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- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Archives Revels Classifieds Real Estate Menu Guide Wedding Weather Subscribe Contact Us January 28, 2006 Everyone can win in PE Individual activities added for kids in Ashland classes By Jennifer Squires Ashland Daily Tidings Children start their day with yoga at the Siskiyou School to focus for a day of whole-brain learning. Photos by Orville Hector | Ashland Daily Tidings It’s not all dodgeball and push-ups anymore. While physical education classes in Ashland schools still include the ball-oriented games parents remember playing when they were in school, PE has grown to include activities that emphasize lifelong fitness. Dance and movement classes, yoga instruction and cooperative games that eliminate the winner-loser dichotomy now share time with basketball, volleyball and softball games. “There’s a variety of students, and they all have different needs,” Ashland Middle School principal Dale Rooklyn said. “Our goal is to expose students to lifelong activity for both physical and mental health.” Teaching students how to be healthy, active members of the community is one goal of the Ashland Quality Education Model, a report that outlines the vision statement for of what the Ashland School District wants students to know and be able to do in the future. In Jackson County, 22.1 percent of eighth-graders are overweight or at risk of becoming overweight, according to Children First of Oregon, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization. To promote healthy lifestyles, exposing students to various fitness activities begins at the elementary levels with cooperative games, short dance course and walking field trips. “I think variety is the key, and you want to focus on individual activities, team activities, competitive activities and noncompetitive activities,” Rooklyn said. The Siskiyou School, the local Waldorf program, adds yoga and movement classes to instruction at different grade levels. Nine-year-old Spencer Tesluk learns focus and balance during yoga class. “They children love yoga, and I have noticed the positive results it has on them,” said Nina Gallway, who teaches the third grade class at Siskiyou School. “They are much more focused and calm on ‘yoga day.’” Students also learn to respect each other’s space and bodies through Vrenda Hayden’s yoga class, according to Gallway. At Willow Wind Community Learning Center, students can take movement classes that incorporate cooperative games and art projects. Helman Elementary School has a climbing wall to help kids build upper-body strength and try out a noncompetitive sport. The middle school recently opened a weight room with donated cardiovascular equipment, such as treadmills and stairsteppers, and weights. Some PE students at the school also take a movement course taught by local dance instructor Peggy Paver. “It’s really just about coordination, rhythm ... being able to remember sequences of movement, and a lot of it involves partnering,” said Paver. Paver, who taught a high school dance program in Tucson, Ariz., for 15 years before moving to Ashland in 2004, pitched the idea of a PE class that didn’t involve competition to Rooklyn more than a year ago. She didn’t get the class, but was able to lead an after-school dance program at AMS last year that attracted six to 12 students every session. When the school needed an additional PE offering one period a day this year, Paver was tapped. “Overall I think it’s been really positive and I think it’s because it’s really different than what their picture of dance is. A lot of times, kids when you say ‘dance’ they’ll think the Nutcracker. They’ll think people in tights,” Paver said. “Students often think the only really physical activity has to be competitive.” But dodgeball and other team-oriented activities still keep kids moving during PE classes to give students options and help them discover the physical activities that appeal to them for exercise and entertainment. “Students are learning to be comfortable with their bodies,” Rooklyn said, explaining kids need the opportunity to find that activity that’s comfortable and feels safe to them. Staff writer Jennifer Squires can be reached at 482-3456 x 225 or [email protected]. DailyTidings.com Home Page Archives | Revels | Classifieds | Real Estate Guide | Weather | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2005 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Deep Muscle Stimulator Ceramic Piggy Banks FREE Entertainment Guide Women's & Men's Slippers Accelerate Weightloss Products Backpacks Online Pharmacy Vegas Travel Guide Search Engine Optimization Student Loans Hotel & Airline Reservations Hammocks Water Filter Helzberg Diamonds Online Casinos Community Bonus Casino Mortgage Calculator Security Systems Mailing Lists Click Here Advertisement .:Advertisements:. Site Search: RESOURCES - Mail Tribune News - ODOT Road Cams