Winding Down

The new school year is rapidly approaching and football practice has already started.  Summer is officially over.  I am fortunate to be completing my degree at Lesley when this session concludes.  I have learned a lot in my time in the Technology program and am looking forward to putting the materials I have gathered into practice at School.  It has been great to work with all of you and good luck in your future studies and teaching.

Chad Clouse

Fitnessgram

Last year my school began using the Fitnessgram fitness tests.  The initial test results for my 4th-6th grade students were not up to standards.  I had roughly 28% of students that could reach thier age level standards.  We worked on the skills that are associated with the fitnessgram tests everyday for our warm-ups.  The results were more than I could have asked for.  Our final screening had 53% of my students in a healthy fitness range.  While the goal is 100%, a 25% jump in one year is pretty amazing.  There are many factors that work against students, but the overall goal is to provide students with the knowledge to inprove thier fitness. 

Fitness gram has many features that are easy to use.  The teacher can print and email reports to students and thier parents.  It is a woderful program that you should check out if your school doesn't already have a fitness program.

Kids health

The following is a great resource for Teachers, Parents and Students to learn about healthy activities.  There is alot of information, games and activities that answer a number of health and fitness related questions.  I refer parents to this site that request that thier children sit out of sexual education and puberty.  I have taken many lesson plans from their database and use this site alot, enjoy.

http://kidshealth.org/

Chad

Fun PE Games

Here are some of my favorite games that I utilize in PE. They are all tag games and my students love them. If you have any questions just let me know. I use these games with students K-6 and they all love them. Wounded duck is definently the most popular though.

Octopus tag: Three people stand in the middle of the boundary area, the gym. The rest of the kids line up at an end of the bounds and when the taggers say go they all run to the other side of the bounds. Whoever the taggers tags then has to stay and help him, except that the additional people that are tagged have to sit down, and can only help "It" by using their arms. This goes back and forth until you’re down to the last person who then starts the next round. This game is fun when played with a lot of kids.

Line Tag: There are 2 or 3 taggers that try to get everyone out. Students have to stay on the lines that are marked on the floor. There is no jumping lines. To get on another line you have to go where the 2 lines join. When a student is tagged they sit on the sideline until 3 people remain untagged. Those 3 people are the new taggers.

Sharks and Minnows: You start with one tagger in the middle of the gym. When the tagger says “GO” the other students run from one side of the gym to the other trying not to get tagged. Everyone that the tagger tags has to walk to the middle of the gym and becomes a “Shark” as well. Once everyone is tagged you start a new game.

Wounded duck: Three people stand in the middle of the boundary area. The rest of the kids line up at the baseline of the Basketball court and when the Teacher says go they all run to the other side of the Court. When a student is tagged they have to sit down with their arms up. Students can get back in the game by being drug across the end boundary line. They have to drag the students the way that they are running. If they get tagged while dragging another person they have to sit down. Two people can drag one person and one person can drag two. Periodically stop the game and select new taggers or if everyone is sitting tagged start again with new taggers.

Tunnel Tag: Three people stand in the middle of the gym and are the taggers, when you say go they chase the other kids and try to tag them. The rest of the kids are free to run anywhere in the gym to avoid getting tagged. When a player is tagged they have to freeze standing up with their legs apart to form a tunnel. The other kids that haven’t been tagged yet can then crawl under the tunnel to unfreeze the frozen players. Let the game go until everyone is frozen (unlikely to happen) or until a few minutes has passed, and then pick new taggers.


Thanks

Chad

Media Literacy helps Children to lead a Healthy Lifestyle

Media Literacy has become an important part a child’s education, yet there are many children that aren’t receiving that education.  Media literacy has long been viewed as unimportant or something that a child should be getting at home.  But with advertisers becoming increasingly more aggressive in their ad campaigns teachers need to make sure that they are making Media Literacy a priority in their classrooms.  There are eight key concepts that advertisers want you to believe:

1.       All media are constructions

2.       The media construct reality

3.       Audiences negotiate meaning in the media

4.       Media have commercial implications

5.       Media contain ideological and value messages

6.       Media have social and political implications

7.       Form and content are closely related in the media

8.       Each medium has a unique aesthetic form.

Each concept is important for the media to get their point across to people.  They are not just trying to tell you about the product, they are trying to make you feel like you have no other choice but to purchase the product.  Knowing what the media is trying to do can help all of our students make better more informed decisions when becoming active consumers.  Kids today have a terrible sense of what their true body image should be and advertisements are the key driving force behind this.  They see beautiful people having fun and think they need to be doing the same things.  This has led to a rise in risky behaviors and has put our children’s health at risk.  Investigating these items further will help increase your student’s awareness when it comes to everyday decisions, helping them lead a more healthy and happy lifestyle.

