Dear Parent,
The school year is off to a great start! As we near the end of the first quarter, I hope you have asked your child about his/her physical education class because I am certain that you want to be involved in his/her education and academic success. Did you know that your attitudes and actions have an impact on your child’s academic success? According to PTO Central, parent involvement in education has a positive impact at all grade levels (http://www.ptotoday.com/pto
-today-articles/article/399-involvement-matters-what-to-tell-parents?position=mostpopular ) There are two simple ways to get involved with your child’s physical education. The first is to have a conversation with your child about their physical education experience. Ask simple questions, such as:
- What did you do in physical education today?
- What is your favorite activity?
- Why is physical education important to you?
- How did you do on your fitness assessments?
- Were you in the healthy fitness range on each of your fitness assessments?
- What is your goal for daily physical activity?
- What can we do as a family to increase our physical activity and family time?
When talking and listening to your child’s response, do not accept just a one word answer, such as "nothing." Probe their responses and have a conversation about their physical education class, concerns, likes and fears.
The second is to find out about your child’s physical education program. Visit the physical education teacher and building administrator during parent teacher conferences. Is your child’s physical education a quality program? Quality physical education is defined by standards related to four critical elements: opportunity to learn, meaningful content, appropriate instruction, and student and program assessment. For an explanation, go to www.naspeinfo.org , click on Teaching Tools under Popular Resources, and go to QPE.
The National Association for Sport and Physical Education (NASPE) has developed a checklist to help you observe and assess your child’s physical education program.
School Physical Education Program Checklist – How Does Your Program Rate? is available at www.naspeinfo.org . Click on Teaching Tools and go to Tools for Observing Physical Education. The series of 15 questions is designed in a quick and easy ‘yes/no’ format. I look forward to discussing our physical education program and your child’s physical education experience. Together, we can make it a positive experience. Sincerely,
Coach Welch
