This month all classes played classic physical education games and were given choices of different games to choose from as a class each day. I love giving the students opportunity to have an input on their learning and it also allows me to see what the students enjoy most. Since we have done a lot of units recently, I took this month to give the students a break from that. This months focus for all classes were strategies, team work, sportsmanship and attitude throughout all the different games we played.

Ms. Zaid and Ms. Louila class did a good amount of obstacle courses, which is always a big hit with them. One of the favorite games was called “get your trash off my yard”. In this game, I put out a ton of different balls that resembled the “trash”. The students split into two teams and throw or kick the garbage of their own yard and it put it on their neighbors. We played plenty of rounds of this and the kids really enjoyed it. Since the start of the new year beginning in January I have been starting P.E class with a fitness warm up using music. I have found this to work really well and the kids and receive a lot of joy out of it. These are also very useful at home to get your child active and moving while having fun. If you have Apple Music, they offer a ton of different movement songs for kids for example the Kaboomers are a great one and the kids favorite in class. They also offer a playlist of fun fitness songs called Kids fit fun!

The K-2nd grade classes did some of the same things as Ms. Zaid and Loulia class, but there favorite activities was when they got to pretend they were driving cars using hula hoops as their steering wheels. Since they enjoyed that one so much we also did one similar to where we used Hula hoops as spaceships and did a countdown as a class till blast off. It was great to see the students use their imaginations while moving around the room and being active.

The 3rd-8th grade classes really got to take advantage of choice days and being able to express what they wanted to do for the day with boundaries. Some students have different opportunities on different days. For instance, picking between games I offered, giving an option of a game they want to try, know of, or picking the equipment. The students always enjoy to play gaga ball, but the original game is played in a gaga ball pit so I made a DIY one using tables. Gaga ball is similar to dodge ball but it is a different variation which allows no throwing or targeting. The students played everyone for themselves and after each round the gaga ball pit would get smaller and make it more challenging. The students loved it so much that I decided to try and play it as teams and this really involved them working together. They really have to be careful not to get their own teammate out!

Throughout the month of March Ms. Zaid and Louila class played different variations of tag games each day. Some tag games the students worked together and others were individually focused. Tag games are great for younger kids because it helps develop a variety of physical attributes such as spatial awareness, coordination, and loco motor skills.

The K-2nd grade classes did an indoor soccer unit where we worked on 3 main skills: footwork, dribbling, passing, and kicking. Once the students showed me they were comfortable with the skills we moved onto game play. Below are pictures of some of the soccer games the students played.

March is the month of Madness for college basketball. Throughout this month we did a basketball unit and I created a Plato March Madness bracket for the upper classes. We were fortunate enough to be able to use the Bulgarian schools gym down the street from us. The students were very excited to be able to play on an indoor basketball court. The other classes played bubble knockout on different baskets each day. The students really enjoyed shooting on the basket that goes behind the door. Something new we also started this month was combining the upper classes together and having longer class periods. The classes are split into two Chris/Ana and Patrick/Beth. We got great feedback from this an the students enjoyed the longer P.E time and being able to have more classmates join them. Below our some pictures from our March Madness month. Looking ahead I hope everyone enjoys their spring breaks! When we come back we will have 3 big units left; flag football, wiffle ball and Kickball. Ms. Zaid and Louila class will do small lessons similar to those sports and we will be focusing on playing a lot of cooperative games where students will work together.

It’s January and a New Year! I am very excited to be back. ALL the classes are working on striking skills. The Unit for this month is Pickle ball which is a sport played with a wooden paddle and a wiffle ball. This sport is so fun and different and really made for all ages.

The Pre-K students aren’t exactly doing pickle ball but they worked on using different implements while striking. For instance they used the paddle from pickle ball, pool noodles, and their hands/feet. We used pool noodles a lot throughout this unit. Students used them to strike balloons, strikes a ball off the baseball tee, anused it for hockey skills. Their favorite activity was definitely being able to use the large exercise ball. They got into a circle were they would strike the exercise ball using their hands first then we switched to our feet all while keeping the ball inside the circle.

Pickle ball is similar to 3 other sports: tennis, ping pong and bad Minton. The skills we focused on were forehand and backhand swing. The students also learned how to serve properly in pickle ball. Ask your child which side of the court they should serve from? We stuck to the basics in pickle ball and spent about two weeks on skills since this was new to a lot of the students. During game play the students who were not playing at the time were referees and engaged in the game. This really helped the students understand the scoring and specific rules to the game. It was fun to see some students get really into being the referee and making great calls.

