Teacher Idea Factory

Teacher Idea Factory

MOVE IT MONDAY VOL VI + PEN PAL PARTNERSHIPS

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Another Monday has arrived on my doorstep and I am bound and determined to not overlook my Move It post today!  However, this puppy is going to be short and sweet.  As I am sure you are feeling the pressure, so am I  . . . ahhhhhhhhhhh . . . here it comes!  

Let me toss something out to ya . . . Cross-Age P.E.  Have you heard of it?  Do you all do it at your school?  Well, we have the coolest P.E. teachers around and they do cross age P.E. with us off and on throughout the year.  What is “cross-age” you ask?  Well, the “big kids” at our middle school come up to our gym to work with our primary kiddos on P.E. skills (usually on Fridays). It’s a brilliant idea and a win-win for sure.  Not only do the little guys LOVE getting to hang out with the cool older kids, but most of the cool older kids really enjoy getting to help out and serve as teacher for a period.  

Here’s how it works at our school.  Multiple primary classes are invited to the gym at a time (usually two or three) and these kids are put into small groups. The P.E. teacher then assigns 2-3 peer helpers from her middle school gym class to each crew of little kids.  This makes things pretty manageable.

What games and skills do these middle schoolers teach?  It’s should be like what don’t they teach??!!  They work on everything from tossing and catching to balance and teamwork.  We even always have a bowling class . . . the kids sooooo love this one.  

It is so cool to see all of the kids working together.
On another note, I started linking people up for The Perfect Pen Pal Pair up. Here’s what taking on 249 matches looked like last night (I went to my parent’s house for some much needed help with this . . . thank you MOMMY I couldn’t have done this without your extra hands and brain power).  

I kid because I love . . . this actually has been pretty fun for both my mom and me 🙂
Yes, we were “at it” for 4 hours and we made it about 1/2 way through.  Most every grade that we have tackled thus far has a match.  I took into account your class size, grade level, and location before I tried to place ya.  If there was a problem I emailed you last night so please check those inboxes for me.  Also, you want to keep an eye on that inbox because I will start emailing pairs out this week.  Please remember that I have truly done my best for you, but that it is now out of my hands.  I hope . . . hope . . . HOPE you are able to turn this rather random pairing into a strong classroom connection! 
If you are still interested in signing up to have me find you a pen pal, you have until 08/12 to fill out my online form.  Click on the button to learn more! **If you have any notes in regards to your pairing, please indicate them in the class size column on the form and be sure to double check that email 🙂
That’s all my friends.  I have to get my fanny into my classroom and get to gettin’ on sprucin’ things up.  Only two weeks are left!!  YIKES.  Thanks so much for visiting and I’ll see you soon.  

Comments

  1. Jenn Long says

    Hi Kelley! I'm so excited about your Perfect Pen Pal Pair Up! I can't wait to see who my new friends will be and I totally appreciate all the extra magic you and your mom did to make this a reality!
    I also love the Cross Age PE classes your school does! (Had to tweet that one!)

    A Pirates Life for Us

  2. Mikaela says

    Thank you (and your mom) for your hard work. Did you ever expect to get soooo many participants? That's awesome. Can't wait to see who I'm paired up with. I just purchased your unit last night to use with my first graders. It's awesome!! What a great PE idea. We are a Pre-K through Grade 12 school- this would be fun. I'll have to pass it along to our PE department.

  3. amy says

    Oh my heck, you are amazing! Thank you for your hard work and willingness to organize everything! I can only imagine what you must have felt especially with school coming upon us so quickly!
    Thank you again to both you and your mom!
    Amy
    Where Seconds Count

  7. Sarah says

    ALMOST 250 people looking for matches!! That is CrAzY beans!! Who knew a simple idea would be sooo darn amazin!! Thank you soooo much — I cant wait to learn all about my match too!!

    Good luck in getting your room set up!! Looks like you need a STRONG diet soda to get your final push for matches!! Huge hug to your Momma!!

    Sarah
    Kindergarten Iowa
    shetrick@gmail.com

    • teacherideafactory says

      I am so not supposed to have diet soda (not by choice mind you), and I had TWO cans yesterday. Great call on this one. MMmmmm . . . how I have missed you Diet Pepsi 🙂 Thanks for swinging by!

  9. viviankirkfield says

    Hi Kelly,
    Two amazing ideas…love them both!
    The P.E. plan should be put into action at every school…what a boost for the self-esteem of the older kids…an encouragement for them to be great role models!
    The pen-pal match up is inspired…brings back memories of writing letters to pen pals over 50 years ago. 🙂 What a beautiful way to connect more personally.
    Good luck in the new school year…if you get a chance, please check out my School Initiative…we are giving away 12 copies of Show Me How!, an award-winning resource for parents and teachers! http://bit.ly/QF9TkT

  10. Tracy St. John says

    I would have loved to participate in something like this but have a friend moving to Honduras and teaching firsties like me and sorry to all the U.S.A. teachers, but Honduras is way cooler lol…maybe next year! 🙂

    I'm a fairly new blogger and would love for you to stop on by and have a look at my little corner of the web! http://crayonspencilspaper.blogspot.com/

    Tracy

  13. robyn says

    Hi Kelley~
    Thank you very much for all of the hard work you put into doing the pen pal match! I am very excited about this project, and I can't thank you enough for organizing it!
    Robyn

  17. Nicole Tobar says

    thank you so much for doing the pen pal match up! i'm a new teacher and i've been wanting to do pen pals, and then i saw it on your blog! i remember having a pen pal when i was in elementary so i'm excited my kids get to do it too.

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