The Worst Best Week of the Year

Before you start asking... Oh No, what went wrong, let me explain myself. I tell my students every year during the first week of school that I am so excited to be back at school with new students and especially this year with a new school. This is the absolute truth. I love my job and I feel bad for others who do not get to have the fun I have at school with my students. That right there is the problem with the first week.I tell the kids when they come for the first class, that that day will be the most I talk all year. It just has to be like that. Especially this yer not knowing when I will be leaving. I have to explain everything to them in one week where I usually break it up in to several weeks.  We have to talk about rules and procedures etc. I feel bad for them because in their mind I know they are saying to themselves "this is not PE" and I agree. Now we do get moving on the fist day playing a game at the end of class, but my goal is to have the students moving at least two thirds of the class.

So what do you do on the first day? 

Squads
The first thing I do every year is put the students into squads. Squads are lines that not only help me know what students are present and learn names quicker, but also it gives the students a specific spot to sit when I need them to sit. We are not in our squads for very long each day, but it gives the students direction when they walk in the gym. They know what is expected when they walk into the door.

Rules
 Next, we talk about is our PE Rules.  My 5 P.E. Rules are based on  the whole brain teaching model. I have done a post in the past about my rules called "Can Whole Brain Teaching Work in Your Gym". The 5 Rules that we talk about each have a hand signal that helps the student remember the rule and it also helps me out as I can tell a student what he/she is doing wrong from across the gym without having a full out conversation in gym voice mode.

Procedures
Lastly, we talk about all the other procedures that need to be discussed. How to Line up, Where to go for a fire drill and what we would do for a  lock down in case there was an intruder in the building. I try not to scare them with those ideas of a fire or lock down, but its best to know what to do if it does happen then to panic and go into chaos mode.

Before the students leave we play a game. This year we played the game aggravation. I will talk about aggravation in a later post when I talk about instant activities.

Below is a Blendspace that is an outline of the first day. I planned on using my Smartboard to display this, but it was not ready yet so we made do with the "Not Smart Board" or white board.

Guess Who's Back?

Where did you go?

Wow... so I really have missed being on here. When I started this blog I wanted it to be a showcase of all the cool innovative things I was doing in my class.   Last year just got away from me and I am now at a new school and really excited to get this going again. I will be updating my blog more often this year and using it not only as a way to spread what innovative things my classes are doing here at Doby's Bridge Elementary, but to also keep all my parents up to date with what their child is doing in PE.

Now as I say that "I'm Back", I will be leaving school very soon. My wife and I are expecting a baby girl this month. I will keep everyone informed on the process and while I know I will enjoy starting a new chapter at home, I will also be really excited about getting back and starting a new professional teaching chapter as soon as I can get back. 

So... What is New?

(Gym Smart Board will be on a cart)

Well along with being at a new school comes new toys. Now let me say when I say new school, I mean NEW... brand new! This the biggest elementary school I have ever been in. Oh and the technology! Each classroom has a SmartTV (seen to the right). These things are amazing! I had a regular smart board in my old gym, but this baby has so many updates. No more projectors means no more shadows! This thing is literally a 72 inch TV! In the Gym we will have one on a cart that can be rolled anywhere in the gym and be stored a way in the equipment room. This year I will be running all my music off an iPod Touch. No more 1990's boom box!  Oh and did I mention this school is BRAND NEW! This means new equipment. 

Well... I am going to leave you with some pictures of the new gym and surrounding areas. Get excited for a new school year!