Welcome back to yet another issue of the Elementary Page on PElinks4u ! In this issue we'd like to share some ideas for Thanksgiving and Winter activities. Another issue we're attempting to explore is differentiating assessments to address the diversity of learning modalities of the children in our class.

Please continue to share with us your ideas. We can make PE a PEAK EXPERIENCE for kids through ongoing collaboration and sharing of experiences!

Marina Bonello
Elementary Section Editor

Assessment in Physical Education has been closely looked upon during the last years. The idea of developing child-centered individualized assessments and differentiating instruction and assessments in the classroom has led me to explore how this can be done also in my elementary physical education program. Starting off with two units of work focusing on the Movement Concepts of "Levels " and "Symmetry and Asymmetric"y, I tried to provide second graders with choices on how they could demonstrate their understanding of the concepts. I attempted to provide them with choices - drawing, writing, performing, labeling, project alternatives in the quest to provide them with alternative assessments on these unit of work whilst still addressing the same assessment criteria.

Exploring Levels

Symmetry and Asymmetry

School PE Programs in Sorry Shape

Very little exercise in today's PE classes, plenty of blame to go around

This article was recently featured on Web MD. It paints a bleak picture of physical education programs in today's schools in the USA. Yet, the American Academy of Pediatrics advises a minimum of 30 to 60 minutes a day of physical activity -- "playing outside, brisk walking, low impact sports, even just plain catch," says William F. King, Jr., MD, a professor of pediatrics at Temple Children's Hospital in Philadelphia.

Original article:
http://my.webmd.com/content/Article/
60/67226.htm