School-wide Literacy and Phys Ed

For some time now I've wanted to increase the amount of cross curricular learning that occurs in the gym. I've always done my best to incorporate what is happening in the student's homeroom into the lessons they are a part of in Phys Ed. Until now, I've never really found a way to incorporate language arts.

During the first few days of school this year our staff had an opportunity to take part in a Literacy Map inservice put on by two of our colleagues. I've had the opportunity to learn about Literacy Map in the past, actually taught it myself for two years, but have never learned as much as I did in that short session, and this got me thinking ...

... I bet I could find a way to incorporate our school-wide literacy program into what is happening in Phys Ed.

I figured if I took the key words of what I was teaching the students (Fundamental Movement Skills), put them in a prominent spot in our school (in this case as you line up to enter the gym), and use the Literacy Map markings I could increase understanding of not only the words and how they can be spelled, but also increase the students understanding of them in general.

It seems to be working. For the past week I've been asking students if they could remember the Fundamental Movement Skills they have learned the previous day (and throughout the week) and most students were able to recall this information and explain the learning activity that accompanied the movement. It was really interesting to see students who would look in the direction of this bulletin board (from inside the gym the words are not visible) and then could easily remember each skill.

My plan is to continue to support the Literacy Map program and other school-wide and classroom specific initiatives within Phys Ed. The next step in all this is to see how this knowledge, and specifically the grapheme markings, transfer into each student's homeroom.

Until then, thanks for reading!