Lincolnshire phys-ed participation ‘awesome,’ now that students have a say
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HALFWAY a Forty-two fourth-graders recently gathered around a new quarter-mile path at Lincolnshire Elementary School as part of a warmup for their physical education class.
Later this semester phys-ed teachers Andrew Kaetzel and Brooke Griffith will teach students gymnastics, an activity that returned to the school in Halfway last school year. In January, older students will be instructed in archery and later this school year they will have an interactive gaming unit that includes “Dance Dance Revolution.”
The changes are the result of a survey Kaetzel did of fifth-graders last school year to determine their interests so he could offer activities they wanted to do. While all elementary students take physical education, some might just stand around or not be that active if they aren’t interested in the activity, he said.
Participation in the new units has been “awesome,” Kaetzel said.
aThat is pretty cool that we got to try new things instead of the same old, same old,a said fifth-grader Willie Parker, 10.
As part of a research project Kaetzel worked on, he compared physical-fitness-test results for fifth-graders two school years ago with their math and reading scores on their Measures of Academic Progress assessments. He said he saw a correlation in that students who were deemed physically fit were scoring “way higher” on those academic assessments, so he’s hoping that offering more activities students are interested in not only gets them more active, but helps their academic performance as well.
Gymnastics, video games and archery were added after fifth-graders were surveyed about their interests at the start of the 2015-2016 school year.
Fifth-grader Trysten Barnard, 10, said gymnastics was “cool.” Her favorite gymnastics move was doing a flip on the uneven bars.
Kaetzel arranged to borrow gymnastics equipment from Salem Avenue Elementary in Hagerstown; raised about $800 through DonorsChoose.org for two Wii systems with projectors, dance pads and physically interactive games; and arranged for archery training last January for at least a dozen county phys-ed teachers.
His principal at the time, Beth Allshouse, used fundraiser proceeds to buy an archery startup kit so students could begin that unit last spring, officials said.
Allshouse, now principal at Northern Middle School in Hagerstown, said Kaetzel “has great energy and wants to make things better for kids.”
He researches grants and opportunities such as business partnerships to get things done, she said.
The path behind Lincolnshire Elementary is a result of a grant and school-system funds, Kaetzel said.
He secured a $2,500 Action for Healthy Kids grant and the school system provided about $3,300 for the construction.
The walking path, named The Linc Loop, has made a difference during recess too, Kaetzel said. 15, there were 30 to 40 kids talking and walking the path during recess instead of sitting and chatting, he said.
Several fifth-graders helped build the path by clearing out clumps of dirt that had fallen into the path dug out for the filler, which included soft gravel.
The changes Kaetzel made are examples of things going on countywide as phys-ed instructors are using more targeted activities a things students at their particular school are interested in a to get students active and learning lifetime activities, said Eric Michael, supervisor of athletics, health education and physical education.
Michael said Clear Spring Middle has offered archery, whereas another school might offer bocce if that fits their students’ interests.
Kaetzel said Lincolnshire also will offer after-school programs starting in January that are aimed at students’ interests, including archery; theater and dance; book club; and intramural sports.
The school also will have an archery team in the spring to compete in a state tournament.
The students “feel appreciated that their voices were heard and we’re meeting the needs of all learners,” Kaetzel said.
