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Friday, May 27, 2011

6th Grade Exploratory Aquatics Class


As well as practicing the stroke techniques of swimming and building on confidence in the water, pupils have also been learning about hazards and life saving. When the class discussed the subject I was amazed by how many pupils had been involved in, or knew someone who had been involved in, a rescue operation in the water. We discussed the importance of being confident in the water as most families in Mexico will travel to the beach for holidays or have a swimming pool in their hotel when they travel.
Pupils were also very astute in realizing the potential risks of being a rescuer and the limitation of what a child can do to help without formal lifeguard training. It was good to see the pupils act with maturity and confidence when practicing the two basic forms of rescuing-throwing an object and reaching with an object.
Hopefully our students will never need to use these techniques in a real life situation, but some pupils showed a real interest in the subject and will hopefully pursue a formal qualification in the years to come.

7th Grade Camp P.E. Obstacle Course


Mexico Verde in Veracruz, was an incredible way to implement Adventure Team Building games in the P.E. curriculum. 7th grade students made 2 teams and challenged each other to an obstacle course. There were 7 different obstacles that they had to tackle. Each one took the entire team to be successful. A policy of "challenge by choice," was in effect, which meant that if students did not feel comfortable doing a certain challenge they did not have to, but they still had a supporting role in their group. The motivation, encouragement, risk taking and effort was extraordinary on each team. Some of the highlights of the obstacle course were a rope pyramid, a rope swing across a pool of water, and a ladder to climb over and under each rung. Great job by all!