Welcome to the P.E. Page!

On this page you’ll find an overview of the Physical Education program at Stevens, recommendations for growing a smarter, healthier child, explanation of the Seattle Schools PE Curriculum, explanation of the fitness testing we do, as well as occasional requests for volunteer help.

My main goal for Stevens students is to develop an understanding about how playing leads to both good health and better brain functioning. I want kids to enjoy being active because active kids make better learners. Active kids feel better. Active kids should make better decisions.

At Stevens my primary goal is to get children moving. Studies show everyone (parents too) need vigorous exercise every day to be optimally healthy. Unfortunately, we only have 30 minutes of PE a day every other day. So I try to play games that get everyone moving as much as possible as long as possible.

I also have the playground running program to encourage kids to take charge of their own fitness by running laps. They can earn foot tokens for each mile. Marathoners (26.2 miles) earn a special prize which might vary from year to year.

In addition to the active games we play in the gym, I also teach sports for lifelong activity. We have a golf unit, bowling, skating, biking, and a tennis unit. Special thanks go to the PGA First Tee organization for our golf supplies and to all the people who volunteer to help teach it. Cascade Bike Club provides bikes and helmets for our biking unit.

Five for Life – Seattle’s PE Curriculum

In 2008 Seattle Schools adopted the Five for Life PE Curriculum. This curriculum spans grades K-12. The Basic program is used in elementary schools, Intermediate aims at grade 6-8, and the Advanced program is for high schoolers. It builds on itself logically, introducing concepts then revisiting them in later years. The goal is to educate children on how to be fit for a lifetime.

Stevens was one of the 12 schools to pilot this program in 2008-2009. It has now been rolled out throughout the district. We are already beginning to see the benefits of the new program.

Five for Life refers to the five components of fitness:

1. Cardio-respiratory endurance
2. Muscular strength
3. Muscular endurance
4. Flexibility
5. Body composition

People need to have the knowledge of what these are and how to improve them in order to be healthy.

Cardio-respiratory endurance is activity which enables both the heart and the lungs to work for long periods of time. Think running, swimming, or heavy-duty basketball or soccer. This is improved when you keep your heart and lungs working at a higher than normal intensity level for periods of at least 10 minutes. The goal is 60 minutes a day.

Muscular strength is the ability of a muscle to provide power. This is the force used to lift things, throw things, kick things, etc. Exercises that build strength are the kinds of things you’d do in a weight room: pushups, lifting weights, pull-ups, squats, rowing, bicep curls, etc. At Stevens we use surgical tubing or elastic bands to provide the resistance. When our equipment for the program arrives, we will have weight bars and dumbbells, too. If you have to stop because of muscle fatigue before you can do 8 reps of any activity, it is a strength exercise.

Muscular endurance is the ability for muscles to work for an extended period of time. Walking, curlups, or any activity which can be repeated by a muscle more than 12 times is in this group. If you are paying attention, you’ll figure out that for some kids pushups will be a muscle strength activity, but for others it will be an endurance activity.

Flexibility is exactly what is says it is. The concern here is proper range of motion of joints and muscles. I try to incorporate stretching into as many PE activities as possible. I know I need it and have felt the results of not developing it over the years.

Finally there is body composition. At the basic level this means teaching our children that their body is made up of bones, muscles, and other organs, as well as fat. The important functions of bones and muscles are easy for kids to grasp. We have to teach them more about what fat does positively for the body, such as storing vitamins, providing insulation, improving nerve functioning, etc. We talk about the ideal composition for a body as being 80% non-fat mass and 20% fat mass. In all these discussions I make sure to emphasize the wide variety of body types in our world. The message is not “skinny is good”, especially since each child has a unique developmental pattern. We spend a good bit of time talking about macronutrients: protein, carbohydrates, and fat. We also learn about what kinds of food contain them.

Going through these components will prepare the kids for when they get to middle school and begin to put together their own plans for improving their health and fitness.

Fitness Measures

Unlike traditional PE programs that emphasize group or team competition, in “Five for Life” students compete against their own past performances to reach their fitness goals. Each student performs pre-fitness measurements in the fall, sets goals for improvement, and performs post-fitness measurements in the spring. These scores are recorded and follow the student throughout their time in Seattle Schools. This allows us (students, parents, and teachers) to monitor progress in attaining them.

To measure cardiorespiratory endurance, we use the mile run. For muscle strength we use pushups. Curlups measure muscle endurance. The sit and reach is a test of flexibility. Body composition is monitored by determining a child’s body mass index (BMI). Standards are based on age and gender. To see what the standards are, click here. The standards for the first four are set at the 50 percentile level, meaning half of the people in the country are below the standard and half are above it. The old President’s Fitness Test set a much higher bar, the 85th percentile. So it is clear that even though a child may meet a standard, there is still plenty of room for growth and improvement.

It is important that we view these reports as individual reports, not as competitions. Our goal is for everyone to improve, not necessarily for everyone to be at the 85th percentile. We do feel that getting to the minimum standard is a good indicator of minimal fitness, but it is most important that students keep making progress.

If you have questions about any of this information, please ask me. You can reach me at 206.252.3412 or via email (my preferred method) sbeard@seattleschools.org.

Resources

Parent information letter about fitness testing

Parent BMI Opt-in letter (English)

Forma de Permiso para “ELEGIR PARTICIPAR” en la Medida del Índice de Masa Corporal

Fitness standards for Seattle School students

Brain breaks

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