SPRING 2019
Hello Badgers! Our spring semester has been a crazy one, but we are off and running! The kindergarteners have been doing all sorts of activities that help develop their skills: parachutes for teamwork, hula hoops and jump ropes for jumping ropes, kicking balls out of the air and off of the floor, and chasing leprechauns in celebration!
The 2nd and 3rd graders started off working on their basketball skills in a basketball unit, then moved on to learning how to juggle bean bags and scarves! We are now becoming tumblers.
Finally, the 4th and 5th graders also started their semester by working on their basketball skills and are just finishing up an indoor golf unit! I have never done indoor gold before, so as I am scared for safety, the student seem to be enjoying their experience!
Summer 2018
Hello Badgers! After being away all Spring semester, I am back writing to you! This semester was primarily taken up by my absence while having a baby! Patrick Timothy Hunke joined us on January 30th, 2018. I returned to school on April 23rd and finished the school year. For the 2018-2019 school year, grading will be changing for the PE department. Each student will be graded based off of a rubric broken down into four categories with four descriptors attached: beginning, progressing, proficient, and advanced. The four categories of grading are critical thinking, overall wellness, effort, and sportsmanship. This will be used right away in our building, so then can be discussed as of the Fall conferences. Happy Summer!
Hello Badgers! Our spring semester has been a crazy one, but we are off and running! The kindergarteners have been doing all sorts of activities that help develop their skills: parachutes for teamwork, hula hoops and jump ropes for jumping ropes, kicking balls out of the air and off of the floor, and chasing leprechauns in celebration!
The 2nd and 3rd graders started off working on their basketball skills in a basketball unit, then moved on to learning how to juggle bean bags and scarves! We are now becoming tumblers.
Finally, the 4th and 5th graders also started their semester by working on their basketball skills and are just finishing up an indoor golf unit! I have never done indoor gold before, so as I am scared for safety, the student seem to be enjoying their experience!
Summer 2018
Hello Badgers! After being away all Spring semester, I am back writing to you! This semester was primarily taken up by my absence while having a baby! Patrick Timothy Hunke joined us on January 30th, 2018. I returned to school on April 23rd and finished the school year. For the 2018-2019 school year, grading will be changing for the PE department. Each student will be graded based off of a rubric broken down into four categories with four descriptors attached: beginning, progressing, proficient, and advanced. The four categories of grading are critical thinking, overall wellness, effort, and sportsmanship. This will be used right away in our building, so then can be discussed as of the Fall conferences. Happy Summer!
December 2017
Yikes! I've been away for too long on updating my Badger PE page! Here I am to get you caught up on our school year! The kindergartener and 1st graders have been focusing on basic skills of throwing catching ALL semester, with different fun, fitness games! It seems like not very many skills, but those are the basics! We will be kicking after winter break! Mixed in there every day we practice our locomotor skills of walking, running, galloping, and skipping. We also have hopped, slithered, and jumped! We are currently working with hula hoops around our bodies, leading to jumping with them, which then leads to jumping with ropes!
The 2nd and 3rd graders have had several units throughout the school year, starting with soccer, fitness testing, volleyball, and now scooter hockey. Mixed in there are a few fun, fitness games. Ask your students about them!
The 4th and 5th graders have also been busy with similar units as the 2nd and 3rd graders: soccer, fitness testing, volleyball, and now softee hockey. We have also mixed in fun, fitness games in between units.
May 2017
With our school year quickly finishing, here is a quick overview of our PE classes! Kindergarteners threw in Clean out your Backyard and finished throwing for the year with Oscar's Garbage Can. The 2nd graders raced in Color Tag then finished our year with our Ships and Scuba Diver's game - a class favorite! Third grade wrapped up fitness testing, practiced outside at the track for Fun Day, then also participated in Ships and Scuba Divers. The 4th-6th graders also finished up fitness testing! What a great year!
April 2017
The month of April really flew by for all of use in PE. Kindergarten focused on their jumping skill with hula hoops, then bunny hop relays, singles jump ropes, and then doubles jump ropes. Second grade started the month with a fun, fitness game of Red Lion, then spent a week exploring yoga in two different sessions, and the finished the month with another fun, fitness game. The 3rd graders moved on to Fitness Testing this month. It was exciting to watch and see how they have grown and improved. Finally, the 4th thru 6th graders finished up their Pickle Ball unit and then moved on to Fitness Testing.
