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Physical Education Statement

The Learning Goal contains a Physical Education section. The project selected to

represent this goal is an observed Movement Lesson for a kindergarten classroom. Movement

and the ability to improve on gross motor skills is a key parameter in kindergarten observations.

Physical activity is used as a behavioral adjustment and management technique in many

classrooms that I have worked in. “Consensus statements suggest that youth should accumulate

at least 60 min/day of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA)” (Fröberg, & Raustorp,

2019). Some classrooms use educational music and movement videos, exercise videos and using

movement to count and say the days of the week, to increase the amount of physical activity that

students are exposed to during the school day.

While student teaching, my morning routine including getting the students up and

moving through music before the main tasks of the day began. “Engaging students in physical

activities has positive effects on their motivation, engagement, and learning” (Lindt & Miller,

2017). The students were more often focused and centered to begin working. Physical activities

can be used throughout the school day, and not just during physical education classes.

“Movement is the primary means of communication for children. Movement activates and

integrates connections in the brain, thus enhancing the learning process. Physical education is a

prime content area for interdisciplinary learning” (Kaittani, Kouli, Derri & Kioumourtoglou,

2017).

The movement lesson was a great activity, not just to get the students moving, but also

introduced the students to the concepts of listening and how to play ‘cake walk’ style game. The

students were tasked with listening to the music, noticing what pumpkin each of them had

stopped on, and then looking at the key to determine what each symbol meant. There were some
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challenges during the lesson, but the students were still exposed to more physical activity in the

classroom. “The elementary school setting provides an ideal environment to improve the PA

levels of children. Schools can reach a large volume of children with offerings that include

unstructured recess, physical education (PE), and PA in the classroom as well as before and after

school” (Kibbe, Hackett, Hurley, McFarland, Schubert, Schultz, & Harris, 2011). The students

were eager to continue, but the next time this game was to be played, it definitely needed a larger

area to play.

While working in multiple classrooms that have used movement throughout their normal

classroom schedule, I was interested to perform my own research about integrating movement

through the Classroom Research course through the Master’s of Arts in Teaching (MAT)

program. “Movement integration (MI) is defined as infusing PA within general education

classrooms during normal classroom time (Webster, Russ, Vazou, Goh, & Erwin, 2015b)”

(Webster, Zarrett, Cook, Egan, Nesbitt & Weaver, 2017). The movement lesson is a prime

example of integrating movement into the normal classroom time.

Analyzing the typical daily schedule the academic minimum time requirements per day is

very structured. The ability to incorporate Physical Activities (PA) into learning time also has to

be synced appropriately. “Academic-infused strategies involve integrating PA during academic

instruction and/or with academic content usually taught in elementary general education

classrooms (e.g., math, language arts, science). Despite the benefits of MI, elementary classroom

teachers (ECTs) often perceive barriers to integrating movement in their classrooms” (Webster,

Zarrett, Cook, Egan, Nesbitt & Weaver, 2017). A majority of time during the school day is sitting

during academics, and for younger students, can be a very difficult task. Incorporating movement

can enable students to focus and maintain healthy lifestyles.

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Resources

C.A. Webster, L. Russ, S. Vazou, T.L. Goh, H.E. Erwin. Integrating movement in academic

classrooms: Understanding, applying, and advancing the knowledge base

Obesity Reviews, 16 (8) (2015), pp. 691-701

Fröberg, A., & Raustorp, A. (2019). Integrating the Pedometer Into Physical Education:

Monitoring and Evaluating Physical Activity, Pedagogical Implications, Practical

Considerations, and Recommendations. Physical Educator, 76(1), 135–155.

https://doi.org/10.18666/TPE-2019-V76-I1-8608

Kaittani, D., Kouli, O., Derri, V., & Kioumourtzoglou, E. (2017). Interdisciplinary Teaching in

Physical Education. Arab Journal of Nutrition and Exercise, Vol 2, Pp 1-11 (2017), 1.

https://doi.org/10.18502/ajne.v2i2.1248

Kibbe, D. L., Hackett, J., Hurley, M., McFarland, A., Schubert, K. G., Schultz, A., & Harris, S.

(2011). Ten Years of TAKE 10!®: Integrating physical activity with academic concepts in

elementary school classrooms. Preventive Medicine, 52(Supplement), S43–S50.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ypmed.2011.01.025

Lindt, S. F., & Miller, S. C. (2017). Movement and learning in elementary school: integrating

physical activity into elementary school lessons in reading, math, and other subjects can

boost students’ academic learning, while also helping them meet goals for physical

education. Phi Delta Kappan, (7). Retrieved from

https://egan.ezproxy.uas.alaska.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?

direct=true&db=edsgsr&AN=edsgcl.491575098&site=eds-live
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Webster, C. A., Zarrett, N., Cook, B. S., Egan, C., Nesbitt, D., & Weaver, R. G. (2017).

Movement integration in elementary classrooms: Teacher perceptions and implications

for program planning. Evaluation and Program Planning, 61, 134–143.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evalprogplan.2016.12.011