THANKFUL.

Happy Thanksgiving Break to all!

I am very thankful to be at CCA and have the opportunity to teach and learn from all of my students!
I hope you had a restful, relaxing, and FUN time with family and friends.

Did you know?

-FUEL UP TO PLAY 60 is having its first "Fuel Council" meeting on Friday, December 3. This group of 15 5th and 6th grade students will meet with Bridget Thompson & me every Friday to get our school excited about physical activity and healthy eating!

-EXTRA CREDIT in P.E.? That's right. If at any point your child would like to gain extra credit, all they have to do is pick up a Physical Activity Log located on my music cart and complete 30 minutes/day of physical activity, recording each activity and getting a parent signature. It's that simple!

-I will be incorporating a FITNESS CIRCUIT for grades 2-6 at the beginning of each class period. This will involve shuttle run, jump rope, line jumps, crab walk, jumping jacks, sit ups, and aerobic steps. The students will be able to challenge themselves with different level completions that include: FIT, STRONG, PRO, or CHAMP. Very excited to get this started!

-VOLLEYBALL UNIT starts next week! Since my background is in volleyball, I am VERY excited to introduce my students to volleyball in a new way that is simpler for their developmental level and a whole lot of FUN. Ever heard of Eclipse Ball? It will be incorporated into our unit this year!

I'll leave you with these:

A person always doing his or her best becomes a natural leader, just by example.
-Joe DiMaggio

You play the way you practice.
-Pop Warner

A true champion knows how to overcome doubts
and manage those doubts and turn them into motivation.
-Misty Hyman

Exciting News in November

CROSSROADS CHARTER ACADEMY RECEIVES FUNDING FOR WELLNESS PROGRAM 

$1,600 Awarded by United Dairy Industry of Michigan for Fuel Up to Play 60

Big Rapids, Michigan – Crossroads Charter Academy has been chosen to receive $1,600 to support its Fuel Up to Play 60 initiative, the United Dairy Industry of Michigan announced today. Crossroads Charter Academy was selected from among hundreds of schools across the country that applied for funding to help them jumpstart and sustain healthy nutrition and physical activity improvements. This nationwide funding program offers schools up to $3,000 to help them increase awareness of and access to nutrient-rich foods and physical activity opportunities for students. Funding for this competitive program is provided by United Dairy Industry of Michigan and America’s dairy farmers.
Funds for Fuel Up to Play 60 provides support for a variety of activities and tools, such as foodservice materials and equipment, nutrition and physical education materials, student and staff incentives, staff development and overall Fuel Up to Play 60 implementation. 

Crossroads Charter Academy is creating a "Fuel Up To Play 60" Council that will meet 2-3 times monthly with their Program Advisor and brainstorm, develop, and implement "plays" each month that will help get all other students excited and motivated about physical activity and healthy eating. The elementary school will use the funds to improve the playground and mileage club already started. The elementary also plans on improving student awareness on food options, including the healthy choice of the day, as well as providing more health information regarding what kids should be eating through the use of kid-friendly health and nutrition posters in the cafeteria.  Students will help in the process by discussing how to make playground improvements, how to get students excited about healthy choice food options, and create easier opportunities for students to participate in activity during and after school. The elementary will continue their Mileage Club, in which students have the option before, during, or after school to run miles around the playground track and receive monthly awards and recognition for their accomplishments.

More than 60,000 schools across the United States are participating in Fuel Up to Play 60. Launched by National Dairy Council, local Dairy Councils and National Football League (NFL), in collaboration with United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), the program encourages youth to consume nutrient-rich foods and achieve at least 60 minutes of physical activity every day. Multiple health organizations and several major corporations are also supporting Fuel Up to Play 60, now in its second year.

“Fuel Up to Play 60 has really taken off in Michigan. Wellness champions and students in more than 3,000 Michigan schools have embraced the program, and these funds will help many of the participating schools to do even more,” said Sharon Toth, Director of School Nutrition Programs.  