March 2017
Kindergarten Report: Kindergarten started looping back through our skills in the month of March. We kicked in Kick the Cockroach, where we kick off the floor and also drop kick. We then moved on to celebrate St. Patrick's Day with a leprechaun game, then finished our month by working on our skill of catching with frisbees.
2-3 Report: Some 2nd and 3rd graders were very happy with me during the month of March, and others weren't! This month was filled with Juggling and Tumbling units. Juggling, an individual activity, had us working on and developing our hand eye coordination and cross body spacial awareness. We juggled scarves, then bean bags, and then tennis balls ff we were able. Tumbling was a great time, having 3 different days: rolling day, balance day, and wheel day. Ask your student what we did on each of these days!
4 Report: Our 4th grade also juggled during the month of March. They then continued onto our striking unit of Pick Ball. It's an interesting sport, played like life size ping pong.
5th and 6th graders.
5-6 Report: Tayler Wickham made her second set of visits to us during March. Students talked more about nutrition and healthy choices with Tayler. Pickle Ball was also started for the
Yikes! I've been away for too long on updating my Badger PE page! Here I am to get you caught up on our school year! The kindergartener and 1st graders have been focusing on basic skills of throwing catching ALL semester, with different fun, fitness games! It seems like not very many skills, but those are the basics! We will be kicking after winter break! Mixed in there every day we practice our locomotor skills of walking, running, galloping, and skipping. We also have hopped, slithered, and jumped! We are currently working with hula hoops around our bodies, leading to jumping with them, which then leads to jumping with ropes!
The 2nd and 3rd graders have had several units throughout the school year, starting with soccer, fitness testing, volleyball, and now scooter hockey. Mixed in there are a few fun, fitness games. Ask your students about them!
The 4th and 5th graders have also been busy with similar units as the 2nd and 3rd graders: soccer, fitness testing, volleyball, and now softee hockey. We have also mixed in fun, fitness games in between units.
May 2017
With our school year quickly finishing, here is a quick overview of our PE classes! Kindergarteners threw in Clean out your Backyard and finished throwing for the year with Oscar's Garbage Can. The 2nd graders raced in Color Tag then finished our year with our Ships and Scuba Diver's game - a class favorite! Third grade wrapped up fitness testing, practiced outside at the track for Fun Day, then also participated in Ships and Scuba Divers. The 4th-6th graders also finished up fitness testing! What a great year!
April 2017
The month of April really flew by for all of use in PE. Kindergarten focused on their jumping skill with hula hoops, then bunny hop relays, singles jump ropes, and then doubles jump ropes. Second grade started the month with a fun, fitness game of Red Lion, then spent a week exploring yoga in two different sessions, and the finished the month with another fun, fitness game. The 3rd graders moved on to Fitness Testing this month. It was exciting to watch and see how they have grown and improved. Finally, the 4th thru 6th graders finished up their Pickle Ball unit and then moved on to Fitness Testing.
March 2017
Kindergarten Report: Kindergarten started looping back through our skills in the month of March. We kicked in Kick the Cockroach, where we kick off the floor and also drop kick. We then moved on to celebrate St. Patrick's Day with a leprechaun game, then finished our month by working on our skill of catching with frisbees.
2-3 Report: Some 2nd and 3rd graders were very happy with me during the month of March, and others weren't! This month was filled with Juggling and Tumbling units. Juggling, an individual activity, had us working on and developing our hand eye coordination and cross body spacial awareness. We juggled scarves, then bean bags, and then tennis balls ff we were able. Tumbling was a great time, having 3 different days: rolling day, balance day, and wheel day. Ask your student what we did on each of these days!
4 Report: Our 4th grade also juggled during the month of March. They then continued onto our striking unit of Pick Ball. It's an interesting sport, played like life size ping pong.
5th and 6th graders.
5-6 Report: Tayler Wickham made her second set of visits to us during March. Students talked more about nutrition and healthy choices with Tayler. Pickle Ball was also started for the
February 2017
February was filled with the sounds of bouncing basketballs at Bennington Elementary! All grades worked on basic skills of basketball: dribbling, passing, and shooting. The Kindergarten and 1st graders stopped on those skills, but the 2nd and 3rd graders got to learn some rules and game play and played 2 against 2 mini basketball games. The 4th-6th grades reviewed rules and general game play and played 3 on 3 basketball games.
February was filled with the sounds of bouncing basketballs at Bennington Elementary! All grades worked on basic skills of basketball: dribbling, passing, and shooting. The Kindergarten and 1st graders stopped on those skills, but the 2nd and 3rd graders got to learn some rules and game play and played 2 against 2 mini basketball games. The 4th-6th grades reviewed rules and general game play and played 3 on 3 basketball games.
