December Newsletter

Dear Parents and Guardians,

Your children have just finished a dance unit in Physical Education class. Throughout the past four weeks, the entire school learned and practiced a variety of modern/social dances. You might have even seen a few of their dance moves at home! The upper grades worked tirelessly to create and choreograph their own dance routines, which they performed in front of their classmates. We had a fantastic, creative dance unit with all the students, and are looking forward to the upcoming unit.

Beginning in the month of December, we will start a Gymnastics unit (tumbling, stunts and balance) for grades K-1. Upper grades 2-4 will begin a basketball unit.

The K-2 grades will be introduced to gymnastics fundamentals in tumbling such as: log roll, forward roll, egg roll, and static and dynamic balance routines; as well as stunts activities including jumping and landing on one foot or two feet.  While participating in these activities, your child will understand the importance of safety, respect, and staying focused. Your child will also develop spatial and body awareness, coordination, muscle strength, endurance and flexibility.  This unit aligns with the PE National Standards and Grade-Level Outcomes, which say, “students will be able to demonstrate competency in motor skills and selected combinations of skills used in Gymnastics.”

Upper grades will spend the first three weeks of the month learning the fundamentals of the game of Basketball. The lessons will focus on dribbling, passing and shooting skills. All of the activities are designed to include and challenge all students’ abilities. Students will learn fundamental

basketball skills, work together and maintain enjoyable, health-promoting physical activity (moderate to vigorous).

By the end of the unit students will able to demonstrate proper dribbling techniques, dribble with proficiency, and understand that dribbling helps to advance the ball down the court.

Thank you again for helping us to have successful Physical Education classes. Feel free to contact us if you have any questions or concerns.

Sincerely,

Emmanuel Riby-Williams and Marie "MJ" Jennings 

K-1 Planetary Parachute Fun!

October Newsletter

Dear Parents and Guardians,

Physical Education (PE) is an integral part of UES.  In PE, we work on developing the whole child (physical, cognitive, social and affective qualities).  We have just completed a unit on cooperative learning where a variety of motor skills and learning expectations were presented to help facilitate student development.  We also stressed development of positive social skills within the classroom environment, which could be translated into other areas of life.

  

Throughout the past five weeks the students were encouraged to work with their peers, learn how to communicate effectively, and work to include 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 a “river” using only a limited number of hula hoops.  The students had to come up with a strategy and communicate with one another to successfully cross the river as a group while traveling on the hula hoops. They found success after much trial and error, and it was clear students thoroughly enjoyed this challenge!

This week each student did a self-assessment on the four learning objectives that we set for students in the cooperative skills unit. The objectives are: listening and following directions; working very well with everyone; using equipment properly and safely; and showing respect to everyone.  This was based on a scale of 1-4 (1- None of the Time, 2 - Some of the Time, 3 - Most of the Time and 4 - All the Time). Please initiate a conversation with your child to see how well sh/e assessed him/herself.

Beginning in the month of October, we will start a soccer unit for grades 2 through 4, and grades K through 1 will begin a parachute unit. Soccer is the world’s most popular sport and is played in nearly every country by young and old alike. The soccer unit will provide activities for students to practice and develop fundamental skills such as ball handling, dribbling, passing, receiving, and shooting, all of which are required for successful game play. Aligned with the new national standards, these activities are designed to include and challenge all students’ physical, cognitive, social and affective skills. Classes will be held at Harrison Field! Kindergarten and grade one 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: http://www.uesfitnessforlife.blogspot.com

Best,

Emmanuel Riby-Williams and Marie "MJ" Jennings, Physical Educators, Union Elementary School

2015-2016 Physical Education Yearly Plan

	K-1	2-4
August/September	Foundation/ Spatial Awareness/ Cooperative Learning	Expectations/ Cooperative Learning
October	Parachute	Soccer
November	Rhythmic/ Dance	Dance
December	Balance, Tumbling and Stunts	Basketball
January	Dribbling, Kicking and Trapping	Juggling/ Circus Unit
February	Winter Outdoor Activities	Snowshoeing/ Winter Outdoor Activities
March	Jump Rope	Jump Rope
April	Dribbling, Volleying and Striking	Volleyball
May	Rolling, Underhand, Overhand and Catching	Flying Disc
June	Cooperative Activities	Lacrosse/ Cooperative Activities

The bedrock of UES P.E. Program is FITNESS FOR LIFE!

