September 2008 - Fayetteville-Manlius Schools

Volume 2, Issue 1
September 2008
“Our goal is to be
the topic of
conversation at the
dinner table
somewhere in our
district EVERY
NIGHT!”
Inside this issue:
Meet the PE Teachers
Teacher Tips
Festival of Races
Dance Dance
Revolution
Fitness Assessments
Progress Reports
Volunteer Info
2
3
3
4
4
5
6
ENDERS ROAD ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PHYSICAL EDUCATION
Physical Education
Newsletter
Physical Education: Not the “Gym Class” You Remember!
Welcome Back!
Too often, parent memories of
“gym class” center around experiences
of teachers rolling out a ball
or forcing students to climb the
ropes. As we begin the new
school year, we wanted to start
this inaugural newsletter with an
overview of what physical education
class is like at Enders Road
Elementary.
Today’s physical education programs
are exciting and inclusive.
We recognize the epidemic of
childhood obesity and our curriculum
has a foundation in fitness
and is student centered. All
skills taught; manipulative, mo-
This Year’s Activities!
At the K-2 level, students will be
receiving instruction in basic
locomotor movements (run, walk,
skip, gallop, sliding, hop, jump),
beginning jump rope, rhythms,
ball skills (throwing, catching,
kicking), gymnastics, and fitness..
A variety of equipment is used to
aid in instruction, including parachutes,
scooters, balls, scarves,
bean bags, and ropes.
tor, gymnastics, rhythmic, striking
and ball skills are all related to
developing and maintaining individual
physical fitness. As with all
other levels, personal and social
responsibility and safety are key
components to our program.
In addition to the content that we
teach, our lessons frequent integrate
content from other subject
areas such as math, science, and
ELA. This helps to reinforce the
knowledge we wish students to
gain as well as the instruction
they receive in their classrooms.
In the words of Tom Winiecki,
physical education teacher at
Mott Road:
At the 3—4 level, there is great
emphasis placed on the overhand
throwing motion and the various
sport skills that incorporate this
skill. Students will also engage in
lessons on catching, striking,
kicking, manipulating objects,
rhythms, gymnastics, fitness, cooperative
activities, and on playing
low organized games and
developing strategies to be successful.
“Our goal is to be the topic of
conversation at the dinner table
somewhere in our district EVERY
NIGHT!”
Please feel free to contact us if
you have any questions or check
out our webpage!
Newsletters will be published to
our webpage. To receive a copy
through email, please send a request
to ekupiec@fmschools.org.
The Enders Road PE Department
Mr. Kupiec, Mr. Rayome, and
Mr. Barnello

Physical Education Newsletter
Page 2
Mr. Kupiec
ekupiec@fmschools.org
“Of all the subjects
taught in school,
Physical Education
is the only subject
which, by the very
nature of its
content, has the
potential to affect
how a person will
feel every moment
of every day for the
rest of his or her
life.”
Allen Russell
Meet Mr. Kupiec
Mr. Kupiec is beginning his 8th
year at F-M and his 3rd year at
Enders Road. He will be teaching
the following classes:
K: Buchman, Dickerson (AM/
PM), Lewis (AM/PM)
1: Bolton, McIntosh
2: Forstadt
3: Hooks, Newton, Wojnovich
4: O’Connor, Pillari
Meet Mr. Rayome
Mr. Rayome has been teaching at
Enders Road for 11 years. He will
be teaching the following classes:
1: Houser, Neveldine, Tifft
2: Goodfellow, Spaulding,
Twichell
3: Cowvburn,Prucker,Wojnovich
4: Richards
Mr. Rayome was an extra in the
Meet Mr. Barnello
Mr. Barnello is beginning his third
year at Fayetteville-Manlius. He
splits his day between Enders Road
and Eagle Hill Middle School. He
will be teaching the following
classes:
2: Moses
4: Chaddock, Cowburn, Rose
In addition to teaching, Mr.