January 2017
Welcome to the new year! As we did not get a chance to finish our hockey unit before the new year, this is where we picked up when school resumed in January. The 2nd and 3rd graders finished up their scooter hockey unit, and the 4th-6th graders finished up their softee hockey unit. January then finished with us starting our basketball unit with grades 2-6, which is usually a crowd favorite.
The kindergarteners got to start our year off by working with hula hoops, jumping with them, and then jumping with jump ropes. That is a hard skill to learn! We then moved on to our teamwork talk and used teamwork with our colorful parachute. Finally, we got to start working on our first basketball skill of dribbling.
November and December 2016
November and December FLEW by at Bennington Elementary, at least in the PE classroom they did! In November, kindergart and 1st graders finished our focus on catching and moved on to our next skill: kicking! It was so much fun to watch the kindergarteners kick off the floor and also drop kick. I loved watching the 1st graders do this as well. It is crazy how much better they are at this skill from a year ago. We also played games to celebrate holidays in these months. These games are not really skills based, but a fun way to get our exercise.
Second and 3rd graders tested out new fitness mats by doing activites thru a program called GeoMotion. These activities were academic based in movements. It definitely was something different, but I think the students enjoyed a change of pace. We finished our 2016 by learning about and playing scooter hockey.
The 4th-6th graders were all over the place! Fourth grade experienced singles, doubles, and team long rope jump roping. The 5th and 6th graders got to finish up their football unit with Ultimate Football. And, we all finished our semester with our anual softee hockey unit - a game played much like ice hockey.
Welcome to the new year! As we did not get a chance to finish our hockey unit before the new year, this is where we picked up when school resumed in January. The 2nd and 3rd graders finished up their scooter hockey unit, and the 4th-6th graders finished up their softee hockey unit. January then finished with us starting our basketball unit with grades 2-6, which is usually a crowd favorite.
The kindergarteners got to start our year off by working with hula hoops, jumping with them, and then jumping with jump ropes. That is a hard skill to learn! We then moved on to our teamwork talk and used teamwork with our colorful parachute. Finally, we got to start working on our first basketball skill of dribbling.
November and December 2016
November and December FLEW by at Bennington Elementary, at least in the PE classroom they did! In November, kindergart and 1st graders finished our focus on catching and moved on to our next skill: kicking! It was so much fun to watch the kindergarteners kick off the floor and also drop kick. I loved watching the 1st graders do this as well. It is crazy how much better they are at this skill from a year ago. We also played games to celebrate holidays in these months. These games are not really skills based, but a fun way to get our exercise.
Second and 3rd graders tested out new fitness mats by doing activites thru a program called GeoMotion. These activities were academic based in movements. It definitely was something different, but I think the students enjoyed a change of pace. We finished our 2016 by learning about and playing scooter hockey.
The 4th-6th graders were all over the place! Fourth grade experienced singles, doubles, and team long rope jump roping. The 5th and 6th graders got to finish up their football unit with Ultimate Football. And, we all finished our semester with our anual softee hockey unit - a game played much like ice hockey.
October 2016
Kindergarten and 1st graders were crazy about catching during the month of October at Bennington Elementary! We have done activities where we caught a larger ball with our hands, caught frisbees, and also caught a ball with an implement: a scoop! After our skill focus on catching, we will move on to our next gross motor skill of kicking.
Football has been the focus for grades two through four. We focused on the skills of football throwing (or passing), catching, kicking, and scoring. Our final activity combined all of our skills and knowledge into a game of Ultimate Football.
Mrs. Tayler Wickham has been guest teaching with the 5th and 6th graders. Tayler is a 4-H assistant through the University of Nebraska at Lincoln Extension. She has been presenting her program, "Food Smart Families" to the students for the last 3 class times in these grades. Tayler talks to the students about a nutrition topic of the day, they do a physical activity focused around her topic, then they get to make a snack and try it. We have loved having her visit!
Kindergarten and 1st graders were crazy about catching during the month of October at Bennington Elementary! We have done activities where we caught a larger ball with our hands, caught frisbees, and also caught a ball with an implement: a scoop! After our skill focus on catching, we will move on to our next gross motor skill of kicking.
Football has been the focus for grades two through four. We focused on the skills of football throwing (or passing), catching, kicking, and scoring. Our final activity combined all of our skills and knowledge into a game of Ultimate Football.
