Volleyball

We began our volleyball unit a few weeks ago.  In that time we were able to practice the fundamentals of the game (passing, serving, hitting) along with the rules. 

I have had a lot of students ask when we can play "Dead Fish" again.  It was a game to practice serving, if the server didn't get the ball over they had to lay on the floor of the opposite court.  Someone from their team could get them back in by serving a ball to them.  I made sure to go to each team and help get some people back in to serve. 

Another game that the students participated in was "Queen's/King's Court".  This game was to practice playing the ball over the net, except there are only three people playing against three other people.  The students on the West court (Kings/Queens) had the job of defending their spot.  There were three lines on the East court where three students would fill in on the court trying to beat the players on the other side.

The girls were captains and they chose their teams this week.  You can find a list of the teams on the Teams & Tournament  Results page. (<- click there)  We will begin the tournament after break.

Happy Holidays!

Hoops For Hunger

In the weeks leading up to the game there was an assembly kick-off that had two of the basketball players and a short video from the coach.  They threw candy to the crowd to get the kids pumped up for the game.  The purpose of Hoop for Hunger is to bring non perishable food and money donations for the community.  Then on Wednesday, December 5th the whole school made its way to McGuirk Area to watch CMU's women's basketball play against Green Bay.  The Chippewas started off slow, but won with a final score 54-50. 

At half time representatives from each school made their way on to the court.  Ms. Burlington went down with Drew, Juliet, and Adrianna.  The coveted food trophy goes to the school that donated the most.  And the winner was...Mary McGuire Elementary!!!  Woohoo!

This was my first year attending the event and it was a great opportunity for the students to help out their community and enjoy a basketball game.  One fourth grader told me, "This is an early Christmas gift!"  He was so excited that he said it felt like Christmas to him.  It was fun to be able to experience this with the students, since I never get to go on field trips.  I just wish I had remembered my money for a hot dog or nachos.

**pictures to follow
 

The Parent/Teacher Conferences CHALLENGE

On Monday, November 19th I will be at Pullen from 10-1 & 2-5 for conferences. 

On Tuesday, November 20th we have a half day in the morning.  I will be at McGuire 1-4 & 5-8, please come see me if you have any questions, comments, or concerns.  And also to...

CHALLENGE YOUR PARENTS

I will set up our fitness testing equipment for you to challenge your parents.

• PACER test
• Pull-ups
• Curl-ups
• Shuttle Run
• Sit & Reach 
• Outside - Mile run...? J

If you don't want to challenge, you can always come in and say "Hello".

YouTube Video

A sixth grader, Chloe, suggested that I take a look at this YouTube video of a nine year old girl playing football.  I was impressed by this young girl's determination.  She was able to run fast and refused to be tackled.

Football & Stations



Our warm-up on the day of stations was relay team spelling.  Each team had a small white board and they were asked to finish my sentence with the correct spelling of the word.  The first person in line raced down to the white board and wrote the first letter, then the second person, and so on.  The words they had to spell correctly were there, their, and they're.  We finished the face with a bonus of choose the correct word from "to, too, or two".  As you can see from the pictures below they were so fast I couldn't even get a good picture.

I think these are Nancy's fast feet.

Sid during the spelling warm-up.

Kyle is holding the climbing rope wall for Alex.

Football station

Nelson & Terry practicing the standing long jump.

Chloe's feet during the speedy spelling warm-up.

Fitness Testing Top Ten Lists

Each class has finished fitness testing.  They will test again in the spring.  The results of the top ten from each grade and all school are posted here.  I will also post them in the gym.

We started practicing our football throwing and catching.  Each student had a chance to be the quarterback and a receiver.  I'm glad we had such nice weather to get outside.  I wish it stay forever! 

Finishing our Fitness Testing

Last week we were able to continue our Fitness testing.  This week we will have a chance for anyone to make it up.  For pictures from Fitness testing click here.

Andy getting ready for the sit and reach flexibility test.

Our next unit is Football, so the 6th graders will be starting with throwing to a stationary target and a moving target along with catching the ball with their hands.  We will discuss the "complete" and "incomplete" passes.  As well as reviewing the proper throwing form.

PACER Top Ten Lists

A yogurt parfait to the first person to comment or tell me the correct answer to the following question.

We ran laps in the PACER test that were 20 meters long.  If there are 1609.34 meters in a mile.  How many laps would it take to complete a mile? 

A 6th grader named Alex figured out the answer on 10/29!  He gets yogurt parfait.

And here are the results.  They are also listed on the Top Ten page (click here).