The K-2nd students didn’t go straight into games instead we did a lead up game called floor ball which helped them practice there for hand and back hand striking skills but while keeping the ball on the floor. The students loved this game and got to play 1v1 and 2v2 style. I was able to see them using their skills as individuals and with a teammate. After some practice with our lead up games the students played pickleball but instead of using a wiffle ball they used a small beach ball. This allowed them to have more control of the ball while still playing the game properly with all the rules being used.

We finally ended our unit with a Round Ribbon tournament. It was great to see the competitiveness in each student individually. As we get closer to the spring we will come back to pickle ball and do 2v2 tournament outside with more space.

In the month of December it was a bit shorter due to winter break and all the classes focused on one unit. The preschool and kinder students got to do gymnastics and started the unit off with balance. They practiced with bean bags and tried to balance them in different positions on their body. We also practiced different yoga poses such as being able to balance on one foot. We moved onto using the gymnastic mats and the students each got to lead and be different animals and all the other students would follow. On our second mat day the students practiced different rolls such as forward roll, pencil roll, egg roll, and barrel roll. On our last mat day the students practiced jumping and landing with balance on the mat. For a bit of a challenge I changed the heights and the students started to show they were ready to move on.

All the other classes participated in a volleyball unit. This unit Incorporated a lot of different skills such as bump, serving and spiking. These were important key words that we focused on throughout the whole unit and students always went back to during game play. You can ask your child what part of their hand they should be serving with? Or when they bump the ball how should there hands look? These were all things the students learned throughout are couple weeks of volleyball. A big favorite was volleyball 4 square or the middle school students also liked playing mini volleyball where they played on their knees and it was a bit more challenging. For the younger students, the nets were lower but they still played using the same rules.

Looking ahead, I am excited for the new year and looking forward to the following units that will include: Pickle ball, spike ball, flag football and wiffle ball.

Throughout the month of November Ms. Zaid’s class started off with a small soccer unit. They started off with a small soft ball and then we moved onto using an actual soccer ball.The kids learned how to control the ball by practicing soft touches and keeping the ball close to them. As they began to learn how to control the ball we got into trapping the ball and passing with partners.

Throughout the month of November the 1st-8th grade students all got to do a floor hockey unit. The skills that were focused on in this unit were stuck handling, passing, and scoring. During week 1 the students were introduced to hockey terms and practiced the skills. Week 2 the students did mini hockey games and on then got to do one big class game. One thing I would like to point out is the variety of balls we used. For the younger students we focused on using a bigger softer ball to help gain ball control before we used a puck and or smaller ball. For the older kids as a challenge we used plastic mini balls, tennis balls, and plastic hockey pucks. This allowed for the students to work on their ball control in a variety of different ways some were easier than others.

For thanksgiving all the little ones got to make Turkeys using all the P.E equipment I gave them. It was award one to see their creativeness and imagination. Here our some pictures below!

Throughout the month of October the preschool and kindergarten students worked on their loco-motor skills. These are skills that allow students to move their body from one place to another. Examples of these movements are running, walking, skipping, galloping, hopping and sliding. One way we practiced these skills was I created an animal obstacle course. The kids got to pretend they were at the zoo and go around to each station (animal) and perform the loco motor skill.

We also played a game called bean bag shuffle where the kids all had different bean bags and each color was a different loco-motor skill. I played music and the students had to identify which loco motor skill they should be performing based on the color they had. This meant mostly everyone was doing a different skill throughout the gym, but when I stopped the music the kids had to drop the bean bag and find a new color and do a different skill.

We played other games such as hula hoop musical chairs, red light green light, Simon says, and of course everyone’s favorite duck duck goose.

At the end of the month we did one activity that was not related to loco-motor skills where the students got to use their feet instead of their hands. This focused a lot on foot coordination and the students really enjoyed trying something new!

Ms. Demetra and Ms. Lisa”s class got to do a basketball unit this month. They practiced their dribbling, shooting and learned about offense and defense. The first week was all skilled based where the students got to do the Cha Cha Slide using a basketball where they practiced dribbling and ball control. To build on their dribbling skills I started with cone dribbling but instead of going right into dribbling, I had the students roll the ball around the cones to get comfortable with it. When we practiced shooting some modifications I made was allowing students the option to shoot in the higher rim or using a hula hoop as the basket as well. Throughout the basketball unit we also used different variations of balls small and large bouncy balls and small and large basketballs.

