I really don't like goodbyes so I'm trying very hard to not look at this next week in that way. My time here at MRA has been a blessing. I truly feel that all of our life experiences shape and mold who we are. My time and opportunities with your child have added so much value to my life. I will take all of the memories from the past 6 years with me. Some of my past students have moved on from high school, some I have been with for 6 years, others just beginning their school career. All of the stages have been challenging, fun and rewarding. It has been my pleasure to have been able to both teach and learn here at MRA. Thank you for allowing me to be a part of your child's life. I wish you all the best. You will be missed. - Danielle Reeber
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The Trillium and Huckleberries have been working hard on their volleying and striking skills.The students have used balloons to practice these skills. They should be able to describe volleying and striking. Other terms that they have become familiar with are underhand and overhand. The unit will continue into May while they work on volleying with a partner and a group, playing the game sheep dogs and straddle ball, and striking with paddles.
P.E. -
Trillium/Huckleberries - The unit for April is dribbling/volleying and striking. The students have been enjoying ball handling skills that include dribbling basketballs. They have been working hard and improving with each class as they continue to develop their skills. The upper grades have started a floor hockey unit which is one of their favorites! Health - 7th graders - Nutrition This week the students are learning about all of the nutrients. They are keeping track of their own food intake for 5 days. It is very important that they continue to do their best at filling out their journal so that they can evaluate their diet by taking a look at their nutrients, serving sizes, overall calorie intake, etc. 8th grade - Reproductive System The students have started this unit with studying the female and male reproductive systems. They are learning the names and functions within the systems, some potential health problems, and how to take care of their system, etc. Track Club - Tues. and Thurs. Starting Tues. the 24th. Track club will run for a total of 8 days. Alders and Cedars will run/walk from 11:30-11:50 and the Trillium, Huckleberries and Clarkia will run from 11:50-12:10. I hope that you can join our community as we celebrate our ability to come together for healthy movement. Clarkia: This month, the 3rd and 4th graders have been working hard on developing their chasing and fleeing skills in a variety of tag games. They have been primarily working on offensive and defensive skills while also developing strategies to divert the tagger's attention from them. They also have been learning about sportsmanship, team work, and integrity in these type of games.
Alders & Cedars: This month, they have been touching on a variety of court games: badminton, volleyball, kickball etc. Currently, they are enjoying badminton and learning the basics of the game from forehand to backhand stroke to keeping it in the air in a rally. They will end the badminton unit by participating in small groups and playing a game with one another later on this month. Trillium and Huckleberries: The students have been working hard on their left/right brain activity by learning and practicing speed stacking. All 3 classes have been taught the 3,3,3 cycle and the Huckleberries have been taught the 3,6,3 cycle. They are working on accuracy and speed. It is so fun to watch them improve their skills everyday as they also incorporate the stacking into tag games, relays, strength exercises, and team building. In the next few weeks they will be partner stacking, team stacking and racing each other. Health: The health classes started a unit on the life cycle before Renaissance for a few days and then picked up where they left off the past few class times. This will be the last week of health until after the music performance in March. Topics covered for this unit so far are the stages of life and puberty. The kindergartners, 1st and 2nd graders worked very hard this month completing the balance and stunt unit. They demonstrated many animal walks, static balances, rolls, and partner stunts. The culminating event took place on Mon. where they had a chance to review, practice and perform many of the skills along with some challenges and free exploration.
7th/8th Health: The students have finished the Endocrine System unit. They did research regarding an endocrine gland in small groups and then taught those facts to the rest of the class. They now have a better understanding about hormones and the important role that they play in the bodies ability to regulate so many important body functions. Who's teaching who?
Mrs. Kori - Kori Jones will be teaching the 3rd-8th grade P.E. for the remainder of the year. She will be at MRA full time. Mrs. Reeber - Danielle Reeber will be teaching 7-8th Health and K-2nd P.E. with the help of Mrs. Kori. She will be at MRA 10 hours a week. M.,T.,Th., F noon til 2:30. What are the students up to this month? K-2nd - Balances and Stunts Unit - Introduction, expectations, safety tips, and animal walks. Animal balancing acts, basic body positions, static balances, beanbag balances, dynamic balances, jumping and landing, partner stunts, and weight transfer/rolls on mats, practicing and performing routines. 3rd-8th - Basketball - a variety of skills such as passing, pivoting, and dribbling. A variety of games will be explored to practice and develop strategies to build teamwork, and develop offense and defensive skills. Health - Endocrine System - system and glands, description, anatomy, function, hormones and diseases. Personal Note Once a week I am making trips to OHSU for physical therapy and to McMinnville for the Naturopath. I am also seeing the Neuromuscular Specialist at OHSU once a month. There has been positive changes which indicate the drugs are working. I have stopped losing muscle mass and my CK (muscle enzyme) numbers have come down from 5000 in August to 700. Normal range for most people is under 200. The drugs are obviously doing amazing things but there are side effects that I am hoping to escape. I am returning to MRA part time, hopefully for the rest of the year. It is nice to reconnect with the students and staff. Being out of work has not been so great for the pocketbook either so it is nice to be able to help a little in that area as well. I look healthy and normal (thank goodness), but I am so thankful to have Kori's help with the little ones in the afternoon. It is still surprising how much I can not do, simple things like skipping around the gym, bending down and then getting back up, etc. Even though there are challenges, I am so grateful for the health that I do have and the support of my family and friends. Gone physically but not gone emotionally! Most of you know that I have been absent from MRA now for the past month. Some of your students may have told you why depending on their age and some may have not said anything. I want to give the community an update on the P.E./Health program as well as my health. It is important that you are informed so that you know who your child is spending time with during their school day.
