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Newsletter

Dear Parents:

Why is physical education so necessary for elementary school children? As school, even for the youngest of students, becomes increasingly competitive, why take time out of children's already over-crammed days for games, laps around the track, and organized games? The answer is that the more life grows stressful, and the less time children have to exercise their bodies and their minds outside of school, the more important physical education becomes for children of every age.

Physical education is an important weapon in our battle against childhood obesity, and it also provides an important time in the school day for kids to be kids. Physical education teaches students teamwork, cooperation, competition, and tolerance, and even helps young children understand academic concepts like near and far, strong and weak, and light and heavy (Pangrazi 2005: 17;8).

The emphasis of our school physical education program is equally on fitness and fun. It will encourage all students, regardless of body type and level of physical fitness to be the best that they can become, at this moment of their lives. At least three times a week, children grades K-3 will engage in regular, fun noncompetitive aerobic and strength-based training, like skipping, jumping rope, and running. They will also engage on the other two days in games involving short sprints, throwing balls, gymnastics and tumbling. This will encourage their sense of delight in moving their bodies. Relays like potato sack relays, motor scooter relays, and tug of war will develop speed and strength, and as well as provide enjoyment.

As children grow older, they will also engage more sports related activities to improve such fitness components as endurance, balance, agility, speed, and also cognitive and emotional skills like teamwork and awareness. The primary function of such sports-related activities will simply be to introduce sports like soccer, basketball, and baseball to the students. All students will participate, regardless of levels of previous familiarity with the skills of these sports.

Sports provide an important venue for students to learn about themselves. We all want our children, regardless of their level of interest in organized sports, to develop healthy bodies and healthy minds. In terms of grading, students will not be evaluated on their ability to score goals, but how hard they try and their attendance. Student fitness levels will be assessed at the end of every semester. This assessment will involve a short run, sit-ups, push ups, a long jump, and chin ups. The results will not be to penalize the students, but to highlight what athletic skills the children need to work on in the future.

Some parents have expressed concern that children do not have enough time in the day to learn, let alone to run and play. It is our school's philosophy that a run or a rousing game of basketball helps children think better, once the children return to the classroom. Other parents have expressed concern about their children's weight, but it is not the school's place to specifically prescribe a weight-loss program for a young child, rather we would ask parents with such concerns to confer with the school's on-staff nurse or with their private pediatrician to derive a nutritional and exercise program uniquely appropriate to their child. Meanwhile, daily physical activity will help all children maintain a healthy weight. Children engaged in strenuous traveling sports may find the atmosphere and varied skill levels different in our school-related sports, but the value of teamwork, we believe will carry over into all physical and academic activities children pursue in school, and in their daily lives.