St. Christopher School

The Kindergarteners have been very active in Physical Education this month.  We have discovered a new favorite game called “Buckets” where we have to put all the right colored beanbags and balls in the correct color basket before the clock reaches 2 minutes.  This warm-up really gets our hearts going and is a real test of our space awareness!  We have spent a good portion of the month reviewing the technique for overhand throwing and we have played lots of games involving correct throwing techniques over a net.  We love games like this!  In honor of Valentine’s Day we played Valentine’s Tag and we loved it!   We are finishing out the month by reviewing both the underhand and overhand throws through a variety of stations.

Our First and Second Graders have been working extremely hard on their overhand throwing techniques.  Your child should be confident with the sequence of “T, rocking T, football goal post, step and throw”.   We have worked on accuracy by throwing at spots against the wall and by throwing through hula hoops and we played a game called “hot and sweaty” which allowed the children to work on throwing to an open space over and net, as well as catching a ball in the air.  We also played a game called “cone smash – snowball fight” where the children had to knock down all the “trees” (tennis ball cans) in their opponents yards as well as knocking down the cones which were up on the hill (a mat standing on it’s side).  The children LOVED protecting their trees and working together to get all of their opponents trees knocked down.  I loved watching them use the correct overhand and underhand throwing techniques!

The third and fourth graders have continued to work on their striking skills using pillo polo sticks and hockey sticks.  We have played all sorts of games which focus on eye- hand coordination and striking skills using these sticks.  The children loved playing Pirates Gold because they worked together as a team and went against 3 other teams to see how many goals they could score in two minutes.  Each team took turns being the Pirates (the ones to score) while everyone else tried to defend the goals.  The children really worked well together to make this game successful!

The Fifth and Sixth Graders are just finishing out a unit in floor hockey.  We have stressed safety, dribbling, passing and how to correctly hold a floor hockey stick.  The classes have had fun playing Pirates Gold, Ga Ga and Pin Hockey.  These games all focused on the skills we learned and they got to do it in a fun atmosphere.   During every game the classes had to work together in order to be successful.  We are finishing out the unit with two games of scooter hockey and a regular game of floor hockey where they will have to aim at pins to score.

Enjoy your winter breaks!