Physical Education requirements have changed in the state of Oregon to 150 minutes/ week . Children are sitting too long, not getting enough “movement breaks, ” are overweight and lack time to move around. Research shows: “that keeping the body active promotes mental clarity” and “physical engagement helps children build the foundations of their social skills.” How about having transdisciplinary curriculum called PCore (PE + Core Curriculum) and a goal bank that everyone can access to implement at least one physical activity, per day. This could be lead by: the counselor, the Speech pathologist, Learning Resource room teacher , Special Educators, OT/ PT, PE teacher, Teacher’s aide, Bus driver, lunch staff, and even custodian or front office staff. Every adult supporting student could incorporate physical activity into the daily educational setting.
These ideas are both about curriculum reform, but also about easy ways to integrate physical activities with a focus in more dynamic and thoughtful manner. This curriculum would be aligned with common core standards and accessible for all teachers and staff. Session is geared for teachers to learn ideas and ways to take more traditional paper-pencil activities and deliver them as more multimodal lessons with movement opportunities while teaching the same skill. Educators will walk about with ideas to teach reading, writing and math with a physical movement in mind. Lead by Westridge Elementary School - Speech Language Pathologist, Radha Szenasy and PE teacher, Melissa Della Paolera.
Speech services, Special services, sign language, Autism spectrum disorder (ASD), articulation, language development, Down Syndrome, speech and hearing, primary grade school children