Schools, parents and students can learn more about Fuel Up to Play 60 at FuelUpToPlay60.com. 

Has your child checked out Fuel Up To Play 60? The Kick-off for the program will be a Poster Contest in which students check out the website and create their best poster advertising the program. Three winners will be selected and rewarded for their hard work, and all posters will be hung in the school to get the word out about this awesome new program helping our school!

Week 10!

The football unit has begun! After choosing their own teams for the soccer unit, I decided I would take a turn and assign each student to a team. They will stay in this team for many of the days drills and games. The students chose their own team names, which included: The MI Stripes, The Lions, The Big Dogs, The Winners, The Cougars (LOVE IT!), and even the Coca-Colas. We have been playing games like the Tiger Pull and Mega Punt. We've also been doing pass pattern drills as well as football stations that focus on centering, punting, pass patterns, and catching. I hope the weather will cooperate and we will be able to have class outside on the real football field! (Hard to do with 5-6 grades right in the morning... very slippery!)

K-2 is getting much better at hand dribbling. Tomorrow we will use the dribbling balls in a different way called, "Dribble Fitness" and the students will learn how they can exercise with a ball they normally dribble with.

Have you asked your child if they are participating in the Mileage Club during recess? If not, please do! The school wide Mileage Club has grown with much more students participating and many of the students making their monthly mileage goal. K-1 Grades aim to run 6 miles a month. 2-3 Grades aim to run 8 miles a month. 4-6 Grades aim to run 10 miles every month! Can you believe that Ms. Sinicropi's class had a combined total of 86 miles for the month of October? And guess what grade they are . . .Kindergarten! Each student that makes their monthly goal gets fun feet tokens, a certificate, and a water bottle! The winning classes get a mileage party day with their class, a free out-of-uniform day, and dress up their teacher in a silly hat. :)

Keep it up, COUGARS!

Tennis Unit with Tennis Pros!

Grades 3-6 just wrapped up their two week Tennis unit. They had a blast learning all about the game of tennis. The forehand, backhand, bouncing versus swinging, working in doubles, and playing fun games like relay races, champions and challengers, and king/queen of the court. We were fortunate enough to have Ferris State University students in the Tennis Program help coach each day for the two week unit. There were usually 2 different coaches for each class. The students had a great time learning from different Ferris students as well as having a role model to look up to. Maybe someday these CCA students will also be in the Ferris Tennis program!

Many of the students were recognized for ending in the Champion Court at the end of each class period. They recieved a Certificate for their achievement as well as a fun candy treat. :) All the students did great! The game of tennis really tested our ability to work together and remain honest- since in the game of tennis, many times you are responsible for making important boundary calls.

Grades K-2 have ended their throwing unit and are moving on to hand dribbling. It is very important to teach these grade levels the basics, so that once they reach 3rd grade they feel confident in their basic motor skills and can learn to work in cooperative team settings, where we learn the rules to new and fun games. They've also been participating in fun aerobic activities like Turtle Tag and Shipwreck. Ask your child about Shipwreck and see if they can teach you the game- it was definitely a class favorite!

And of course, we have continued the SWEAT FRIDAY event, a tradition for classes that are doing well throughout the week. This is an activity where there are 8-10 stations set up around the gym that may include: Tumbling, Basketball, Hockey, Soccer, Stretching, Tennis, Hula Hoops, Jump Rope, Scooper Catch, Frisbee, Bean Bag Toss, etc. Students in groups of 3-4 start at one station and spend 3 minutes at each activity. We all rotate together until each station is hit. The point is to SWEAT, so students know the expectation is to work hard!!

This week marks the beginning of Flag Football for grades 3-6. I'm excited to see how much we can improve as a whole, and am very excited to see some students who are exceptionally good at the game of football become a positive "coach" to their classmates, helping each and every student improve so that they can gain confidence in this fun game!