Tricycles

                       I saved one of the students’ favorite units for last, cycling. Many of our students enjoy and look forward to the days when they get to ride tricycles during adaptive physical education class or their free time.  The unit has included the students biking around the Village bicycle path and through obstacle courses.  The cycling skills have been complemented by stories and worksheets on tricycles. 

                Whenever working with students on new skills, we are sure to discuss safety.  Before getting on our trikes, the students must put on their helmets, check the tires, and try the brakes to ensure safe riding. Our older students are learning words such as “pass” when getting ready to go around someone who is walking or biking. Some students are beginning to signal with their right or left hand to indicate their intended direction of travel.

                During different classes, our students have focused on biking for distance and on building skills (balance, pedaling technique, steering, braking).  Five laps around the Village bike path equals one mile. All of our students complete between one-quarter and one-and-a-half mile rides.  When we work on skills, we set up an obstacle course, which has allowed the students to concentrate on steering and following road signs (green, yellow, red, stop signs). When the weather is nice, the students are also learning about sun safety, communication, and road safety. All the while, the students are also improving their cardiovascular health and lower extremity strength.

                The cycling stories and worksheets have provided more ways to reinforce concepts. Some days this month have been rainy, so the stories and worksheets have been a great way for the students to show me what knowledge has been retained.  (Keep an eye out for these in the students’ “Sportfolios” that will be handed out to families next week on Moving Up Day.)

                I cannot express how much the students enjoy this activity. If you have a bicycle, a bike with training wheels, or a youth/adult trike at home, I encourage you to go for a family ride.  You’ll feel the sun and wind on your face, it will get your blood pumping, and you’ll make some great memories with your loved ones.

Keep riding,

Miss Shirey 

Pathfinder School and Utica Academy of Science Charter School

The Utica Academy of Science Charter School (UASCS) came to visit our school on June 4^th, 2014. Both groups of students were excited to make new friends and learn from one another. We began the visit with lunch in the pavilion. Right away I was enthusiastic about how well the students were sharing conversations. 

                After lunch, the students got to know each other a little bit more through a warm-up game: Superman Tag. After the warm-up came the main event: KICKBALL. This year at Pathfinder School we have had a few kickball games that brought all of the classes together. Mr. Loomis, the P.E. teacher at UASCS, has challenged his students with variations on the game kickball. Both schools were excited to work together during the game and to show off some of their new skills.

                After the kickball game the students were surprised with a cooling-down activity; a water balloon toss!  To spice it up, there was a “principal challenge” between Mr. Adams and Mr. Yavuz, the head of UASCS.

                As the field day ended, our day students said their goodbyes and got ready to go to their homes. Our residential students gave a phenomenal tour of our Village to the UASCS students and staff. One of the favorite stops on the tour was the Pathfinder Bakery.  Before leaving, the UASCS kids and our residential students enjoyed some hoops at our outdoor sports court, and shared their dribbling and shooting skills.

                Collaborating with the UASCS staff and students has been one of the best experiences for me as a teacher. I was touched to see how well both groups integrated and how quickly bonds were formed among the students. Mr. Loomis and I are already beginning to come up with ideas for future school exchanges.

                Thank You Utica Academy of Science Charter School for coming to Pathfinder School and becoming part of our wolf pack! 

Keep Active,

Miss Shirey 

Clean Up The Environment

                

What wonderful weather we have been having at Pathfinder School. The warm sun has reminded us to put on sunscreen, wear sunglasses and hats, and to bring a water bottle to class. Since we are outside for 30 minutes (or more) a day, staying hydrated is key; especially when we are exercising and sweating more than usual.

                This past week the students have been working on muscular strength and cardiovascular endurance all the while cleaning up our environment. The open green grass across from the school has a medium-large hill. The students and I have been walking around, all along the field’s perimeter, picking up garbage. The hill encourages the students to pick up their feet while walking due to grassy knobs, and to use their leg muscles to balance their bodies going up and down the hill.  The students squat to pick up litter, which also helps improve their quadriceps muscles.  The students walk for a continuous 30 minutes which is helping each person improve his/her cardiovascular endurance.

                Cleaning up the environment has allowed the students to learn that the natural world needs to be healthy, just like how we need to keep our bodies healthy. Pathfinder classes learned what the term environment means, the difference between litter and natural things like dirt, leaves or sticks, to wear protective clothing when picking up garbage (sleeves, gloves, washing your hands afterwards, putting the garbage into a bag). Plus, I know all the students feel proud on how they help our local communities in providing important services and completing volunteer tasks.

Keep Healthy,

Miss Shirey 

Hip Hip Hooray, It’s A Great Day To Read!

Wednesday afternoon, our students went to the gymnasium for our regular Wednesday special. Mrs. Plow’s taught the students about growing a sunflower. Afterward the students were able to plant their own sunflower seeds.  The students were surprised with a special reward from the New York Road Runners Club and its Mighty Milers program following the seed planting.

The NYRR sent our school 100 books that our students worked very hard to earn during the month of March. (Please see previous post on our Mighty Milers achievements.) The students split into groups of three and went through the boxes to discover all different kinds of books.  All of our staff and students read some of the books, and we loved sharing the illustrations on each page. Below is a list of some of the titles that our Pathfinder School Library received.  I've also included some pictures of our students reading and others who received incentives for their miles walked/ran.

"Sugar Plum Ballerinas" by Whoopi Goldberg

 "Toy Story 3 Mix and Match" by Disney,Pixar

 "Spider-Man" adapted by Richard Thomas Jr. 

"My Funny Valentine: Phineas and Ferb" by Jon Colton Barry 

"Winnie The Pooh: Pooh’s Honey Trouble" by Disney 

"Jake And The Spyglass" by Malinda La Rose

"Rapunzel: A Day to Remember" by Helen Perelman

 "Toy Story 3: Meet The Gang" by Disney, Pixar

Everyone at Pathfinder School would like to thank NYRR and Mighty Miler’s for providing such a phenomenal program and opportunity for students to exercise their bodies and their brains!  We love our books and cannot wait to start reading them in our library and classrooms!

Keep our bodies healthy and our minds active!

 Spring is here and our students are welcoming the season with brand new books for our library! Mighty Milers is a program of the New York Road Runners(NYRR). The program encourages students to participate, go the distance, count their laps and earn free books for their school library. During March, each Pathfinder School student had a goal to walk one-half mile each week.  If the students reached their goal, then our school library receives free books for their efforts from NYRR. More information may be found at http://www.nyrr.org/youth-and-schools/mighty-milers

 Each day we would play a game that involved the students wearing a pedometer and counting the number of laps walked around our gymnasium.  These games included races, music mania; drawing new shapes for each lap completed, figure 8 laps, quick sort, and so much more!  Our School to Work students also counted the number of miles they walked.

This program is fantastic because Mighty Miler’s focuses specifically on cardiovascular endurance; which is important for every individual. All together our students walked 144.75 miles during March! They walked enough to earn 100 free books for our library and to be added to a NYRR drawing to possibly win 400 additional books.  All of the students are very proud and excited when visiting the library as our books arrive.

               

  At the end of March, each student received a participation certificate. Some students walked enough miles to earn a “Run for Life” card, a marathon medal, and a t-shirt. This has been a great experience for our students, and I would highly recommend it as a school or class project for other educators.

Windham Mountain Ski Trip

Jump Rope For Heart