Kupiec is also a varsity track &
field coach and an editor for the
physical education website
PELinks4U.org.
While at F-M, Mr. Kupiec has also
served as the district coordinator
for physical education, been a
member of the Curriculum Review
and Wellness Policy committees,
and is one of 5 National
Board Certified PE Teachers in
New York State..
major motion picture “Invincible”
in 2006. He will also be appearing
as an extra in “The Express”
about former SU running back
Ernie Davis, the first African-
American to win the Heisman
Trophy. He will be walking the
“Orange Carpet” on September
12th.
Mr. Rayome has also been a member
of the Curriculum Review and
Wellness Policy committees,
Mr. Barnello was a member of the
Curriculum Review Committee
and maintains the Eagle Hill PE
webpage.
In his spare time, Mr. Barnello
enjoys playing golf, and spending
time with his wife and daughter.
He is an avid SU and Boston Red
Sox fan and coaches Eagle Hill’s
girls lacrosse team in the spring.
In his spare time, he enjoys running,
bicycling, reading books,
watching sports, playing tennis,
golf and spending time with his
wife and daughter.
Mr. Rayome
drayome@fmschools.org
In his spare time, Mr. Rayome
enjoys spending time with his wife
and children. You may also have
heard him on commercials for
Cazenovia Jewelers and announcing
the home games for the F-M
varsity hockey team.
This season, Mr. Rayome may also
be working on the sidelines of the
SU women’s ice hockey team
assisting with announcing and
keeping the books!
Mr. Barnello
mbarnello@fmschools.org

Teacher Tip of the Month (Grades K - 2)
Mastery of basic locomotor movements
is essential to developing
mature motor patterns and participating
in more complex sports
and activities.
In addition to walking and running,
we look for students to master
the skip, gallop, slide, jump,
and hop.
Here are the cues to look for and
to give your child to help them
develop their skill.
On Sunday, October 5th, the
annual Syracuse Festival of Races
returns! The MVP Health Care
3K Fun and Fitness Run is a part
of the festival, which draws world
class runners to Syracuse every
fall. In addition to the 3K run,
there are competitive 5K and 10K
runs.
Participating schools get a plaque
to hang in the hallway. Also, the
Skip: Step Hop or Hop Step.
The lead foot alternates.
Gallop: Leap Step. On the step,
the back leg closes to the front.
The same foot always leads.
Slide: Same as the gallop, but the
body has a sideways orientation.
Jump: Leave the floor and land
on two feet.
Hop: Leave the floor on one foot
and land on the same foot.
Teacher Tip of the Month (Grades 3 - 4)
The overhand throwing motion is
fundamental to several sport skills
including a football throw, lacrosse
pass, tennis serve, baseball/
softball throw and a volleyball
serve. We tell students if they
master these steps, they will be
able to do a multitude of sports
movements. Here is what we look
for so that you can help your child
at home throughout the year.
1. Stand sideways to the target
with the throwing hand back.
2. Step forward with the front
foot.
3. Throw with your back hand.
(your pencil hand)
4. Follow-through to the target.
(point at the target)
school that has the most students
sign up for the 3K run wins the
right to design the t-shirt for next
year’s festival. Fayetteville Elementary
has won this honor for
the last several years.
This is a great chance to run as a
family and be part of a first-class
event! We meet at Coyne Field by
10:15 am for a group warm-up
and the 3K race begins at10:45
We will work on performing these
skills in different pathways, directions,
levels, effort, and space.
Pathways: Straight, Curved, Zig-
Zag, Twisting
Directions: Forward, Backward,
Sideways
Levels: High, Medium, Low
Effort: Fast, Slow, Strong, Light
Space: Personal, General
We also teach students how these
steps are the same for the skills of
striking, kicking, and underhand
throwing. This enables students
to execute a bowling roll, underhand
serve, golf swing, and baseball
swing just by remembering
these 4 steps.