Throughout the month of October the 3rd-8th graders finished up their soccer unit with a tournament. Since they just completed two big units we took a break from sports and played PE teams games for the remainder of the month. Some favorites were Capture the ball which is very similar to capture the flag. Another one was King cone where students practiced on their team work, invasion, throwing and defending skills. There were two teams and each team had 3 cones and a mini basketball hoop. The goal of the game is to knock down the other teams cones before they know yours down. The kids are allowed to protect their cones and play defense while there were offensive players who were throwers.

Other games we played were slap ball, king cone knockdown, and gaga ball is a big favorite.

Finally here are some pictures from Halloween where all the classes did different spooky relay races!

Throughout the month of September preschool-2nd grade has been focusing on Throwing, catching, and rolling in P.E. The students first learned the basic throwing cues for an underhand and overhand throw. The students got to participate at different target stations to practice throwing. Our most popular target was where I had the projector set up with moving objects for the kids to hit. 

After they got to practice throwing for some time we got to play a game called move the mountain. I used a big exercise ball and put it in the center of the gym with two teams on opposite sides of it. Students would begin throwing their balls at the “mountain” and try to move it to the other team’s side by aiming at it. This was a big hit and the kids loved it!

Next, we focused on catching. I started off with balloons with most of the younger students. Balloons are great for beginner catching because it gives the kids more time to react and keep their eye on the ball. The kids really enjoyed the balloons especially when they got to throw it up as high as they could and see how many times they could clap in between. 

Lastly, we learned the proper way to roll a ball similar to bowling. The kids got to go through a series of stations practicing their rolling by trying to knock down different targets. The students really enjoyed the bowling pins where they got to set them up however they liked and tried to knock them down. 

Throughout the month of September the 3rd-8th graders finished up their basketball unit with a Plato Academy 7 game series. The series was played similar to the NBA where it’s first to win four games. The kids did really well and it was great seeing what they learned from our skill weeks being shown during game play with each other. 

After basketball was finished we started our soccer unit. Our first week of soccer was skill based where the kids practiced footwork and dribbling the soccer ball, passing, and kicking. We are still in the process of our soccer unit and we have been playing some lead up soccer games like 4 corner soccer and line soccer to prepare for game play. 

Looking ahead: once we finish our soccer unit the kids will get a break from unit sports and we will focus on some team building activities. 

Dear Parents, 

I am excited to share what the students have been doing in PE since the start of the school year! 

Pre-K-2nd grade students have been working on their spatial and body awareness. We talked about how everyone has their own space, and we need to respect and be aware of others around us. Throughout some of our games students were given a hula hoop or spot to stand on that represented their space in the gym. We did things from balancing bean bags on different parts of the body, Simon Says, Following the Leader, and Body Bubbles. The games that the students enjoyed the most were Musical Hula Hoops and Musical Poly Spots. 

3rd-8th graders started their basketball unit after the first week of school. Throughout each unit we will spend one to two weeks on skills, and one week on games. So far the kids have learned how to dribble using their finger tips, shoot using the acronym BEEF,  (Be sure to ask your child what each letter stands for.) and we practiced doing a layup using the correct footwork. They also learned three different types of passing a chest, bounce and overhead pass. They have been working very hard and excited to do game play next week.    

Feel free to reach out with any questions and concerns!

Your Partner in Education, 

Coach Alexis

Welcome to the 2022-2023 school year. My name is Ms. Alexis and I will be your physical education teacher this year! I am new here at Plato and looking forward to meeting you and your family. This year is going to be filled with so many fun games that will have you so excited about physical education. We will play games to get to know each other and it will also help during our team building activities. Our space will be fun, inviting and open for everyone! 

I hope your summer was filled with fun and I can’t wait to hear all about it. This summer I spent a lot of time doing what I love most, which is basketball. I coached a 6th grade basketball team, taught private basketball lessons and of course played basketball with my friends.  Other than that I spent a lot of time with family and friends and enjoyed the sun and outdoors. 

Instead of telling you all about me here is a picture of what it would look like if you were in my shoes. I can’t wait to see what your shoes will look like!

Your Partner in Education,
Ms. Alexis Marin
P.E Teacher

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