Physical Education

HEALTH AND PHYSICAL EDUCATION  HAPPENINGS
From MR. THOMS

The students at Platte Center Elementary have been busy since the beginning of the 2007-2008 school year. We started out the year with physical fitness testing in grades 1-8 to see if each students overall fitness is getting better as they get older. I am happy to report that every student improved in at least one of the five areas tested if not all. One area that continues to hinder the students is the lack of flexibility. We will continue to do our stretches at the beginning of each P.E. class and work to get better in this area. The new class records and school records are updated and posted on the fitness testing board in the gym. I invite you to take a look at them when you are visiting school.

The 8th grade students did a golfing unit again this year and enjoyed it very much. As a reward for doing such a good job practicing their golf skills here at school, we went on a golf outing field trip to Van Berg Golf Course in Columbus. Despite the rainy weather, I think the students all enjoyed themselves and gained a common interest in the game of golf. I would like to thank Mr. Bentz and all the parents that went along to help me chaperone the class. 

The 3-7 grades finished up the flag football unit in P.E. and we all witnessed some very good games of flag football during the unit. We also worked on basic football knowledge and skills during this unit as well. In grades K-2 we started off the year working on motor skill development and body awareness skills. Its always a good feeling when a student learns how to do a new skill especially when they have been working so hard to attain a certain task.  We have started doing our volleyball unit in grades 3-8 and working with the parachute in grades K-2. I believe he students are really enjoying these activities right now. 

In Health class we have been learning about  many different things. We just started talking about family and social health in grades 3-7. We are learning and discussing how we can have healthful relationships with our families and our friends and why this is so important. In the 8th grade we are leaning about consumer and community health. In this unit we are learning how to be a cautious consumer when it comes to the things that we buy. We are also finding out what types of services we can utilize in our community to help make us a better consumer.  With all that being said we have kept very busy so far this school year. We will be doing CPR training with the 8th grade health class before too long and maturity talks with the 5th grade sometime this spring. My door is always open and I encourage you to stop in and say hi when you are at school or given me a call with any questions or concerns.