Who
remembers it? The long laps, the tired
legs, the awful side aches... the list can go on. And I bet all of you remember some part of
"fitness testing" from when you were in school. But do you remember WHY you did it? What was the point? What did you learn from it? I bet for most of you, the memories you have
are not what your P.E. teacher intended.
And I know not every P.E. program/teacher is the same, but hopefully I
can bring some clarity to these fond
memories!
Cardiorespiratory
Endurance and Aerobic Capacity = The Mile Run
Starting
in kindergarten we begin teaching aspects about heart health, how your heart and
lungs work and what they do for your body.
Most of the time when I ask students what part of our body is getting stronger
while running the students respond with, "My leg muscles." They are not wrong, because they notice those
muscles getting tired and their legs are carrying them around the field. But more importantly we do aerobic exercise
(continuous movement) to strengthen our heart and lungs.
This year we will have the Heart Adventure
Challenge Course for a few days where we discuss how the heart pumps
blood/oxygen through our bodies. The
students will actively move through this course acting as the red blood cells
going to and from the heart, lungs and rest of the body.
Fitness
Testing, especially the mile run, is never something I just throw at the kids
one day, each day during P.E. our warm-ups and games/activities are meant to
increase all fitness areas (as well as other sport specific skills) leading up to our testing. By the time our spring fitness testing
rolls around, we will discuss what our fall scores were and what our GOALS are
for our spring tests. Where do you want
to be? How can WE work together to get you
there?
So,
as we embark on this WONDERFUL mile run this week, I hope we can all look back
to our school fitness testing days with a better understanding and appreciation
of what our P.E. teacher was trying to accomplish and give them a little thank you
for wanting us to be healthier and looking out for our hearts.
RUN
GATORS RUN!
You're such a great PE teacher! The kids love you and talk about you in the classroom all the time!
ReplyDelete