Starting the year off with a kick!

           I’d like to welcome back our Pathfinder School students and families to the 2014-2015 school year. I have a lot of fun units planned in Adaptive PE, and our students are already enjoying our activities.  Units we’ll cover include ones we enjoyed last year, such as obstacle courses, swimming, and bowling.  I also have prepared some new units, including gaga ball, softball, yoga, and we hope to participate in Hoops for Heart.  Our physical education program will be collaborating with our pre-vocational program, so students may use their PE knowledge to develop future career skills. 

          

           Our first unit this fall is soccer, which is loved by all students at Pathfinder School because they get to go out on Grant’s Field, try new challenges, and score goals. Our younger students are learning basic skills (kicking, passing, trapping, and throw-ins)while the older students are learning competitive skills (offense, defense, scoring a goal, etc). 

          During my classes we took the phrase “Score a Goal” to the next level by reading “The BerenstainBears Get Their Kicks” by Stan and Jan Berenstain. This story demonstrates how Sister and Brother Bear set goals to join soccer teams and work hard to meet their goals. After reading and discussing the story, our students were able to come up with their own PE goals for this year, shown below: 

          Next week will conclude our third week of our soccer unit.  Our residential students who participate in Special Olympics Soccer will continue practicing soccer skills during their recreation time. But back in school we will be running bases, throwing, scoring runs and catching pop flies, all to coincide with the Major League Baseball Playoffs.

Keep Active,

Miss Shirey  

Last Day of Tennis

                Today is the last day of our Tennis unit at Pathfinder School.  It may be raining but our students are still fierce in the game. We took our skills indoors and set up a tennis court in our gymnasium.

Some students chose to volley the ball back and forth over the net, while others wanted to practice different skills that they had learned over the past two weeks. One of our students heard thunder while hitting his ball over the net and said, “Did you hear how hard I hit that ball?”  You can see that we have a lot of fun, using Mother Nature’s sounds to liven up our games.

Our next unit will be on volleyball, and our students will explore the equipment, skills, and rules for that activity.  It’s important to try different games and sports with the students as it encourages them to stay active physically, learn how to take care of their bodies, and helps them become well-rounded in all areas.  We have a lot of fun as we learn, and it’s very satisfying to see the children gain strength, build physical skills and become motivated.

Until next time, stay active!
             Miss Shirey 

Hustle, Hit and Never Quit!

Now that our Pathfinder School students have practiced some of the tennis basics, they are learning to hit tennis balls at hula hoop targets, over the net and to their peers using the forehand stroke.  Tennis is a challenging sport, but also gives students the freedom to develop their own strengths in the game. Some of our students still need hand-over-hand assistance, but many of the students are hitting the ball over the net independently and are learning to control the better.

Along with learning skills, our students have learned about famous tennis celebrities, including Vanessa Williams, Andre Aggasi, and Roger Federer.  These gifted athletes demonstrate that hard work and dedication can lead you to something that you love for the rest of your life. At the end of the tennis lesson, we connected sports and jobs that our students enjoy doing, and discussed how hard work and dedication can help get them find employment after graduating from Pathfinder School.

“Animals” is the school theme for the summer session at Pathfinder School.  As we are outside on the sport court all day, the students see and hear lots of different animals, including birds, fox, deer, squirrels, etc. This week we watched the YouTube video “Bird Got Swing: A Musical Experiment” by the Cornell Ornithology Lab in Ithaca. Throughout the video the students would try to imitate the birds that jazz vocalist Theo Bleckmann was calling.  When we went outside to play tennis, if the students heard an animal sound they would stop, and point at or tell what animal they heard.  Then all the students would try to imitate that animal. If we couldn’t hear the animal clearly, the students would make the sounds that they thought the animal would make.  If you would like to check out the video please lick the link below

http://gbbc.birdcount.org/2014_video_and_slide_show/

Keep Active, 

Miss Shirey 

Tennis Anyone?

Tennis is our first unit during the Pathfinder School summer session, and we’re pleased that we have some new day students joining us over the next few weeks.  Some students have participated in tennis activities before; these students are showing their leadership skills by demonstrating tennis skills and helping their peers.  Some of these tennis skills we’ve worked on at the Sports Court include:

·         Balancing the racquet on a body part

·         Shaking hands with the racquet (tennis stance)

·         “Walking the Dog,” in which the ball is the dog and the racquet is the leash

·         Balancing the ball on the racquet

·         Bumping the ball forward off the racquet

·         “Tick Tock,”a modified skill that teaches students how to hit a forehand stroke

               

  Tennis is a sport that is great at so many levels: It’sfun and our students have had a some belly laughs while practicing the skills. The sport encourages the students to get outside and enjoy themselves. It’s a lifelong activity that helps improve cardiovascular endurance and hand-eye coordination.

                

One of the non-fitness benefits of tennis is that it encourages students who have difficulty in communicating to use their language skills to make their needs known.  At Pathfinder School, we use the Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) more-and-more.  This is a low-tech approach that relies on picture cards and a display board (typically a sturdy binder with Velcro strips) that students may carry to talk to people who don’t know American Sign Language.  I have a larger board with cards that show the words/pictures of tennis equipment, rules and skills, and how to keep score.  This board is yet another way to engage students and get them excited about fitness.

Keep Active,
Miss Shirey 

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