First of all let me say that I do miss the children and my colleagues and I miss my ability to be able to teach them as I have in the past. I have been faced with the challenge of a very rapidly changing body. Physical tasks that were once easy have become very difficult. Simple things like, tying a kindergarteners shoe, demonstrating skills, getting out and setting up equipment, picking up a ball off the floor, and helping a child who may be hurt are a few of the new challenges. I have been diagnosed with Necrotizing Autoimmune Myopathy (NAM). I know, something you have never heard of before. My body is killing its own muscle cells and I have lost 13 pounds this Fall in muscle mass. Right now I am fighting the disease with high doses of Prednisone and have just started another drug, Methotrexate which is a chemo agent. There are appointments to OHSU, Naturopath, Physical Therapy, etc. The long term prognosis is fairly good. My doctor said, "you will live a normal life just not being able to do all the things you normally did". O.K. now if that's not confusing! I guess what he means is that I should be able to continue most daily normal activities but I will never be an athlete, lift weights, climb a mountain, etc. I will have to be careful of overdoing it and probably be on some form of medication forever. This is all the unknown. Another unknown is how long will it take to get to that point. I have heard it may take a couple of years. So...where does this leave MRA's P.E. program? Lori Martin has graciously taken my position through December and has been doing an amazing job. Please reach out to her and give her support and words of encouragement. Kori Jones has been hired to be the long-term sub for the rest of the 2017-1018 school year. She has one year of teaching experience. This week Kori Jones is joining Lori for the rest of 2017 so that she can visually see the program, get to know the kids, and become comfortable with MRA in general. Please welcome her and support her in any way that you can. My plan is to come back about 10 hours a week if I am able starting in January. I will be teaching Health and P.E. in the afternoons with Kori's assistance. So that is the the updated news. Kori will be continuing the blog for now and I may have some updates too. I know this has been difficult for some of the kids but they are so resilient. What they can do now for me is to be the best P.E. student they can be. They know what that means. It is not about how much of something they can do or how fast or skilled, it is about doing their best, trying new things, working well with others, showing respect to the teacher, classmates and equipment, and having fun! A lot of these kids have been in my life for 6 years. The progress I have seen is remarkable. Not only in their physical abilities but most importantly in their character. May they continue to grow in all aspects of their health! Your prayers and thoughts are appreciated. Sincerely, Danielle Reeber Students got paired up with their buddy for the year and they started the rotations of activities. The family that got to explore the "Toy Box" of physical activities had such a great time and it was a joy to watch them get to know each other and try a variety of games together.
Wow it is hard to believe the first 4 weeks of the school year are behind us. Where did that time go?
Here is an update: 3rd – 8th grade has been working on problem solving and team building in the gym. Recently they have been learning how to play kickball the MRA way. The goal is that they have success in a team setting and feel comfortable to have this as a choice at recess. All of the students will play by the same rules so that they could potentially play together for a fun activity with all the grade levels. It has helped them to understand that there must be rules, that having fun is the most important and that to be successful they must work together and support one another. Another game that was taught in progression was Mat Ball. They all seemed to really enjoy this game. Mat Ball gives each individual more choices which tends to really bring out their personality. The Alders and Cedars will be working on starting the Fitnessgram assessments for the beginning this next week. There will be a total of 4 assessments and they have been working hard to be ready for them. Trillium & Huckleberries have been continuing to work on new games and Building a Foundation. Now that they understand levels, tempos and directions they have been working on these skills with a partner and in small groups. Huckleberries also had an introduction to kickball which always proves to be interesting developmental wise. They are not quite ready for this game but I figure they can at least understand how to run from base to base. Health has just finished up Unit 1 and starting Unit 2 on Mental/Emotional Health. We are discussing self-concept, self-esteem, personality, resilience, and what kinds of things influence and build all of the above. Currently they are reading an article on sleep and keeping a simple journal over the next weeks school nights. Below the Huckleberries are playing a partner game called Clay and Sculptor. It was a fun week watching the students navigate through some challenges that helped to grow their community. Communication, cooperation, problem solving, and trust were some of the important skills practiced. On Thursday the Cedars played a great game called Commanders and Tanks. The commander was in charge of supporting their tank that had no vision. They had to direct their tank to pick up an item and toss it at another tank for success. It was quite fun to see their successes and challenges that came forward during this activity. The younger grades have been continuing to work on building a foundation for a great year in P.E. They have been learning about tempo, levels, and balance throughout their activities and games this week. Some of the fun games they played were Stoplight, Pick the Coconut and Zap Tag.
Please remember proper shoes for safe and effective activity in the gym! |
Danielle ReeberThis is my 6th year here at MRA. Prior to MRA I have taught in Canby, Oregon City Maple Valley, Spokane and Auburn, WA. I am a graduate of Washington State University with a K-12 P.E. major and a Health minor. I currently live in Wilsonville with my husband of 23 years, my three 17 year olds and my dog, Charlie. In my spare time I love hiking, camping, spending time reading a book on a sunny warm beach and scrapbooking. Archives
June 2018
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