This Week's Agenda

September is Fruits and Veggies—More Matters Month, Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, National Cholesterol Education Month, Whole Grains Month, National Celiac Disease Awareness Day (September 13), World Alzheimer’s Day (September 21), Family Health and Fitness Day (September 24), National Women’s Health and Fitness Day (September 28), and World Heart Day (September 30).

There is an update on the blog that discusses the gym uniform (including sweatshirts and sweatpants)--the blog post previous to this one.

We have been working on a new stretching routine in our PE classes that involve dynamic stretching rather than static stretching.  Dynamic stretching involves movement and form rather than static stretching (standing and stretching, which is the way most of us learned how to stretch growing up).  Studies have shown that dynamic stretching helps to increase flexibility and to reduce injury over time, so we are getting more “bang for our buck” with dynamic stretching.

We are well under way with President’s testing (third grade through eighth grade)—a series of Physical Education tests that gauge muscular strength, muscular endurance, speed and quickness, and flexibility among others.  The tests include pull-ups, curl-ups, flex arm hang, shuttle run, pushups, sit and reach, mile run (half mile for third grade including Mrs. Elliot’s class), and I have added an additional test and that is the pole climb on the playground.  Returning students will be told their results of last year and the idea is they show improvement from their fourth quarter results as they perform the tests in the first quarter this year.  We will be testing the next few weeks (usually one test a class period depending on class size).

Kindergarten, first grade, and second grade will start working with the balance beam.  We would like to use the outside beam, on the playground, weather permitting.  We will initially work on just going forward over the beam with our eyes looking forward and hands out to our sides for extra balance.

Preschool started the initial stages of stretches this past week and we will add more this week.  We will continue to work on daily procedures as well.

As always, it is expected that each student is to come to class each day with their gym uniform, have a good attitude, ready to learn, and ready to work.

PE Uniform Information Including Sweatpants/Sweatshirts

The Holy Spirit gym uniform consists of the Holy Spirit gym shirt, the Holy Spirit gym shorts (both of which are items that must be ordered through PTO), socks, and tennis shoes.  These are items that need to be worn each and every gym class (preschool-eighth grade) and they are worn all day.  If gym clothes have been ordered and have not come in yet (as of September 8, 2011), students need to wear an appropriate athletic pair of shorts and an appropriate athletic t-shirt for class.  All returning Holy Spirit students from last year should wear last year’s PE uniform if a new uniform has been ordered, but has yet to arrive.

Optional items include sweatpants and sweatshirts.  The sweatpants this year must be a solid color (they may have a colored line down the side) and they must be a dark color (navy, black, etc.) and can be ordered through PTO if the student would like sweatpants that say “Holy Spirit” on them.  It is NOT required for students to purchase sweatpants through PTO if students have sweatpants at home that fit the said criteria.  If sweatpants are worn, the PE uniform shorts still must be worn underneath to still be considered in proper PE uniform.  If sweatshirts are worn (fleece or traditional)—they MUST BE purchased through PTO, so the sweatshirt must be a Holy Spirit sweatshirt, which differs from the sweatpants.  Again, students must have their normal PE gym shirt underneath to be considered in their proper PE uniform.  Part of the PE grade in grades 3-8 (this includes the 2/3 split class—Mrs. Elliot’s homeroom) is directly tied into students bringing their gym clothes to class.  It is considered the students’ “book” for PE class.

They will be days in the fall that we will go outside for class, so please pay close attention to the weather.  It is extremely rare for us to go outside in the winter into early spring when the temperatures are close to or below freezing.

Just as an FYI, middle school has an A, B, C rotation in which 8^th grade has PE on “A” days, 6^th Grade on “B” days, and 7^th grade on “C” days.  Students received a calendar that is updated through the end of September and each middle school homeroom teacher has a calendar posted in homerooms.  We are in the process of finalizing the middle school calendar for the rest of the year—beyond September.  Kindergarten through fifth grade has PE twice a week, and preschool (4-year olds) has PE once a week.

If anyone has any questions concerning the gym uniform, please do not hesitate to let me know:

kbranigan@holyspirit-indy.org

Mr. Branigan

This Week's Agenda

September is Fruits and Veggies—More Matters Month, Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, National Cholesterol Education Month, Whole Grains Month, National Celiac Disease Awareness Day (September 13), World Alzheimer’s Day (September 21), Family Health and Fitness Day (September 24), National Women’s Health and Fitness Day (September 28), and World Heart Day (September 30).

Just a quick note that returning Holy Spirit students should be wearing old PE uniforms to class even if new uniforms have been ordered and have not come in yet.  New students should be wearing an athletic pair of shorts and a t-shirt that is appropriate for school until the new PE uniforms arrive.  Also, there is not a great need for sweatpants and sweatshirts yet with the temperatures, so please have students either leave those materials at home or in lockers.  We will address sweatpants and sweatshirts in the next few weeks when it starts getting cooler outside.

