December Weekly Observances

Cookie Cutter Week (1-7)

A cookie cutter is used to make identical molds or shapes. In some physical activity settings, making symmetrical (e.g., rhythmic gymnastics) or identical movements to one’s partner or group are keys to success (e.g., synchronized swimming), while in others making contrasting movements is vital (e.g., contra dances, most sports that require offense and defense). In honor of this week, the following list of activities play off of the theme of a cookie cutter.

• Rhythmic gymnastics with scarves – an individual with 2 scarves works on symmetrical movement or partners work with 1 or 2 scarves in follow-the-leader fashion (mirroring or matching)
• Lummi stick routines individually or with a partner – similar tasks as rhythmic gymnastics
• Playing games of H-O-R-S-E with basketball, volleyball, soccer, etc. (require a target to shoot at; players attempt to match or better the outcome of partners)
• Square dancing, line dancing, circle dancing
• Mirror Game – students match movements, poses, and facial expressions of a leader; new leader is selected every 30 seconds (Good warmup!)

Tell Someone They’re Doing a Good Job Week (14-20)

Physical education class is one of the few content areas, which require public performance of the content and implicit/explicit judgment about the quality of a performance or its outcome. During this week, plan activities that require reciprocal teaching, teamwork, cooperation, and/or evaluation with the proviso that every child must be able to recognize and convey a job well done to others. At the end of each day, ask students how many times they told a peer s/he was doing a good job. You can post class results on a wall chart to show progress toward the class doing a good job. Link lessons to the real world (i.e., Does a parent ever tell you that you’re doing a good job? Does a parent ever tell you when a boss told him/her that s/he was doing a good job? Why do we need to tell people when they do well?)

International Language Week (15-21)

A few easy ways to re-make yourself and your students into polyglots include:

• Using basic phrases (e.g., hello, thank you, good day, how are you) in many languages -- http://www.elite.net/~runner/jennifers/
• Turning your gym (verbally and through posters) into a gímnasio – See Teaching Elementary Physical Education Journal, January 2000, pp. 19-21 for a Spanish PE glossary.
• Counting from 1 to 10 in thousands of different languages (in PE we’re always counting) – http://www.zompist.com/

It’s About Time Week (25-31)

Recent research in 7^th grade PE environments revealed that out of 105 hours scheduled for PE, only 24 were spent engaged in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity and only 8 were spent in vigorous physical activity. It is amazing how much time is lost due to scheduling SNAFUs, poor management, high wait time, etc. When motor learning teaches us that upwards of 100 hours are required to acquire a new skill (e.g., golf swing), it is sobering to reflect on how time is spent in PE. We need students to engage in outside-of-PE and outside-of-school activity to reinforce PE lessons and accrue meaningful minutes of activity. A time analysis of students’ lives provides a cross-disciplinary means for middle school students to record, analyze, and evaluate how they spend their time and can be a launching point for goal setting and behavior change in New Year 2004. Provide students with two 24-hour recording sheets divided into 15- or 30-minute time segments. Students should record all activities for an entire week and weekend day (including sleeping). Provide students with categories under which they can report subtotals (e.g., sleeping, eating, sedentary activity, school work, PE, school physical activity, outside-of-school physical activity which can include chores) and then have them calculate percentages for each category and compare week and weekend day percentages. Finally, have them write out healthful goals they can aspire toward and how they intend to achieve them. This project should link math, PE, and language arts teachers and classes.