Mrs. Tayler Wickham has been guest teaching with the 5th and 6th graders. Tayler is a 4-H assistant through the University of Nebraska at Lincoln Extension. She has been presenting her program, "Food Smart Families" to the students for the last 3 class times in these grades. Tayler talks to the students about a nutrition topic of the day, they do a physical activity focused around her topic, then they get to make a snack and try it. We have loved having her visit!
August and September 2016
Hello and welcome back to Bennington Elementary School for s'more learning! Our 2016-2017 school year is off with a bang and is shaping up to be a lot of fun in P.E. with me this year! We got our year started with a get to know you class, then we were moved outside early due to new bleachers being installed in the gym! Very exciting! While outside, the 2nd thru 6th graders have been playing a game called Foot Golf. It is a mixture of soccer and golf. It's a lot of fun - ask your student about it! Our Kindergarten and 1st graders have also been going outside doing some rainbow racing as well as playing a tagging game. We have ALL been very hot and sweaty!
First quarter Fitness Testing is right around the corner for grades 3-6, and kindergarten-2 will be back in the gym working on our developmental skills.
Hello and welcome back to Bennington Elementary School for s'more learning! Our 2016-2017 school year is off with a bang and is shaping up to be a lot of fun in P.E. with me this year! We got our year started with a get to know you class, then we were moved outside early due to new bleachers being installed in the gym! Very exciting! While outside, the 2nd thru 6th graders have been playing a game called Foot Golf. It is a mixture of soccer and golf. It's a lot of fun - ask your student about it! Our Kindergarten and 1st graders have also been going outside doing some rainbow racing as well as playing a tagging game. We have ALL been very hot and sweaty!
First quarter Fitness Testing is right around the corner for grades 3-6, and kindergarten-2 will be back in the gym working on our developmental skills.
March, April, and Beyond 2016!
I am behind on our information here! March was a busy month in Bennington Elementary PE. Mr. Berndt finished up his time with us, but not before focusing on our striking skill with the Kindergarten and 1st graders. We struck with an implement - a paddle, in our hands! It was quite a time! We then played a few fitness games to celebrate both St. Patrick's Day and Easter.
March in 2nd grade has been WAY fun - since we are doing fitness skill games waiting for the 3rd graders to get done with Fitness Testing. We played two new games - Rocking Rollers and Zookeepers. Ask your student - they were fun!
The 3rd - 6th graders have been busy fitness testing, as we are getting these done a bit early due to my pending leave! Baby Hunke will arrive sometime around April 13th, so we have been busy seeing if our fitness has improved!
Mr. Nick Simms will be my substitute while I am on maternity leave. His field of education is Physical Education, so he should find a nice home here at Bennington Elementary for the rest of our school year. I will see all my students next school year in the 2016-2017 school year! Happy summer to all!
I am behind on our information here! March was a busy month in Bennington Elementary PE. Mr. Berndt finished up his time with us, but not before focusing on our striking skill with the Kindergarten and 1st graders. We struck with an implement - a paddle, in our hands! It was quite a time! We then played a few fitness games to celebrate both St. Patrick's Day and Easter.
March in 2nd grade has been WAY fun - since we are doing fitness skill games waiting for the 3rd graders to get done with Fitness Testing. We played two new games - Rocking Rollers and Zookeepers. Ask your student - they were fun!
The 3rd - 6th graders have been busy fitness testing, as we are getting these done a bit early due to my pending leave! Baby Hunke will arrive sometime around April 13th, so we have been busy seeing if our fitness has improved!
Mr. Nick Simms will be my substitute while I am on maternity leave. His field of education is Physical Education, so he should find a nice home here at Bennington Elementary for the rest of our school year. I will see all my students next school year in the 2016-2017 school year! Happy summer to all!
February 2016!
February was here and gone for us at Bennington Elementary! In this month, the 2nd-6th graders finished their basketball unit by playing 2 on 2 games and even bigger 3 on 3 games. We then moved on to learning Star Wars Tag, brought to us by our student teacher Mr. Berndt, and we finished by starting our next unit of study - badminton! The students were skeptical to begin with their rackets, but seem to love it now!
Our kindergarten students also finished up their basketball skill work, played a different version or Star Wars Tag, and have now been striking with implements in their hands for the past two week cycles. An example of this would be like having a ping pong paddle and hitting a ping pong ball.
