Mr. Schroeder's Blog

In 2003 it was found that 24 percent of children in Chicago were overweight or obese at kindergarten entry. A major factor in childhood obesity is that children often don't understand the importance of eating healthy and exercising.
It is felt that a positive way to get the message across is the "5-4-3-2-1" message.
Five servings of fruits and vegetables, four glasses of water, three low-fat dairy products, two hours or less of screen time (TV, computer and video games) and one hour or more of exercise daily.

By Adam Becker

Walking has become the most popular fitness activity, and fall is a great season for walking outdoors due to the moderate temperatures and bright colors. Walktober ia an annual, month-long campaign organized by Health Enhancement Systems that is designed to promote the benefits of walking, encourage participants to incorporate walking into their daily routine, boost the amount of walkers across the United States, and inspire people to make walking a priority-not only during the month of October but year long.
More information, visit www.walktober.com.
(UpdatePlus September/October issue)

Dear Parent/Guardian,
As Physical Education teacher at St. John Fisher School, my goals for the coming year are not only physical fitness and exercise tests, but also the development of athletic skills through various activities. Grades P-4 will be learning motor and movement skills through exercise and play. Grades 5-8 will develop skills and knowledge of rules and regulations in individual and team sports.
The students will have five to ten minutes of stretching and exercise, ten to fifteen minutes of instruction, and twenty-five minutes of an activity. Students on their assigned day must wear their official Physical Education uniform purchased through school. Lack of participation due to not being prepared will be reflected on their report card. If for some reason, a student must be out of uniform or exempt from participation, a parent/guardian note explaining the problem will be required.

PHYSICAL EDUCATION UNIFORM
Girls and Boys: K-8 SJF gym shorts or sweatpants (blue)
SJF gym tee shirt (blue or white), Sweatshirt (blue)
White socks (ankle high)
Gym shoes

The importance of developing character is emphasized in the national standards for physical education. Two of these state that students should exhibit "responsible personal and social behavior in physical activity settings" and choose "physical activity for health, enjoyment, challenge, self-expression and/or social interaction". Physical education teachers can help students meet these standards by stressing the importance of character and moral virtues. While students are learning various sports, teachers can and should emphasize that taunting, gamesmanship, and violence are wrong and are the converse of displaying sportsmanlike behaviors and living by moral virtues.
Mediated sport at the professtional level, and increasingly at the collegiate and scholastic levels, constantly bombards young people with the importance of winning. Television promotes taunting through the visual images it chooses to broadcast. Spectators, including impressionable youths, continually feed on a diet of unsportmanlike and ethically questionable actions. Is it any wonder, then, that students transfer their intense desire to win into morally unacceptable behaviors. What students need are lessons that teach and model just the opposite-moral virtues and character. (JOPERD Feb. 2008, Angela Lumpkin)