Grade 8 Electives - Kayak & Paddle-Board

Kayaking Self-Rescue & T-Rescue Practice:

Now for some Paddle-Boarding Problem Solving - Hmmmm how do I get to my board?

Race Ready?

 

Pairs Practice - Team Work!

Solo Practice

Set .... GO!

Dance Elective

HKIS MS Grade 8 Physical Education & Health Class Update

Dear 8th Grade Parents,

During quarter 3 our 8th Grade students have been engaged in a series of fitness lessons focussing mainly on cardio-respiratory endurance. Many students demonstrated a marked improvement in their 1 mile run times which bodes well for the final fitness challenge of the year in quarter 4, and prepares them for their High School focus on fitness. Some students are now aware that they need to put in some additional effort to improve their cardio-respiratory endurance in order to see an improvement.

In addition to our focus on fitness, students have been engaged in Project Adventure, where they have challenged themselves to explore the outer edge of their ‘stretch-zones’ and seek out their hidden potential. Touch-Rugby was part of our semester two Sports Unit. All students have experienced a significant improvement in performance in Standard 1: sending & receiving on the move and in Standard 2: the ability to use & create space for scoring opportunities.

Following the spring parent-teacher conferences students will have the opportunity to select an elective activity from Kayaking, Dance, Volleyball or Flag-Football. Assessment in these electives is focused on interpersonal skills (standard 5) rather than performance skills.  Students are encouraged to take a risk and try an activity that they may have little prior experience in, assured that their performance in a new/unfamiliar skill will not reflect negatively on their grade.

All students’ performance and work habit assessments have been updated and are available on the PowerSchool system. Please have your child guide you through the system and use this as an opportunity to hear about their areas of growth and the areas they need to pay more attention to.

In any area where a student has been assessed at a level of proficiency that is below ‘Meets Expectation’ their teacher will have provided feedback and strategies for improvement via a comment attached to the associated assessment on PowerSchool. This feedback along with the assessment rubrics (all available on mDN) provide useful information to both parents and students with regard to the criteria for assessment and areas to work on.

All students have the opportunity to ‘redo’ an assessment (time permitting) in any component of a standard where their overall level of proficiency is below ‘Meets Expectation’. In order to take this opportunity:

• Students must reflect on the comment/strategies offered on PowerSchool.
• Students must take the time to work on improving their performance.
• Students must arrange a time (outside of class and within two weeks of receiving their assessed level of proficiency) to demonstrate their conceptual understanding and improved performance.

As summer approaches and temperatures begin to rise our program continues with more indoor activities.  Students will participate in the Water Adventure component and experience the final  Health Unit – Healthy Sexuality.  I will send out an email to parents two weeks before the commencement of this series of lessons, detailing the content and providing a reminder of the opportunity for you as a family to engage in dialogue about healthy sexuality issues.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me via email.

Kind regards,

Joe Nolasco

Middle School Physical Education Department

Grade 8 Fitness

The grade 8s have started a month long fitness unit which focuses on learning how to improve all areas of fitness: cardio respiratory, muscular strength, muscular endurance, and flexibility.  Last week my students watched a video that explains what efficient running form looks like.  We focused on a few fundamentals like: foot strike, body control, and relaxation.  You can see the links here and here.  With this new information the students looked at a video of themselves running and found areas of strength and areas of weakness.  We now set out to correct the areas of weakness and maintain the areas of strength.

The grade 8s have also been working on muscular strength and endurance by doing a high intensity interval training (HIIT) workout put together by our very own Mr. Coleman.  Students performed 15 different exercises for 30 seconds each.  They would do three exercises in a row and then get 30 seconds off and then started the next three exercises.  This workout got heart rates up and worked all muscle groups.  Have a look...

Hanging knee lifts

Back extensions

Medicine ball slams

Forward lunge with a medicine ball

Russian twist

Finally, the entire group (2 classes) working hard.

We will continue with fitness throughout the month of March.  Keep checking back here for updates.

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.... 

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

Mile run time have been posted!

Grade 8s have started three lesson of fitness. We started with the mile run.  This is an opportunity for each student to see if they have improved on his or her time from last year, and provides an opportunity to collaborate with and encourage each other.

Students should be getting 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous activity a day.  For best results students should perform exercise that keeps their heart rates in the 165bpm to 200bpm for 30 minutes, three days a week.  

Current unit: Field hockey

General Course Overview & Quarter 1 Update

Dear Parents,

During quarter one all of our 8^th Grade PE students completed the first component of our grade 8 Heath Education program, (‘Substance Misuse & Abuse Prevention’). Each student also completed a series of fitness and biometric tests. Prior to the Christmas break students will analyze their fitness data, graph it against age appropriate norms and use the results to select some personal fitness goals for the remainder of the year. Other curriculum areas covered by all students during quarter one included the first component of our grade 8 ‘sports unit’ (Badminton).

As we move into quarter two and beyond each class will engage in the same activities but at different times during the course of the year. Please have your child walk you through the information on their ‘MyDragonNet’ ‘PE&Health’ page so you can view the program schedule, unit materials and assessment criteria as rubrics or exemplar videos.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me via email.

Kind regards,

Joe Nolasco

Middle School Physical Education Department