Sports & Recreation

My first year at Los Alamitos is almost complete and I have enjoyed working with the students very much and have made many new friends.

The 4th and 5th graders have been working on being true team members with sportsmanship. You may have noticed a different attitude in the way they participate in activities at home and in other social environments. In order to reinforce this, no one wins or loses in a PE activity, while everyone wins if they have given their best. Our motto is “give your best all the time.”

Our other focus has been the actual physical fitness of our students. There is such a concern with our young people as we watch obesity rise and health problems multiply. When a class comes to PE, the goal is to get heart rates up for 30 minutes with continuous activity. Our students need 30 minutes a day, every day. Summer break is a time to relax and rejuvenate, by physical health can't be compromised in this process. Part of the summer equipment and play could include jump rope, tennis balls and rackets, good running shoes, time in a pool, playground balls, and other items that will help them achieve this 30 minutes per day goal.

I would like to wish all the 5th graders the best of luck in middle school and I look forward to seeing all of my new 5th graders and meeting the new 4th graders!

Mrs. Piazzon
4th/5th PE Leader

Each classroom teacher provides a program to improve physical skills as well as sportsmanship. Kindergarten classes receive daily support while out at recess during their physical activity time. The kindergarten teachers are responsible to deliver this instruction. In the primary grades (1st – 3rd), students experience different primary motor perception programs. For example, the 1st grade teachers lead the students in “Movin’ and Groovin’ which inspires the students to follow directions, move certain body parts in turn with instructions, and participate with classmates in the same grade level. Weekly grade level PE activities include exercises, running around the grass area, supervised games, and PE activities.

Our upper grade students (4th – 5th) receive two one-hour sessions of physical education instruction each week as a result of our 4/5 release program. Classroom teachers receive a “prep period” that allows a PE Leader to teach their classes each week. Our PE Leader, Ann Piazzon, leads the students in a number of different stretching and warm-up activities. She also provides instruction in the areas of volleyball, kickball, frisbee relays, soccer, track, and more. Many “teachable moments” allow our PE Leader to explain to students what types of choices make for good lifestyle decisions, such as the need to drink more water when exercising on hot days and staying indoors to exercise on certain “spare the air” types of days. On rainy days, activities and outdoor movement are curtailed and students practice quieter inside games, such as silent ball, Simon Sez, written work, watching sports-related videos, and Einstein.

Each Spring, our 5th graders participate in the Physical Fitness Assessment (PFA) test, which is required by the California Department of Education. All students in the 5th grade are asked to perform five different tasks, including the mile run, sit-ups, and stretches.

Health
The Growing Healthy curriculum is used throughout our school and district. The Growing Healthy materials provide an in-depth study of the human body through hands-on materials and experiments. This program fosters respect for a healthy lifestyle and attitudes. Red Ribbon Week hosts guest speakers, including local athletes, who serve as role models and encourage students to make healthy life choices.

Our classroom teachers often take the time to monitor the lunches brought from home. Because our focus is on healthy choices, many teachers will discuss with parents the need for modifications in parent-packed lunches, such as adding items with more protein or eliminating high sugar-content items. Our school health clerk and nurse often have similar conversations with parents so that, as a team, we can help support good choices and healthy lifestyles for our students.

Each Fall, our 5th grade students participate in the California Healthy Kids Survey. This survey, mandated by the federal government, anonymously asks to students to respond to a number of different prompts that have to do with making choices about things like smoking, drugs, peer pressure, and more. The intent of this classroom questionnaire is to provide the federal government with information about the challenges faced by students and is used to allocate federal funds to different prevention programs. There is no way to track student responses, so you can rest assured that students will not be identified or tracked in any manner.

Sports and Recreation