Save the Date! Festival of Races ~ October 5th, 2008
am. We hope that you choose to
take part. If you are interested ,
the cost is $5 for students under
18 and $10 for everyone over 18.
For entry forms, please click on
our website under “Special
Events.”
Please return completed entry
forms to Mr. Kupiec, Mr. Rayome,
or Mr. Barnello along with payment
by check made out to
Volume 1, Issue 1
“We tell students if
they master these
steps, they will be
able to do a
multitude of sports
movements.”
Page 3
The Overhand Throwing
Motion
Mrs. Wojnovich & Family
at the 2005 Festival
www.festivalofraces.com

Physical Education Newsletter
Page 4
Dance Dance Revolution is
a big hit at the elementary
schools!
“Exergames try to
combat the childhood
obesity epidemic by
taking one of the
suspected causes of
decreased physical
activity in youth,
increased time playing
video games, and
combing this game
time with activity
time.”
Fitness Assessments are
conducted each fall and
spring in grades 1—12
DDR? - What’s that?
You may have heard your child
talking about doing DDR in class.
DDR stands for Dance Dance
Revolution and is an example of
an “exergame,” or an interactive
video game.
Exergames try to combat the childhood
obesity epidemic by taking
one of the suspected causes of
decreased physical activity in
youth, increased time playing
video games, and combing this
game time with activity time.
Physical Education assessments
are included with student report
cards twice each year, in January
and in June.
Mr. Kupiec will again this year be
experimenting with sending home
quarterly progress reports along
with students’ report cards. He
hopes that this information will
be more helpful to parents than
three letter grades.
DDR uses a special floor controller
like the picture at left. The
game is played with four arrow
panels. The arrows are pressed
using the feet as players react to
arrows that appear on the screen
in front of them. These arrows
match the rhythm or beat of a
chosen song. The difficulty increases
with the player’s increased
ability. The result is a great aerobic
workout playing video games!
Some states, including West Vir-
Fitness Assessments - What are they?
In grades 1—12, each student is
assessed at least twice annually on
their fitness levels in 4 categories:
cardiovascular endurance, flexibility,
muscular endurance, and
muscular strength. The results of
these assessments, as well as the
results from previous years, are
sent home at the end of each
school year along with a letter on
how to interpret the results and
examine trends. In class, students
are also taught how to interpret
their scores and how to modify
their activities to continually improve.
The concepts of healthy
fitness zones and target heart rate
are paramount in this instruction.
At Enders Road, we currently
measure student fitness using the
following assessments:
Progress Reports ~ Another communication tool!
Based on parent feedback, the
report format has been modified
from last year to provide more
appropriate information and to be
easier for parents to understand.
They will still include all of the
specific concept areas and skills
assessed in class, rubrics and comments
to help parents better understand
Mr. Kupiec’s assessment
of their child, and a space for
ginia and Hawaii, have even purchased
DDR systems for each of
their school districts. In 2007, F-
M purchased two PlayStation 2
consoles and four Dance Dance
Revolution Pads for each elementary
school to use in their classes.
We will use these from time to
time in class, but we have also
converted a locker room into a
“DDR Room” in order to make
more use of this great equipment.
We hope to use it daily.
Sit & Reach: Measures leg/low
back flexibility in cm.
Sit-ups: Number performed in
1:00.
9:00 Run: Distance (meters)
covered in 9:00.
Modified Push Up: Moving a
bean bag on & off a mat
stack for :30)
parents to send return comments
and questions back to school.
Mr. Kupiec hopes these reports
will promote positive two-way
communication between home
and school.
If you have questions, please email
him at: ekupiec@fmschools.org.

Seeking Gymnastics Spotters!
Our annual gymnastics unit will
be conducted in late winter 2009.
As is tradition, we will be seeking
parental assistance as volunteer
spotters to help us conduct the
unit. In addition to helping the
teachers out, this is a wonderful
opportunity to see your child “in
action” by spotting during their
class.
