Oregon Active Schools: Barnes Elementary School

This blog is the second in a series of posts written with staff and students at Oregon Active Schools elementary schools. Read the first post here. Oregon Active Schools supports programs that inspire a lifelong love of physical activity and its many benefits for every child in Oregon through opportunities to be active before, during and after school.

Photo courtesy of Mrs. Cavaletto's We Love PE Blog.

[Image description: Five kids run or walk on a vibrant green field. The kid in front has his mouth wide open and one of his arms punched forward.]

This blog is reposted from Mrs. Cavaletto's Barnes PE blog.

January and February 2016

January was a fast and furious month.  We missed a day and a little due to snow and ice and then it was time to get everything ready for Marathon Kids.  Now, we have over fifty 3rd-5th grade runners meeting every Tuesday and Thursday after school to run laps.  Their goal is to add up all of their miles in the hope of reaching 104.8 by the end of the school year.  It will be tough, but hopefully it will get done.

All of that is possible because of a grant through Let's Move Active Schools, a parent who wanted to volunteer, and a few Nike employees who wanted to volunteer.  Without them we never would have been able to get off the ground.  I hope that I can continue the program each year.  This year Marathon Kids is free for the students via a grant from Let's Move Active Schools and I hope to apply again next year.  If we can get more volunteers we'll be able to support more runners.

In PE we were in our Fit Lab this month where we played "activity pictionary", practiced juggling, and learned about a million dances.  The forth and fifth grade students are now creating their own dance routines in the gym and will then get to play basketball.  The younger students are already working on various basketball skills (dribbling, passing, and shooting).  All classes have done race track fitness.  This is an activity where students work on muscular endurance and balance in the center of the "track" and cardiovascular endurance around the "track".

I have been very impressed with the choreography of the older students.  They have done really well in the short amount of time we've had.  I was out a few days being sick myself and with a sick 2 year old.  I am VERY glad to be back.

As the weather gets nicer I will start a recess running club.  I'm just waiting for the field to be dry enough to run on.  If we run the entire perimeter, it is a quarter mile.  I have different prizes based on the number of miles the students complete.  This will be for all students when I have time during their recess.  For each mile, students receive a toe token.  The five mile prize is a koosh ball, the 10 mile prize is a reaction ball, and the 15 mile prize is a giant frisbee. I'm still working on a 20 mile prize, but the final prize is a water bottle with Barnes Marathoner printed on it.  These prizes are all possible from a grant via the Northwest Health Organization and Oregon Active Schools.  Happy Valentine's Day to all and here's hoping for a dry field soon!

Barnes Elementary is one of Beaverton School District's 33 elementary schools.