Southdown School Smart Sports
While the students of Southdown Primary may not be aware of it, their physical education classes have been focusing of the Common Core standards, as well as the New York State physical education standards. Throughout the year, the youngsters have been exposed to various types of literature with the purpose of motivating and educating them to move.
When the time came for field day, choosing this year's theme was simple. Physical education teachers Theresa Matthews and Lynn Hefele, selected the age-appropriate skills they wanted their students to display and then found fictional and non-fictional literature to introduce the skills. Principal Michelle Marino coined the day "Southdown Smart Sports: Where Brains meets Brawn."
At the kindergarten level, students enjoyed the story Maggies Ball and pretended to play fetch by throwing overhand to their puppies. Let's Talk Riding taught them about horses and inspired them to show off their galloping skills. Widget's Batting Lesson taught them how to bat off a tee and Cold Little Duck, Duck, Duck set the stage for sending plastic ducks flying into an inflatable pond.
First and second graders found that McGillicuddy Could not only gave them the opportunity to bounce like kangaroos, but also taught them that everyone has a gift. A Dollar Bill's Journey set the background for the obstacle course the children maneuvered through before tossing imaginary money into the bank. The autobiography For the Love of the Game by Pele and the non-fictional book Baseball: Pitching introduced the soccer dribbling and baseball pitching relays.
Quidditch, from the J.K, Rowling best seller Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone provided the inspiration for the throwing for accuracy relay for the third and fourth graders. Excerpts from the non-fictional books, For the Love of Field Hockey and Sprints, Hurdles, and other Track Events taught the students how to use a field hockey stick and jump hurdles. Finally, Family Huddle, written by Peyton, Eli and Archie Manning set-up the football kick-off competition.
At the end of the day, the children of Southdown had a fun-filled experience, but their teachers are hoping that what they learned from Smart Sports is that books can inspire purposeful movement; "that information about sports and fitness can be found in all different types of media and that school is about educating both the mind and the body," Mrs. Hefele said.