Under sunny skies English Class first and second graders walked to Isomäki sports center stadium this morning for their physical education (P.E.) lesson to participate in field and track activities. It was a pretty exciting experience for the new first graders to run around a full-sized track. -And run they did!
After walking to the stadium and and back, not to mention all the running practice on the track, the pupils’ appetites were enormous and the school lunch tasted mighty good!
Just because school started doesn’t mean that all the fun of summer has to suddenly end, especially since temperatures are still so high. On Friday Ms. Anu took her fifth grade class to the outdoor swimming pool at Isomäki for their first physical education lesson of the new school year. Having easy access to all sorts of sports, like the outdoor swimming pool, and cultural activities in and around town is a big advantage, given the central location of our school. Pupils honed their swimming skills and strokes during the first part of the lesson, after which they had free time to swim and dive. Their teacher, Ms. Anu, noted what skilled swimmers the fifth grade pupils are, along with how fearless they are. Jumps and dives took them to new levels.
Swimming builds endurance, strength, strong hearts and lungs. Fitness is an important aspect of our pupils’ daily lives. Because swimming is low impact, they can enjoy the sport throughout their lives which is why it is important for our school to reinforce these skills.
Swimming is simply a great life skill to have and it will provide a lifetime of fun in the water, not to mention that it can save lives.
Don’t be fooled by the Arctic theme of the photo collage above. English Class third graders were sledging and sliding at a nearby park in Pori just before the winter break. They had a grand old time!
In spite of Arctic sub-zero temperatures and a nasty wind chill factor early this week, the first official day of spring, the spring equinox is only three weeks away from today!
Yesterday, after lunch during their physical education lesson, English Class fourth graders and their teacher, Mr. Gregg, walked to the island of Kirjurinluoto where they enjoyed sliding on their sledges. Because Pori is a coastal town, winter weather can be quite capricious, which is one very good reason to enjoy winter sports when weather permits.
Shrove Tuesday, which falls on Tuesday, February 13th this year, is traditionally celebrated as Laskiainen, the mid-winter sliding festival day in Finland. The fourth graders took a head-start on this day that celebrates winter fun.
With high spirits and red cheeks the fourth graders posed for a group picture at the Kirjuri park. They returned to school tired, but satisfied with the delightful day of outdoor activity.
Last week the ice skating rink in our schoolyard still was not ready for use, so p.e. classes were held indoors. English Class first and second graders played the time-honoured game that is so beloved by English Class pupils, Sharks and Coconuts.
To an outside observer who is unfamiliar with the rules, the game appears to be fast-paced chaos. That being said, it is really a wonderful lively non-competitive game that children ask to play again and again. A very bare bone description of the game, called Shark Island in this case, is available here. (Note: we use two benches rather than a mat for our “safe island”.)
English Class first and second graders enjoyed their first physical education class of the week at Pori Stadium learning about track and field. There they learned the basic form and technique for properly and successfully throwing the javelin. Then they practiced throwing weighted foam javelins. The children learned that, in addition to the quick action of the throwing hand, a good forward drive is needed for the throwing hand side of the body in order for the javelin to fly far.
Imagine how cool it would be to learn how to parkour in physical education class! Well, that is what happened yesterday when Linda Luodemäki taught English Class pupils how to practice some basic parkour moves. Parkour is a sport where you can move through the environment by jumping, climbing, swinging and vaulting over obstacles. In the picture collage above third and fourth graders are learning how to do a roll.
Ms. Linda, who has occasionally been substituting for some English Class teachers this spring, also taught English Class pupils to do step vaults, lazy vaults, monkey vaults and diving rolls on a circuit set up in the gym. When everything had been sufficiently learned and practiced, pupils could freerun the circuit at their own pace. It was a super fun way to practice control over body movement!
Cygnaeus School is a participant in Pori’s Let’s Move Active School programme. English Class teachers Ms. Anu and Mr. Juho are the Active School coordinators at Cygnaeus. This means that, in addition to traditional p.e. lessons and ordinary recesses, more physical activity options are being put into practice on a daily basis. One example is that, on a rotating basis, pupils may skate on the school ice skating rink during the lunch recess break, weather permitting. Another example is that indoor recess is offered to two classes at a time. Every class in the school can have a turn at indoor recess once every two weeks. The photo collage above shows English Class first graders enjoying their turn to the max. Also teachers are focusing on incorporating more physical activity and brain breaks into lessons. For example, Ms. Anu’s third grade class pupils broke up their times table speed test practice by climbing and descending the stairs to the third floor and back if they wished. The pupils loved it!
Research conclusively proves that physical activity improves attention span, reduces anxiety and depression and optimizes the brain for learning. At school there is a great need for many physical activity opportunities throughout the day to promote well-being and learning of our pupils.
Yippee! Finally it is cold enough to skate on the rink in the schoolyard! Today, in their P.E. lesson, English Class third and fourth graders received ice skating tips and practice from sixth grade boys who either play extra-curricular ice hockey or bandy. Three different activity stations were set up on the ice. One activity focused on four ways of stopping when ice skating. This included gliding to a stop, the “T”stop, the snowplow stop and hockey stop.
Another activity was practicing skating backwards in three different ways. The third activity station involved practicing cross-over skating.
The sixth grade boys (pictured above) who assisted in today’s ice skating lesson were Max, Tao and Kasperi from the English Class sixth grade and Eero, Atte and Lassi, who are also in the sixth grade at Cygnaeus. This P.E. lesson was a great opportunity to motivate the third and fourth graders to better skating skills by featuring the skills of adept sixth grade skaters.
On Monday of this week English Class first and second grade elves were challenged to deliver presents (beanbags) to Santa’s sleigh. The track they needed to follow was fraught with obstacles. Among other things they needed to cross a crocodile infested river, drive a sled pulled by reindeer, rock climb, and pass through tunnels.
Finally each elf had to pitch his/her present into Santa’s sleigh (a basketball hoop). The objective was to get as many presents as possible into Santa’s sleigh during the lesson period. They certainly were busy little elves!
English Classes at Cygnaeus School 