Physical Education 8
Health
The study of all aspects of healthy well-being is one unit of the physical education curriculum. Students rotate through the health portion of Health/PE class for one quarter in the four units. Study includes:
- Social-Emotional Health—brain development, mindfulness, communication skills & emotional vocabulary
- Physical Health—nutrition, healthy body-image and CPR
- Sexual Health—reproductive and sexual anatomy, sexually transmitted diseases, birth control, and communication
- Mental Health—suicide prevention, stress management and preventative practices
All of the above topics are taught and discussed keeping in mind the all-encompassing themes of choice, responsibility, and consequences.
Conditioning
Students are introduced to training principles in the fitness center and spend the quarter learning many different fitness training techniques. Students learn to individualize their workouts, practice exercises specific to their activity goals. Each student completes the Fitnessgram evaluation to measure the effectiveness of their work in accomplishing a healthy level of fitness. The overall goal is to help students exercise “smarter” to help them reach their personal fitness and performance goals and to complete a dynamic workout each day of class.
Team Sports
In team sports, each student will have the opportunity to be involved in 2-3 different specific team sports. Each sport is broken down into a season. The season is set up with a coach that helps divide the class into a designated number of teams, focusing on each student’s level of exposure to the activity, current skill level, and overall participation in-class activities. Each coach leads their team in daily practice and by helping their team work together to accomplish a goal common goal for the season. Every additional member of the team will be given a specific role to carry out throughout the season. Each sport is chosen by the class. The teaching and practicing of social responsibility/teamwork is the main theme in this class. Everything is done with a team as a team.
Recreational Sports
The recreational sports class focuses on recreational and lifetime activities. The emphasis is on low-organized participation and not competition. Students learn skills, rules, and strategies while participating in individual and group activities. Activities may include; badminton, volleyball, archery, tennis, pickleball, bocce ball, table tennis, spike ball, fistball, ultimate, Gola, and gym games. Games are designed to teach sportsmanship, cooperation, leadership, respect for diversity of abilities, problem-solving, and proper game etiquette. Rules are often modified to ensure success and games are played in small groups to maximize participation.