February was here and gone for us at Bennington Elementary! In this month, the 2nd-6th graders finished their basketball unit by playing 2 on 2 games and even bigger 3 on 3 games. We then moved on to learning Star Wars Tag, brought to us by our student teacher Mr. Berndt, and we finished by starting our next unit of study - badminton! The students were skeptical to begin with their rackets, but seem to love it now!
Our kindergarten students also finished up their basketball skill work, played a different version or Star Wars Tag, and have now been striking with implements in their hands for the past two week cycles. An example of this would be like having a ping pong paddle and hitting a ping pong ball.
January 2016!
We are back at it here at Bennington Elementary and we have gotten started on new activities! Kindergarten and 1st grade have been busy focusing on working as a team and using teamwork with our parachute. The 2nd - 6th graders have begun their basketball unit, which is always a student favorite. Here are a few pictures of some 2nd graders working on their dribbling skills.
We also have a student teacher with us for these first 8 weeks of our new year. Mr. Alex Berndt is joining us from the University of Nebraska at Omaha.
We are back at it here at Bennington Elementary and we have gotten started on new activities! Kindergarten and 1st grade have been busy focusing on working as a team and using teamwork with our parachute. The 2nd - 6th graders have begun their basketball unit, which is always a student favorite. Here are a few pictures of some 2nd graders working on their dribbling skills.
We also have a student teacher with us for these first 8 weeks of our new year. Mr. Alex Berndt is joining us from the University of Nebraska at Omaha.
October 2015
We closed the book on October a few days ago and with that, Quarter 1 of our school year is over! Fitness Tests have been completed and sent home with report cards for students in grade 3-6. It is always fun for me to see students meet or exceed their goals. We (2nd - 6th Grade) have now moved on to our next unit of skill study - volleyball. It is always a fun one for the boys!
Our littles (Kindergarten and 1st Grades) are taking a break from basic skills and are focusing on spatial awareness and different body movements. We are finishing a cycle of a tagging game and next week will be working on different locomotor movements based on animals.
Check out our 2nd graders in action at the top of this page!
September 2015
September has quickly flown by for the 2015-2016 Badger school year! Our first month of school is always the most exciting for me, especially working with the new Kindergartners. These students LOVE everything we try and always have a blast. As Kindergartners and 1st Graders, we focus on our basic skill development - throwing, catching, kicking, striking, etc. We have been throwers for the past month and are just now moving into being catchers, first with a ball and now frisbees.
The other students in 2nd - 6th grade have already worked their way through our unit of soccer and have moved on! the 3rd - 6th graders just started Fitness Testing this week. If you would like to read more on what tests we do and why, you can reference my "Fitness Tests" tab at the top of this page. It is an exciting time of year as I see where our students start with their fitness at the beginning of the year.
Back to School 2015-2016!
I can't believe summer is over and we are back for another year at Bennington Elementary! I would like to personally welcome all of the students who have had me as their P.E. teacher in the past as well as welcome our new students! I can't wait for another fun activity filled school year!
Enjoy the pictures below from years past!
We closed the book on October a few days ago and with that, Quarter 1 of our school year is over! Fitness Tests have been completed and sent home with report cards for students in grade 3-6. It is always fun for me to see students meet or exceed their goals. We (2nd - 6th Grade) have now moved on to our next unit of skill study - volleyball. It is always a fun one for the boys!
Our littles (Kindergarten and 1st Grades) are taking a break from basic skills and are focusing on spatial awareness and different body movements. We are finishing a cycle of a tagging game and next week will be working on different locomotor movements based on animals.
Check out our 2nd graders in action at the top of this page!
September 2015
September has quickly flown by for the 2015-2016 Badger school year! Our first month of school is always the most exciting for me, especially working with the new Kindergartners. These students LOVE everything we try and always have a blast. As Kindergartners and 1st Graders, we focus on our basic skill development - throwing, catching, kicking, striking, etc. We have been throwers for the past month and are just now moving into being catchers, first with a ball and now frisbees.
The other students in 2nd - 6th grade have already worked their way through our unit of soccer and have moved on! the 3rd - 6th graders just started Fitness Testing this week. If you would like to read more on what tests we do and why, you can reference my "Fitness Tests" tab at the top of this page. It is an exciting time of year as I see where our students start with their fitness at the beginning of the year.
Back to School 2015-2016!
I can't believe summer is over and we are back for another year at Bennington Elementary! I would like to personally welcome all of the students who have had me as their P.E. teacher in the past as well as welcome our new students! I can't wait for another fun activity filled school year!
Enjoy the pictures below from years past!