| Welcome to physical education, fostering a love for physical activity is a central theme of my thoughts and actions in the gym. Maria Montessori said, "play is the work of the child", while we play in the gym each day I hope your children develop health habits that last a lifetime. Please stop in anytime you have a chance and join the fun. "The arts, sciences, humanities, physical education, languages and maths all have equal and central contributions to make to a student's education." ~Sir Ken Robinson Steve Maas
Steve@traversechildrenshouse.org |
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Steve Maas, Physical Education, Della Terra The Children's House experience (1992- present): |
Classroom Highlights
Jamie 2/8/23
This week the class took part in an aerobic capacity fitness test. In order to pass the test learners were required to give their best effort. The activity consists of running across the gym before the bell chimes repeatedly for as long as possible. I am not a proponent of fitness testing. I am mostly interested in introducing the testing protocol so that when they move on to another school they feel prepared and understand what to do. We won’t be recording scores or training but I will incorporate fitness into most of the games and activities in the gym. I want your kids to love being active and have motivation to continue an active lifestyle for many years.
Karin 1/25/23
This week I tried an idea one of the learners brought to me. We often work at stations during P.E., usually rotating to 5 or 6 stations throughout the period. This time they were able to choose whether to switch stations or stay at the same spot and practice the same skill longer. It went well and I was happy to give them a choice of their practice. We’ll often use the old system of hitting all of the stations but now occasionally we can do a longer practice at the favorite one as well. It’s fun to learn alongside your kids.
Jamie 1/12/23
The upper elementary children have been playing several games that help practice throwing and catching. While we play these games there is an opportunity to practice integrity and gain trust. The activities in the gym are meant to build skill, confidence and relationships with peers. With trust and integrity I think we can achieve this and much more.
Karin 12/15/22
It has been nice to see your children just before lunch this school year. During our time together I have continued to work on physical skills practice as well as some character strengths. We have worked with self-control, gratitude, integrity and optimism so far. These skills are easily tied into our activities and the gym seems like a good place to practice them. I will continue to introduce more of these strengths as we go along and hope they will be taken outside of the gym into their daily interactions with their friends and families. Thank you for sharing these young people with me. I truly enjoy my time with them.
Sandra 12/02/22
It has been nice to end my days with your children this school year. During our time together I have shared physical skills practice as well as some character strengths. We have worked with self-control, gratitude, honesty and optimism so far. These skills are easily tied into our activities and the gym seems like a good place to practice them. I will continue to introduce more of these strengths as we go along and hope some of them can be taken outside of the gym into their daily interactions with their friends and families. Thank you for sharing these young people with me. I truly enjoy them.
Nadine 11/09/22
I enjoy starting my days with your children, the group is always ready to be active and participate fully. We often try to tie the activity into a specific character strength, this fall we have worked on honesty, gratitude, self-control and most recently optimism. All of these fit well with my current favorite word, interdependence. I've mentioned this concept several times this fall, ideally one or two of you have heard some version of this at home. The gym seems to be a great spot to work on these skills and I’ll continue to expand on these and more as the year goes along.
Jamie 10/12/22
I have enjoyed my time this fall with this group. They come to me each day at 11:25 ready to get moving. We have spent a bit of time each week discussing interdependence. I hope that they will be able to trust one another and me enough to be able to ask for help when needed and provide support as well. Independence is great and necessary but I hope the learners also feel that they can count on the rest of their community to be there for them. We are all connected and reliant upon one another in many ways. Physical games provide a nice way to repeatedly practice these skills while consequences of failure are fairly low. Thank you for allowing me to be a part of their days.
Karin 9/28
I think the school year is off to a nice start in the gym. Skill building has been the focus so far, I’ve reminded them that even the most accomplished athletes practice their skills almost daily. I hope the emphasis on repeated practice can carry over to other parts of their day. We all need to practice even the things we’re good at to keep them fresh and refine them further. As always please reach out to me if you have any questions or feedback. I’m trying to keep getting better as well.