Grades K-1 focus on movement, while grades 2-4 focus on skills. Fitness is a daily activity.

Mile Run

Students set a personal goal for the mile run this week, and tried their best to achieve their goal!

We will be repeating this again in the Spring- can't wait! 

September Newsletter- Welcome Back!

Dear Parents and Guardians,

Welcome to Union Elementary School Physical Education!  Your children will be moving and learning in PE class this year.  Classes will be 45 minutes long, twice a week. On the back of this letter you will find our schedules.  Feel free to stop in the gym or on Harrison field anytime to see your child in action.  We always have a chair ready to make you feel welcome or you may choose to participate with your child!

Your child should come prepared and ready for movement on gym days by wearing: sneakers, pants or shorts with elastic band, and a short sleeve shirt.  On cool days, we will wear our sweaters or sweatshirts outside. It’s important for your child to come prepared so they will be comfortable and safe for all our activities.  It is always a great idea to have sunscreen on your children on the bright days, as they will be working outside.

During class the children will enjoy moving to music with various equipment, dribbling balls with their head and feet, balancing, tumbling, manipulating a volleyball, dancing, snowshoeing, juggling and much more.  We will also start to learn and enjoy how important it is for our hearts to beat fast through our award-winning Jump Rope for Heart program.

Union Elementary School will be having an Open House this fall, and would love for you to join us in the gym and learn all about our curriculum. More information about this night will be sent out soon.

If we can be of help, please feel free to call us at school 225-8264. Or e-mail us at either emmanuaelr@mpsvt.org or  mariej@mpsvt.org.

Feel free to check out our blog: uesfitnessforlife.blogspot.com  

Thank you very much for your support at home!

Sincerely,

Emmanuel Riby-Williams and Marie (MJ) Jennings

Physical Education Teachers

MJ’s Schedule:

TIME	MONDAY	TUESDAY	WEDNESDAY	THURSDAY	FRIDAY
8:35-9:20 4th Grade	Pierce	Pierce	Adams	Adams
9:25- 10:25	TIER 2 Support
10:30-11:15 1st Grade	Closter	Dostie	Dostie	Closter	Koch
11:20-12:05 3rd Grade		Pine	Beaupre	Beaupre	Pine
12:55-1:40 K	Cody	Cody	Mello	Mello	Whalen
1:50-2:35 2nd Grade	Quinn	Reed	Reed	Quinn	Popoli
2:25- 2:40	Closing Circle

Mr. William’s Schedule:

	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
8:35-9:20		Hickey	Hickey	Lloyd	Lloyd
9:25-10:25	Tier II
10:30-11:15	Bates	Koch	Wrigley	Wrigley	Bates
11:20-12:05	Slesar	Slesar		McLane	McLane
12:55-1 :40	Robinson	Whalen	Robinson	Weistein	Weistein
1:45- 2:30	Blodgett	Popoli	Mears	Mears	Blodegtt
2:35-2:50	Closing Circle

Frisbee Fun!

Finishing off another successful bike week! Thanks to Local Motion for providing a trailer full of 40+ bikes!

Winners from our Jump Rope for Heart Jumptastic Competition!

March Newsletter

 Dear Parents and Guardians,

Union Elementary School is hosting Jump Rope For Heart from March 9^th through 27^th.  Jump Rope For Heart is a community service-learning program of the American Heart Association.  It teaches kids:

•            The importance of developing heart-healthy habits
•           Being physically active can be fun
•            Raising funds to support research and education they help save lives across the country and in their community

 Please keep in mind these event dates:

Kickoff Assembly: Week of March 5^th

Envelopes passed out: March 5^th (Grades 2-5 Only!)

Envelopes Due: March 27^th

Thank you!

Marie “MJ” Jennings and Emmanuel Riby-Williams