Jack P.	52
Brigid B.	45
M.S.	44
Charles H.	42
Connor D.	36
Kouper P.	34
Dana H.	33
Zach M.	33
Kaleb H.	33
Nathan A.	33

5th Grade

Hunter C.	61
Mason P.	52
William P.	52
Terry W.	51
Jack R.	51
Trent B.	48
Alexis E.	46
Charlotte W.	44
Schyler M.	43
Andrew S.	43

6th Grade

Hunter C.	6th	61
Jack P.	5th	52
Mason P.	6th	52
William P.	6th	52
Terry W.	6th	51
Jack R.	6th	51
Trent B.	6th	48
Alexis E.	6th	46
Brigid B.	5th	45
M.S.	5th	44

All School Top Ten

Finished Soccer & Began Fitness Testing

This week the teams finished their soccer tournaments, see playoff information here.  Check out the following short video clip of a class displaying good sportsmanship at the end of their soccer game.

We also started our fitness testing this week.  The weather was not ideal, so only two classes ran the mile.  When we were forced inside the students challenged themselves with a new running challenge...the PACER test.  It is part of the FitnessGram test.  This is the only test from FitnessGram that they will be pre and post tested on this year.  Traditionally we complete the Presidential Fitness challenges.

Anyway, the PACER test has the participants run across the gym (marked off for 20 meters) and they have to make it to the other set of cones before the beep.  The CD (click to here it on YouTube) has a beep and a male voice calling out the number of laps they have completed.  The time between the beeps starts off slow and gradually gets faster.  A partner kept track of the number of laps completed.  Not all of the classes have participated, but the highest number I've seen this fall is 61 from Hunter C., a sixth grader.  The following video is not of Hunter C., but of few fifth graders during the PACER test.

Figuring out the math
Hunter C. completed 61 laps multiplied by 20 meters, which is equal to 1220 meters.
If there are 1609.34 meters in a mile, she almost completed a mile at a fast pace. Great job Hunter C.!

I can't wait to see how the rest of the classes perform during this new challenge.  I laughed because many students wanted to try it again.  I let them know that they will be practicing it throughout the year during warm-ups and will retested in the spring.

I almost forgot the best part...one of the students didn't have a partner.  When the partners were asked to switch roles, he told me that I needed to participate.  Me, being the great role model that I am, put a smile on my face and gave it a try.  I ended up with 32 laps.  I told that class that I will be participating in warm-ups with them to see if I can improve my score too.  I love a challenge!

Finishing the mile and other fitness testing next week.  Wednesday during lunch recess will be the aforementioned soccer tournament conclusion.  (no rain, no rain, no rain)

Class Champs in Soccer & Tournament Information

We finished the tournament this week and below is the list of the class champions.  The class champions will play against each other during recess to determine a 5th grade and 6th grade CHAMPION!

Playoff date Wednesday 10/17 @ lunch recess.

5^th Grade Class Champions

Weber’s Black Dragons	Julian F.*, India, JoJo, Maddie, Maggie, Jonah, Andrew
Oullette’s Vipers	Joey*, Katy, Lucas D., Zari, Connor, Maddie

Spayd’s Zach Attacks	Zach*, Angel R., Brian, Angel H., Carissa, Walker
Peterson’s The Cheesy Elephants	Atreyu*, Brigid, Ari, Adam, Angela, Gabi

6^th Grade Class Champions

Walter’s Texas	Nick*, Alyssa, Alycia, Hunter, Susi
Burlington’s Wolversparts	Andrew*, Hunter C., Cole C., Tori, Zane, Jacob

Carroll’s Oingee Bacon	Jack*, Hannah, Trent, Alexa, Nelson, Siri
Mako’s Dominators	Macaiah*, Oaklie, Kevin, Charlotte, Dylan

*indicates team captain
highlighted teams are undefeated

Let Soccer Tournaments Begin

Last week there were four boy captains chosen in each class.  I took four volunteers and if we had more we use the great strategy of rock, paper, scissors to have four boys left.  The first round pick was a girl for each team and then a boy.  This pattern continued until everyone was on a team.  If there were a couple of people left, I let them choose their teams. 

Each team came up with a name.  The students were creative in choosing names.  This week was the week of our mini tournament.  The first time I saw the classes we talked about the field, throw ins, and keeping track of score.  Unfortunately, it rained for our second class.  When the fifth graders were inside they played Scooter Soccer.  I wish I would’ve taken pictures for this, but I forgot to grab the camera.  The sixth graders played Homerun Kickball with a soccerball.  Homerun Kickball is my favorite game that we play.  The sixth graders were amazing.  They have really matured since I had them in fourth grade.  There was a lot of great teamwork and sportsmanship with most students. 

I am still in the process of uploading pictures from our soccer unit, but the computer at Pullen won’t let me pull them off of the camera.  I have a few so far located in this post.  I will continue to add some more to the same post this weekend.

I made a contest for 5^th and 6^th graders to guess who the soccer dribbler was in two separate pictures.  The winners, Breahanna and Isabel, are getting treated to a Subway lunch next Wednesday.  During this contest the blog had 95 views.  I think were able to find the blog J

Fitness testing next week!