April is Wellness Month

April 2nd-April 6th: Hydration Week:

Students are encouraged to bring a water bottle to school for the week.  Our goal is for everyone to drink two bottles of water a day.  Students will be tracking the water they drink daily on their tracking sheet. (Shade in half the bottle after drinking 1 bottle of water).  Any type of bottle is fine, we’d like to encourage everyone to bring reusable bottles if possible.

April 9th-April 13th: Exercise Week:

Students will be participating in an “active start” every day.  We will be walking the hallways of the school for 5-10mins following morning announcements.  Students will be using their tracking sheets to track their physical activity for the week.  Each portion of the pie is 10 minutes of exercise. The goal being 60 minutes of moderate intensity exercise daily.  Exercise at home counts towards our daily goals, so please help/encourage your child to complete their 60 minutes a day.

April 16th-April 20th: Mindfulness Week:

Students will be taking part in a mindfulness lessons for approx. 10 minutes every day.  They will be tracking their mood, focus and energy level before and after mindfulness every day. I’d recommend the Headspace App (Take 10 program).  It’s a free app and the “take 10” program is a free guided mindfulness program.  You do need to create an account with the app.  Students will be participating at school, however, you are welcome to do more at home.  Headspace is a great app and there are many other mindfulness programs, apps, videos available for free online.

April 23rd-April 27th: Sleep Week:

Students will be tracking their sleep pattern for the week.  Marking down what time they go to bed, what time they wake up and how many hours of sleep they get.  We’d also like to encourage our students to limit their screen time prior to sleep, and encourage proper sleep routines.

Here’s our Wellness Month Tracking Sheet:

École Robert Browning Wellness Month

Last Week In Phys. Ed. (March 12th-16th)

Stacking and skipping, that’s what we’ve been up to in PE over the past week.  Students have gone bonkers for speed stacking.  They’ve been frantically working on putting in a good time for both the 3-6-3 and the Cycle Stack in hopes of making the school team, which will be participating in the divisional tournament.  Many students have gone out and purchased their own cups in order to practice at home.  It’s neat to see such drive, commitment and determination to work on such a simple skill.

Skipping has also started to take off.  We’ve been working on both individual skipping and long rope skipping skills.  We’ve definitely seem a vast improvement in skipping skills in just a few short days of practice.  We will continue with skipping and speed stacking as we close out the month and prepare for spring break.

We will be having the annual teachers vs. Grade 5 basketball teams game the last day of school before the break to kick off the holiday.

Don’t forget that April is Wellness Month.  Our first week back after the break is Hydration Week.  Other themes for the following weeks include exercise, mindfulness and sleep.  Have a good week and happy Spring Break!  Catch you in April!

Last Week In Phys. Ed. (Mar. 5th-9th)

Volleyball and Speed Stacking.  That’s been our focus for the last week.  Students have been working on playing Circulation Volleyball (a 4 vs. 4 version of volleyball where players are allowed to catch and self-volley all 3 contacts).  We’ve seen some really great progress in volleyball skills and strategies.  Especially from one group of grade 2s (room 8 & 9). Way to go everyone!  Our grade 5s will have a volleyball club starting up in April.  We will be practicing during lunch hours and will have the opportunity to compete in the divisional volleyball tournament at Westwood Collegiate in early May.

Speed stacking has taken over our gym, hallways, classrooms over the past week.  Students have been working hard to get in a good time on the 3-6-3 Stack and the Cycle Stack.  We have been running time trails during class, recess and lunch hour.  We will be taking the top 6 boys and top 6 girls to the divisional speed stacking tournament held in April.  Right now we’ve got a few times in the 4 second range for the 3-6-3 and a few in the low teens for the cycle stack.  Keep up the good work everyone!  Cannot wait to see how we do at the tournament.