July 16, 2010

We had 2 big successes this week, and I wish to both fill you in and thank you for your support.

On Wednesday, we held another “Exercise Event” with 4 different stations.  Thanks so much to Kate for leading basketball (the kids absolutely loved this and even the staff would not rotate to my stationL because they were having so much fun at Kate’s station!), Susan for leading the dance station (we saw a lot of moon walking and fancy tricks, and Susan even got out the hula hoops and was leading the students in dancing with them!), and to Kim for teaching the students how to use the stretch bands (the science teacher at Smith was so excited about them that she asked me if we could get some for the staff who are involved with the Smart Steps walking program next fall. And Kim was so dedicated that she almost developed blisters on her hands from leading 12 different groups.  What a trooper!)  My station (balloon games) was a little bit more random but the kids seemed to enjoy it!  We played balloon hockey with noodles as our sticks and balloon volleyball as if we were crabs.  We held a contest to see who could throw his/her balloon into the air and spin around the most times before catching it.  The winner spun 6 times!

I also want to congratulate Michele, Barbara and Amanda for doing such a fantastic job last week on the Fitness lesson.  This week I did a short review and asked the students to recall what they learned.  Many were able to state that they should exercise 60 minutes every day and that their muscles, bones and hearts became stronger because of exercising.  Almost every child answered water when I asked them what was the best drink to choose when exercising.  And all three groups remembered the sugar tubes they saw and were able to tell me that sweet tea and soda contained lots of sugar.

On Thursday the kids had a fabulous time at West Point on the Eno!  The majority of the kids had never experienced anything like being at the Eno, and their comments were both sweetly innocent and shocking to me.  It was a wonderful collaboration between the DPS Extended Learning department, YE Smith staff and those of us involved with DHI/AHL.  From the time the kids hopped off the bus to when they got back on they hardly stopped moving.  They participated in a hike/scavenger hunt (see Amanda’s wonderful pictures of things they might run into at the Eno – attached), had a science lesson at the water (thanks, Jen! And thanks to Casey for leading the science teacher’s group), played 4 active (!) games and finally ate watermelon (thanks Brenda and Elena for cutting it all and making sure the kids were hydrated).  The students saw snakes, a turtle, birds, water striders and minnows, and collected lots of “treasures” from the water.  When one group was drinking their water, Casey told me that one of the girls lifted her bottle and said, “Let’s make a toast to the best day ever”!  The science teacher,  after hiking back from the water, sweat pouring down her face, said, “This is fantastic!  I want to plan a field trip with the whole school next year.”   (Many of you might have heard different comments.  I’d love to hear them if you get the chance.)  Without a doubt, I believe the kids learned how exciting it is to explore nature and how fun being active is.