The students have been busy playing lacrosse, tennis, soccer, frisbee and other various games. It has been a terrific year for me, I have thoroughly enjoyed playing and being active with the students of Varsity and am already looking forward to next year.
If this is your last year at Varsity, I wish you all the best on the next steps in your learning journey. My hope for you is that you have found one game, activity, sport or skill that you really enjoyed and will continue to do as you move forward in life. As we said many times, physical education is about finding fun ways to stay active and enjoy life. Please come and visit! If you are returning to Varsity next year I look forward to seeing you in September! Have a great summer everyone and remember to play outside every single day for as long as you can! If you haven't had a chance yet to fill in my year end survey, please do so. Your input into the physical education program helps me to identify what is working well and to what needs improving for next year. To fill in the survey please click here: (note you will need to login using your child's @educbe.ca google account). https://forms.gle/yFQZeuDJMBAqSZkp6 This week students in grades 1, 2 and 3 were swimming while the rest of the student body were learning about tennis. The tennis unit will be in full swing next week, and whenever possible we will be at the Varsity Community Center courts. Please ensure your child is coming to school with proper outdoor footwear, thongs, sandals and rain boots are not safe for tennis.
A big thank you to the team at VCC who have graciously allowed us to use their space. If you are considering signing up for tennis programs please look at their options. http://varsitycommunityassociation.ca/en/association-information/varsity-racquet-club-2/ https://vca.tennisbookings.com/ Another big thank you to all the parents and guardians that gave up their time to help herd the students through the change rooms this past two weeks. These were some of our most successful lessons with students getting lots of time in the water, thanks to all those that leant a hand. Happy May long weekend everyone! Thank you to Mike Carnegie of the Calgary Roughnecks (and father of Haddon and Charlie) for coming out to show (most of) the students of Varsity some lacrosse skills. The Roughnecks are in the NLL finals and play May 25 at the Saddledome, consider getting some tickets for this awesome event!
Students also learned about the origins of lacrosse. We discussed how it is a sacred game to the First Nations people, called the Creator's Game. Students discussed how First Nations people played the game differently from how it is played today, that they used the game to solve conflict and to train hand eye coordination for hunting as well as to improve teamwork. Ask your child if they can speak to any connections between why First Nations played the game and why we play sport today. In the 32nd week completed our short lacrosse unit while the younger grades (1 to 3) started swimming lessons. In lacrosse we worked on passing, catching and continued practice of the two basic skills of scooping and cradling. Ask your child if they can remember the verbal cues for any of those skills. Scooping
In our last week of basketball we continued working on effective communication, dribbling skills and game play.
Next week we start lacrosse! Assuming the weekend blizzard melts soon we will be outdoors as often as possible so please send your child in good outdoor footwear. It is hard to run in rubber boots, runners are best. Also, swimming starts in two weeks for our grades 1, 2 and 3 students. Please ensure you are ready on the first day of swimming, Tuesday May 7 by sending your child with bathing suit, goggles, and towel. PLEASE LABEL EVERYTHING! We are still looking for male volunteers to help in the change rooms before and after swimming lessons so please talk to your child's teacher if you are available to help out. A valid police clearance is needed. This was our third week of basketball learning. Students in grades 3 to 6 began making teams and playing games in hopes of improving on their learned skills of dribbling, passing and shooting. Students in grades K to 2 continued working on basic skill development, especially dribbling. Here are a few learning outcomes covered this week:
Communication Tire Nom Ballon Grades 1 and 2 played golf K tried shooting for the first time! We continued our learning about basketball this week. Students learned how to shoot the ball, how to do a chest pass, a bounce pass and an overhead pass (grades 3 and up). Here are some of the learning cues we used to help reinforce proper form, see if your child can explain what they mean or what it should look like. Shooting: - main de côtés - lettre C (doigt d'index!) - Biscuit! Chest/Bounce pass - main en diamant - bras droites - pas - après moitié (bounce pass only) Overhead pass - ballon en haut - coudes serrées - pas Special thanks to Darcy G and Gordon B for their help in getting the basketball boards finished up. BOKS continues to rock! Tuesday and Thursday mornings from 7:30 to 8:00 am in the main gym. There is still time to join if you'd like to get some activity before the start of day. is This week we started basketball. Students worked through a number of fun warm up drills like copycat, freestyle and free shooting. We also had some special guests from University of Calgary Dinos come to play some games with the students and show them some skills.
Students in all grades should be able to speak to the following dribbling learning outcomes: - pose athlètique - pousser avec les doigts - nombril The groups that saw me three times also began work on chest passes and bounce passes. Ask them about the success criteria for a good pass which should include: - doigts en diamant - pas - bras droites We will be working on basketball skills until the end of April. Ajay from Sound Kreations is here to teach our students about hip hop culture and dance. Each group is working on their own routine. Students have been encouraged to practice at home. Here is a link to a google doc with youtube links to your child's song.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1N1y-SopzIJUBX_hkrgmUe-jCicV0Q-VatliqeGEK2Kc/edit?usp=sharing A big thank you to the Varsity Acres Parent Fundraising Society for providing the funding to create this opportunity for our students. In the last week before the break, students got to make their own short routine using the song from their Sound Kreations performance, some of the moves they learned from Ajay and by adding their own style. Students from grades 1 to 6 will be receiving a brief assessment of their routine, look for that to be coming home the week of April 8. Also, ask your child if they have uploaded the video of their dance to IRIS so that the hard work can be shared at home. This was a short in between week so we got out the hockey sticks and worked on our hockey skills. Students worked at a variety of stations, playing some games and doing drills to work on puck handling, passing and shooting.
Due to the cold weather skating and some of the outdoor activities were postponed to the second week. Thank you to all the parents that came out to help tie skates and to have some fun with the kiddos on the ice.
Note for students in grades 2 to 6. Last week the gymnastics evaluations were sent home. Please take a minute to review these assessments with your child, ask them what they did well and what they still need to work on. Some students will upload their routine video into IRIS. Ask your child if they have been able to upload their videos, if so give them a look. |
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