We have been working on a new stretching routine in our PE classes that involve dynamic stretching rather than static stretching.  Dynamic stretching involves movement and form rather than static stretching (standing and stretching, which is the way most of us learned how to stretch growing up).  Studies have shown that dynamic stretching helps to increase flexibility and to reduce injury over time, so we are getting more “bang for our buck” with dynamic stretching.  In addition, some of our new stretches cross the body’s midline, which helps with learning in the traditional classroom.

We have started President’s testing in some classes and will start with all classes (third grade through eighth grade this week)—a series of Physical Education tests that gauge muscular strength, muscular endurance, speed and quickness, and flexibility among others.  The tests include pull-ups, curl-ups, flex arm hang, shuttle run, pushups, sit and reach, mile run (half mile for second and third grade), and I have added an additional test and that is the pole climb on the playground.  Returning students will be told their results of last year and the idea is they show improvement from their fourth quarter results as they perform the tests in the first quarter this year.

We have been working on daily procedures in PE classes and will continue to work on them in the next few weeks, especially with the younger grades.  We will also try to enjoy the nice weather as much as we can, while we still have it available to us.

As always, it is expected that each student is to come to class each day with a good attitude, ready to learn, and ready to work.

Have a great long weekend!

If you need to contact me, my email address is:

kbranigan@holyspirit-indy.org . 

Mr. Branigan

Welcome Back and This Week's PE Agenda

Welcome Back and Welcome to Our New Students!

August is National Children’s Eye Health and Safety Month and it is also National Immunization Awareness Month.

Monday August 29 is Picture Day at Holy Spirit.  If you have PE that day (6^th Grade, Mrs. McMahon homeroom, Mrs. Norman homeroom, Miss O’Neal homeroom, and Miss Hill homeroom), please bring PE clothes with you in addition to picture clothes.  We do not want to see the picture clothes get ruined and it will also allow us to fully participate in PE classes on Monday.

We have been working on a new stretching routine in our PE classes that involve dynamic stretching rather than static stretching.  Dynamic stretching involves movement and form rather than static stretching (standing and stretching, which is the way most of us learned how to stretch growing up).  Studies have shown that dynamic stretching helps to increase flexibility and to reduce injury over time, so we are getting more “bang for our buck” with dynamic stretching. 

We will be starting President’s testing soon—a series of Physical Education tests that gauge muscular strength, muscular endurance, speed and quickness, and flexibility among others.  The tests include pull-ups, curl-ups, flex arm hang, shuttle run, pushups, sit and reach, mile run (half mile for second and third grade), and I have added an additional test and that is the pole climb on the playground.  The testing will range from Mrs. Elliot’s class (2/3 split) through eighth grade.  Returning students will be told their results of last year and the idea is they show improvement from their fourth quarter results as they perform the tests in the first quarter this year.

We have been working on daily procedures in PE classes and will continue to work on them in the next few weeks.

As always, it is expected that each student is to come to class each day with a good attitude, ready to learn, and ready to work.

Have a great week!

If you need to contact me, my email address is:

kbranigan@holyspirit-indy.org

Mr. Branigan

This Week's Agenda

We will be wrapping up the year this week.

The sixth grade (General Music class) that meets on Mondays and Fridays will meet on Wednesday instead of Friday with Mass moved to Friday this week.

It’s been a great year!

Please encourage your children to be active over the summer!

This Week's Agenda

The sixth grade will continue working on President’s testing, journaling results, and comparing them to the first quarter results.

Grades 3-5 will be finishing up President’s testing and our focus is personal best.

Grade 2 (O’Neal) will play Wiffle Ball games to finish out our unit.  The focus is to gain experience along with teamwork and hand-eye coordination.

First grade will play a couple of fitness games.

Kindergarten has been working on the Monkey Bars on the playground and we will finish up this week.

Have a great week and thank you to all who made Teacher Appreciation Week possible!

This Week's Agenda

The eighth grade will finish their fourth quarter on Monday (General Music) or Tuesday (Band/Choir).  The sixth grade will start their fourth quarter Thursday (Band/Choir) and Friday (General Music).  Journals will be due on respective days for sixth grade and we will start President’s testing.

Due to the Annual Fund Dinner on Thursday, we will not be in the gym most of the week, so please make sure students are prepared to be outside for classes.

Grades 3 (Elliot homeroom included), grade 4, and grade 5 will all be working on President’s testing focusing on our personal best.

Grade 2 (O’Neal) will continue to work on a Wiffle Ball unit.  We will use the information that we worked on from our kickball unit, and tie that information in with previous playing experiences with baseball or softball to form our Wiffle Ball unit.  The focus is to gain experience along with teamwork and hand-eye coordination.

Kindergarten and first grade will work on fitness walking and jogging this week.  Our goal is to work on overall physical fitness and increasing our heart rates.

Preschool will not have class with our noon dismissal on Friday.