Physical
Education Curriculum Athletics are not everyone’s gift. Some students are better in academics, music, or art. Our goal for all students is not to necessarily achieve a certain physical goal but rather to gain an appreciation for sports and physical activity. Taking this into account, however, there is an area of Physical Education that all children must learn to appreciate and incorporate into their daily lives. All children need to learn the importance of staying physically fit simply to stay healthy. Students are assessed not on ability but effort.
Students focus on coordination and developing healthy routines for sports and life. Students exert lots of energy and have the opportunity to develop both an idea of what friendly competition entails as well as understand what working as a team is like. It is fundamental that physical education be seen as an activity which is not only informative but one that is fun. It is because of the fun that they will choose to enter physical activity later in their lives. In this age group we try to work into some sports such as soccer, basketball, and hockey. Much of their time however focuses more around developmental activities which build the capacity to understand, the strength to accomplish, and the coordination to enjoy more complicated sports.
Students in these grades have many different
objectives to be accomplished in their classes. First
and foremost, class is enjoyable. Class is enjoyable
because they learn to make it fun. It is one of our
goals that they learn to have fun in a game or in an
activity regardless of whether that particular activity
happens to be their favorite. Students also spend time
developing the ability to excel at sports they may wish
to play later in life. Sports such as hockey,
basketball, soccer, lacrosse, football, and gymnastics
are taught in such a way that the student begins to get
an understanding of how the sport is played and begin to
understand the skills involved in playing the game. It
is during this time that drills and tips are taught to
students interested in pursuing sports in a more
competitive environment.
Students are also pushed to a greater level of physical
fitness. By running weekly and stretching daily students
are getting an idea of what it means to stay physically
fit in order to maintain a healthy body. The
Presidential Fitness program is a new tool in exciting
students toward a more health way of life. In this
program they work on flexibility, strength, and
cardiovascular endurance. All three of these aspects are
ones we work on regularly and encourage work on at home.
In addition to sport and fitness levels there is a third
aspect of physical education at VCS. For students who do
not wish to pursue sports we try to establish knowledge
of social games. Games like Bombardment, Knock Out, and
Tag, though they are not generally thought to be sport,
they do serve a purpose in our program because they
encourage relationships within the classroom. They are
fun and students have a good time playing them. These
are the games that if taught well in gym class you might
find students playing these during recess or in their
own back yard. They generally encourage cardiovascular
fitness and teamwork.