

 

Counter Up: Great scoreboard up, simple but effective!

 

Qrafter Pro: Have you explored QR codes yet? They make perfect stations, demonstrations, the list goes on and on!

 

     I'm out of time for today.  If your going to check out just one of these apps, go for Educreations (maybe my very favorite)!   Also, I am part of a three person team who is starting a elementary teacher twitter chat on the second Monday of each month from 7:30-8:30pm.  The hash tag you want to search for is #DCELEM  It will be an awesome way for you to find others educators and chat!  The first night (Sept. 8th) is for Twitter Newbies, so If you do not have an account....you have a problem, now go fix it!

 

Make a difference!

AB

Follow Me!  @baugha