Thanks,

Chad

Some helpful tools

Here are a bunch of tools that I have learned about during my time at Lesley University, they aren't really health related, but they are great none the less.

Animoto- Is a program that lets you create videos by combining images and sound. It is basically a digital scrapbook or storyteller. Students could use it to tell a story through pictures or show others activities that they have done. It is a really easy program to use and is free to educators and their students.

http://animoto.com/


Visuwords- Is a program that allows students to investigate a word by entering it into the Visuwords website. The program then gives students the meaning of the word and associations with other words and concepts. If a student is having a hard time comprehending words they can enter them in this program and see a multitude of things that are associated with that word. It has different colors to show different associations with words and meanings and also has colors associated showing if the words are nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs. Students can use the program while reading to look up words that they are struggling with. They will then have all of the information they need to get a firm understanding of the word they are having trouble with.

http://www.visuwords.com/

Audacity- Is a program for recording and editing audio. This would be a great tool for students to use to piece together an interview or just make a talk show to share with the class on various topics. The best part about the program is that it is free. 

http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ 

Zamzar - Is a file conversion website that allows you to convert files from one format to another. Students can use this to convert their files from home if they are not compatible with school computers. The program is free and sends the converted files to your email address.  

http://www.zamzar.com/ 

Kerpoof- Is a web based program that students can create pictures, movies, cards, drawings and even tell a story. The website makes these things fun for students, while also teaching them technical skills. Kerpoof can be integrated into many different subject areas making it beneficial to a wide range of teachers. Students can use it to create their own story to share with the rest of the class. The story would have illustrations and text. Kerpoof is free to use and there is nothing to download making it great for schools.

http://www.kerpoof.com/teach 

Wikis- Are a collaborative workspace that teachers can have students post their work and comment on other student’s work. Wikis are a great way for students to get to know one another and to learn to utilize constructive feedback. Teachers can use it as a place for students to post their work for review. It can also be a place where classes host and share information for all involved to see. Through PBWORKS you can have a wiki for free or you can upgrade to get more features and data storage for $99 for a classroom or $799 for a school district.

 http://pbworks.com/education

Glogster- Is a program that lets students create Glogs, which are online multimedia posters. Students can create posters for an awareness campaign or for providing information on a particular topic. The program helps students to become more technologically savvy due to the fact that the posters can provide multiple links to equipment and knowledge. The students have to find these items and incorporate them into their Glog. Glogs are educational and can be entertaining making them great for use in the classroom. Glogster can be purchased for $29.95 a year for a classroom and it also has district and school pricing.

http://edu.glogster.com/

PowerReader- Is an assistive reading tool. The program lets students highlight individual words, make words appear bigger as they are being read, control viewing area and even give them definitions of words by clicking on them. The fact that you can control how much of the text appears on the screen at a time can really help students focus on what they are viewing. Students that need reading assistance can use this product to keep up with the rest of their classmates.

http://www.projectpossibility.org/viewProject.php?id=1

Sense and Dollars- Is a website that puts everyday situations into a context that students can understand. It has many different lessons, including one on how Credit Works. It has the students pick an item and how much they are going to be able to pay a month. It then calculates how many months it will take to pay it off and the total with interest you actually pay for the item. It recommends saving money to buy your item and says even though it takes longer it is worth not paying extra. This would be a great teaching tool for students to utilize because they actually see the math and have example items to view. The same website also has helpful tips on how to budget and save your money. Students that have problems with mathematics learn with examples making the program beneficial to any level of learner. It is a free tool, making it great for schools.

 http://senseanddollars.thinkport.org/

Inspiration- Is a program that is used for visual mapping, outlining, writing and making presentations. It allows students and teachers to organize their thoughts and information. It is a great tool for making storyboards or for explaining relationships. Inspiration is a great way for teachers to give students information in a way that they can see and understand.

 http://www.inspiration.com/


Enjoy,

Chad

New food guide

Did you know that the Food Guide Pyramid is no longer in use?  It has recently been switched to dinner plate for easier reference when learning about healthy eating. 

The reason for the switch is so people have an easier time associating what they eat with nutritioanl guidelines.  The plate shows and suggests that you eat at least half of your plate fruits and vegetables.  The other have is filled with a grains and proteins.  It is recommended that you consume as many whole grains as possible and make sure your grain consumption is greater than your protein consumption.  MyPlate also recommends that you switch your dairy products to fat free or 1% low fat products.

Following the guidelines of the new MyPlate design will put you on the right track to a healthy lifestyle, but is only a start to leading a healthy lifestyle.

For more information on my plate visit the following website.

http://www.choosemyplate.gov/

Thanks and have a great day!

Chad