FAST Times time lapse from MLSPE on Vimeo.
In Albemarle County, we are fortunate to have some wonderful colleagues who run awesome physical education programs. We collaborate quite often via email, Twitter, “PE Meet-ups” in person, and even Google Chats. This school year, we took our collaboration one step further and officially created the FAST (Fun, Active, Social, Teamwork) Times program. This program is designed to provide opportunities for our students to move, have fun, and meet new students from around the county. It is our goal to be diverse in our activity offerings, and we have been successful thus far as our FAST Times events have been as follows: Capture the Flag Day, Speed Stacking, and Dance.
Each day has brought so many great memories for our kids and for myself especially. (My memories mainly consist of “Why am I running this station? I would much rather be out there playing!”) The Capture the Flag event was intense! We were able to reserve the Albemarle High turf field, so the kids were immediately pumped when they heard the news. When pairing that excitement with that of playing three versions of CTF with and against students from around Albemarle County, we knew we were in for a great day. The day was fantastic, from the weather, to the organization, to the healthy snacks afterwards (fruit and water; NO GATORADE or CHOCOLATE MILK HERE!). With over 120 participants, we were really excited about the start of the program.
The Speed Stacking event was held at Hollymead and we had a blast! The MLS kids showed their skills as we are definitely a stacking school! We were sure to get their heart rates up with very active stacking stations, but we didn’t forget about the goofy stuff as the “Cup City” station provided plenty of laughs and many awesome creations. This station also provided some collaboration time among the group members, which often represented 3-4 schools. Our culminating event was an optional head-to-head tournament, which was an awesome way to end our day.
The final event was held last Friday at Stone Robinson and couldn’t have been more fun! The MLS group (40 kids strong!) was lead by our 4th graders, who came dancing in to “Harlem Shake.” They were eventually joined by the rest of the crew who came running in from different entrances in the gym! It set the tone for a great 90 minutes of dance as the SRES kids showed their “Happy” dance creation on the projector. The Agnor Hurt teachers led some wonderful international dances which was great for the MLS teachers, as we need to (and will) develop that area of our dance program. The MLS kids then led a few Meriwether Mover dances. I was so impressed with our kids, not because of their moves but because of their willingness to get up on the stage and lead the dances! I had to tell kids to get of the stage as all 40+ wanted to get up there! After that we had some Hip Hop Battles and a big Dance Off before we taught the crew our halftime show performance from last year. The end result? Sweaty, happy, tired kids and teachers alike!
What a joy is to be a physical education teacher! I was able to see some of my favorite camp kids from Hollymead, ones that have been to every Camp4Real (my summer camp business) at HMES. The bus ride with my kids was a blast as I was able to sit and talk with some of my kids at length. I don’t have that wonderful opportunity very often. Singing (clean) Miley Cyrus songs, reciting (clean) movie quotes from Batman and Gladiator with one of my 4th graders (your parents let you watch those movies?!?!), and making up goofy names for everyone (I am now Dr. Velcro) on the bus may be the things I remember most from this recent trip!
Scott Williams
Each day has brought so many great memories for our kids and for myself especially. (My memories mainly consist of “Why am I running this station? I would much rather be out there playing!”) The Capture the Flag event was intense! We were able to reserve the Albemarle High turf field, so the kids were immediately pumped when they heard the news. When pairing that excitement with that of playing three versions of CTF with and against students from around Albemarle County, we knew we were in for a great day. The day was fantastic, from the weather, to the organization, to the healthy snacks afterwards (fruit and water; NO GATORADE or CHOCOLATE MILK HERE!). With over 120 participants, we were really excited about the start of the program.
The Speed Stacking event was held at Hollymead and we had a blast! The MLS kids showed their skills as we are definitely a stacking school! We were sure to get their heart rates up with very active stacking stations, but we didn’t forget about the goofy stuff as the “Cup City” station provided plenty of laughs and many awesome creations. This station also provided some collaboration time among the group members, which often represented 3-4 schools. Our culminating event was an optional head-to-head tournament, which was an awesome way to end our day.
The final event was held last Friday at Stone Robinson and couldn’t have been more fun! The MLS group (40 kids strong!) was lead by our 4th graders, who came dancing in to “Harlem Shake.” They were eventually joined by the rest of the crew who came running in from different entrances in the gym! It set the tone for a great 90 minutes of dance as the SRES kids showed their “Happy” dance creation on the projector. The Agnor Hurt teachers led some wonderful international dances which was great for the MLS teachers, as we need to (and will) develop that area of our dance program. The MLS kids then led a few Meriwether Mover dances. I was so impressed with our kids, not because of their moves but because of their willingness to get up on the stage and lead the dances! I had to tell kids to get of the stage as all 40+ wanted to get up there! After that we had some Hip Hop Battles and a big Dance Off before we taught the crew our halftime show performance from last year. The end result? Sweaty, happy, tired kids and teachers alike!
What a joy is to be a physical education teacher! I was able to see some of my favorite camp kids from Hollymead, ones that have been to every Camp4Real (my summer camp business) at HMES. The bus ride with my kids was a blast as I was able to sit and talk with some of my kids at length. I don’t have that wonderful opportunity very often. Singing (clean) Miley Cyrus songs, reciting (clean) movie quotes from Batman and Gladiator with one of my 4th graders (your parents let you watch those movies?!?!), and making up goofy names for everyone (I am now Dr. Velcro) on the bus may be the things I remember most from this recent trip!
Scott Williams