For safety reasons, we would be
unable to provide the experiences
that we do without parental assis-
Sneakers Wanted!!
Sneakers are required for participation
in physical education. We
keep a supply of “gently used”
sneakers so that students who may
have forgotten their own sneakers
on physical education days can
borrow them to use that day.
We need to continually update
this inventory of sneakers as they
do wear out from frequent use. If
you have pairs of sneakers that no
tance and support. If we had no
additional spotters, students
would be forced to wait in long
lines at one piece of apparatus
where the teacher was spotting.
Mary Anne Wilson will again be
coordinating the schedule for
gymnastics. Although this event is
months away and we will not have
sign-ups until February, we hope
that by giving you the dates well in
advance, parents who wish to
volunteer will better be able to
Footsteps to Fitness Volunteering!
This year, Footsteps to Fitness will
be conducted from May 4 - 29.
Like gymnastics, we hope this
advance notice of dates will help
those who wish to plan ahead.
Footsteps to Fitness is a voluntary,
incentive based fitness walking
program. At recess, participants
walk (or jog) on a marked course
on the school grounds. For each
completed lap, the student has a
box marked off on a card. Foot
tokens are awarded for the first
mile and then for every 5 miles
accumulated. Students also receive
paper footprints on the walls
in the school for every 10 miles.
We will need lap counter volunteers
to mark cards. Ideally, we
would have a parent volunteer
from each classroom each day.
The typical commitment is one
longer fit your children but still
have some good life in them, we
will gladly accept donations of all
children’s and adult sizes, including
half sizes.
In the event I receive a large number
of sneakers, I will select the 5
or 6 best pairs of each size to keep
for use at Enders and then I will
take the remaining sneakers to the
Rescue Mission. Just because we
plan their schedules.
We also understand that many
parents may be unable to come to
assist as spotters. Therefore, we
will also continue the open gym
program that was started last year.
This year, it will be moved to a
Saturday event rather than over 4
evenings as it was last year. The
date for the open gym will be
announced soon. The time schedule
for this event will also be
posted at a later date.
day a week for the 4 weeks. Stay
tuned for more details.
We also use grade level coordinators.
Coordinators are responsible
for additional record keeping
and placing the 10-mile footprints
on the walls. A greater time commitment
is necessary than with
the lap counter (sometimes daily).
We have our coordinators for
2009, but 2010 will be here soon!
cannot use them at school does
not mean that there are not families
who can benefit from new
footwear.
It is a good idea to have your child
keep a couple of extra pairs of
socks at school in case they do
have to borrow sneakers because
they are shared by many students.
Thank you for your generosity!
Volume 1, Issue 1
Gymnastics Unit
2009
“We would be
unable to provide
the experiences that
we do without
parental assistance
and support”
Page 5
Updates to follow as we
get closer!
While we use all sizes from
children’s 8 to adult 8, the
most common sizes students
borrow are:
Children: 12, 12.5, 13, 13.5
Adult: 1, 1.5, 2, 2.5, 3, 3.5, 4

ENDERS ROAD ELEMENTARY
SCHOOL PHYSICAL EDUCATION
4725 Enders Road
Manlius, NY 13104
Phone: 315-692-1500
Fax: 315-692-1053
E-mails: ekupiec@fmschools.org
drayome@fmschools.org
mbarnello@fmschools.org
http://www.fmschools.org/
enders-road.cfm?subpage=1258
Can you complete the puzzle?
Check the word list at the
right if you are having trouble
finishing the crossword.
F-M Physical Education ~ The HEART of the District
Important Dates
Sunday 10/5 ~ Syracuse Festival of Races 10:45 am start for MVP Health 3K
Puzzle of the Month ~ Health-Related Fitness
Word List
Triceps
Sweat
Slow
Pulse
Heart
Flexibility
Fit
Fast
Endurance
Abs