Calais Elementary Wellness Education
Physical Education Teacher, Mr. Fish, Lives in Elmore, Vermont with his wife Patty, and two children Ryan, age 7, and Katie, age 11. He has been teaching elementary physical education for seventeen years. Prior to his teaching assignment at Calais he taught at Richford Elementary School located on the Canadian border. He also coached the Men's and Women's Cross Country Running program at Johnson State College for six years.
Philosophy statement
My primary goal as a physical educator is to provide quality physical education to my students. Keeping quality physical education as my desired goal, I always utilize the guiding principle "what is best for kids"? I use this guiding principle in scheduling, planning lesson, and units, ordering equipment, and personal interactions with students. I continually emphasize and demostrate the following best practices in my teaching: maximum participation, skill development, positive classroom management, implementing the Vermont and N.A.S.P.E. standards into planning and lessons, Including assessment activities, and successfully integrating all students.
Program Objectives
There are many objectives of the overall physical education program. The program must provide all children with the opportunity to develop and maintain a level of physical fitness commensurate with individual needs and an understanding of how to maintain fitness for a lifetime of activity. The program must also educate the child to become competent in body management as well as useful physical skills.
Check Out Our Fitness Room!
Special thanks go out to the good folks from Concept 2 Rowing Machine Company in Morrisville, VT. With their help we were able to purchase four indoor rowing machines at a very reasonable price. The photo on the right is a picture of four students Venue Racing via laptop and projected on the gymnasium wall. Free software is available by a download from www.concept2.com website. Also available is a free download of the Fish game. The monitors (PM 3) that come on the rowers also have a log card function. Cards the size of a bankcard can be slid into the PM 3 the card will store all data produced on the machines up to five users per card. Cards can later be downloaded to Excel. Heart Rate data can also be recorded.
Also a big thanks to Wendy Pierson, owner operator of Personal Fitness Interiors, for providing us with some used equipment at no cost to our school. This equipment has been used for both students and staff in our exercise room. Wendy also took time to help make recommendations for equipment, which has been purchased for age appropriate strength training as well as body balls, and balance training equipment.
The Calais school uses Fitness Gram software to fitness test students in grades 3-6 twice yearly. Fitness test are printed and sent home with your child's report card. Please take a moment and look at these reports with your children. This software has a component called Activity Gram, which helps students to log in their activity levels and provides them with feedback as to how they are doing.Strength Training for Children
In the past few years, more children have been given the opportunity to engage in strength training. Many parents and coaches, however, are questioning the safety of resistance exercises for growing children. The latest research has found that strength training can be incorporated into a child's fitness or sport-related exercise routine without causing injury or growth problems. However, a program must be compiled by a knowledgeable professional taking into consideration the proper precautions.
Research demonstrates that children as young as age six can benefit from performing appropriate strength training exercises. Children have made gains in strength and coordination with little risk of injury.
According to Avery Faigenbaum, Ph.D., from the University of Massachusetts, whenever the children are emotionally mature enough to follow instructions and accept them is when they are ready to begin strength training.
For safety issues the following guidelines should be included into a program for youth strength training:
1. Give children realistic expectations.
2. Teach them positive lifestyle habits.
3. Supervise technique closely.
4. Give proper instruction and programming for upper and lower body exercises (i.e., bench press and leg press).
5. Give proper instruction and programming for single and multi-joint exercises (leg curl and shoulder press).
6. Allow gradual increases in volume and intensity, usually 1-2 lbs. increments.
7. Systematically vary their strength training program for diversity.
8. Encourage participation in a variety of sports and activities.
Commonly asked questions and answers about Fitnessgram Fitness Testing
To find out the answers to these questions and see descriptions and charts as to what each component ofthe test looks like please click on this link to the Willston Central School P.E. web page. If you have any questions or concerns about your childs test please feel free to call Mr. Fish at 454-7777 ext. 319.
