HKIS MS PE: January 2014

Thursday, 23 January 2014

Project Adventure

Here we are, another week in the books. The grade 8s started Project Adventure (PA) on Tuesday and it will continue for the next 8 lessons. Project Adventure is an opportunity for students to test their comfort zones in outdoor challenges such as climbing and repelling. The students also have an opportunity to build their communication and problem solving skills while learning to respect, accept, and encourage others of different ability levels.

Our PA unit starts on the ground with tag games and teamwork challenges. Through these activities students begin to see and discuss the five full value characteristics (FVC) (play hard, play safe, play fair, have fun, let go & move on) that we focus on.

The first teamwork exercise we did was an activity called Trollies. Students must work together and problem solve to achieve a goal without anyone touching the ground. If anyone on the team touches the ground the entire team has to start over.

Some ideas worked well...

Others did not...

More to come next week....

Wednesday, 22 January 2014

Grade 7 Badminton

Grade 6 Project Adventure - Vertical Challenges

Friday, 17 January 2014

Grade 8 Fitness

Well it has been a busy end of 2013. So busy, I have not bee able to keep up with my PE blog as much as I had hoped to, but it is a new year and hopefully a fresh start.

With the grade 8s I have started a short three lesson unit on fitness. We are focusing on the different types of exercises we can do (strength, cardio, and flexibility). Some fitness workouts incorporate all three. Today we did a low impact cardio workout from the Fitness Blender website. If you have not seen Fitness Blender before it is a fantastic resource for all types of ready made fitness workouts that range from high intensity to low intensity and range in time from 5 minutes to 60+. It is a great opportunity for you (students and parents) to find a workout that works and do it in the comfort of your own home. As always consult your doctor before starting any fitness program.

Here is a taste of what we did today:

Another resource I have discovered lately is Fitstar which is a pay-for app for your smart device. The Fitstar app creates workouts based on your needs. When first starting the app will ask you questions about your goals and current level of fitness. Based on this information it will create a fitness workout to help you achieve your goal. As you perform the workout it will ask you if you find certain exercises easy or difficult. Based on your answers the app creates workouts that will focus on your 'weakest' areas. I plan on trialling this app in the coming weeks and will report back.

Finally, I found a good article written by Sarah Klein on the Huffington Post website. The article does a good job explaining what happens to the body when you exercise. You can read it here.

If you have any questions, concerns, or ideas please feel free to contact me at jnolasco@hkis.edu.hk