April is the month when my 4th-5th grade students complete their fitness tests. In our district, we use the Fitnessgram tests to measure aerobic capacity, flexibility, abdominal strength and upper body strength. Even though we do not officially test our K-3rd grade students, I teach them how to perform the tests and give them opportunities to practice.
Instead of doing our Daily Dozen Warm-Up this month, all of my students are practicing the Fitnessgram PACER test (I call it the "beep" test for my K-2nd students). We have also been working on center activities, which allow me to take time to test students individually on things like the sit and reach, and push-ups. Check out the pictures and videos below of our center activities which included: Jump Rope/Jumping Sticks, Scooters, Basketball, Tennis and Cartwheels/Round-offs.
I am so excited that almost ALL of my student have improved their push-up score since the beginning of the school year! I think part of the reason they have gotten stronger is because we do our Daily Dozen Warm-Up every day. Plus, many of them are on sports teams and exercise at home. I'm so proud of them! Here are some videos of students using the push-up mat, which I use for testing. One boy told me yesterday he practices his push-ups every night!
The first week of the scooter center, I taught students how to ride safely on their bottom, belly or knees. The second week I taught them how to ride safely doing "turbo speed" which is when you may hold onto the handles and get a running start. The students did a great job riding safely. It was a great workout for them! See the videos below!
Army Crawl on the scooter
Doing the "spiderman" and "superman" on the scooter course.
Riding on knees.
Riding the scooter over to the push-up mat for a turn!
Scooter course on day 1.
Day 1 of scooter course. The arrows helped show the way!
Demonstrating the sit and reach. For the test we do this with shoes off.
"Tennis" center for Kindergarteners. Older students may use indoor tennis balls as well.
After testing, I allowed some classes to have "free choice time". I took a demonstration video of a few girls doing round-offs and cartwheels. This video will help me teach my other students how do do these!
