October Newsletter

Dear Parents and Guardians,

Welcome to UES Physical Education for another school year.  Physical education is an integral part of UES.  Childhood obesity has increased dramatically in our country.  As a result there has been an increase in diabetes and high blood pressure in our children.  Our main goal is to teach children the importance of being physically active for life. 

This is also a very important time for development in our children.  We have just completed a unit on cooperative games where a variety of motor and life skills were presented to help facilitate their development.  We also stressed cooperation and development of good social skills with peers and teachers.  Throughout the past five weeks the students were encouraged to work with their peers and learned how to communicate effectively, and work with everyone in their class.  One of the most enjoyed activities of the unit was, Crossing the Raging River, which had students work in small groups to try to cross the “river” using only a limited number of poly-spots (rocks.) The students had to come up with a strategy and communicate with one another to successfully cross the river as a group. They found success after much trial and error, and it was clear students thoroughly enjoyed this challenge! This activity was just a snapshot of what was taught during the cooperative unit. We had a great first few weeks of getting to know our new kindergarteners, and we look forward to building rapport and positive relationship with our old students. 

Beginning the month of October, we will begin a Soccer unit for grades 3 through 5, and grades K through 2 will begin a parachute unit.

Soccer is the World’s most popular sport played in nearly every country by young and old alike. During this month students will start a Soccer unit that provides activities to practice and develop fundamental skills such as; ball handling, dribbling, passing and receiving, and shooting on goal required for successful game play. Aligned with the National and State standards these activities are designed to include and challenge all students’ motor and social skills, and to improve their health-related fitness.  Classes will be held at Harrison field!

The Kindergarten through grade 2 will be introduced to Parachute activities and games. Parachute is one of the most widely known and loved activities for this age group. We will be teaching the students a wide-variety of activities focused around social skills. Your child will have the opportunity to use his or her creative mind through a variety of movements.

 Feel free to contact us if you have any questions or concerns or visit our blog: at http://www.uesfitnessforlife.blogspot.com 

Thank you for helping us work with your children. 

Best,

Emmanuel Riby-Williams and Marie "MJ" Jennings 

Physical Educators, Union Elementary